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 The
following musicians have somehow collaborated & contributed
to the Som'ma Project! |
 Shirzad Sharif
-
Tonbak/Daf (Persian Percussion)
Shirzad studied the Tonbak under the supervision of Ostad
Bahman Rajabi in Iran. Since then he has adapted his own
unique style of playing enabling him to play melodic rythyms
on the Tonbak while accomponying various instruments, (Melody-Navazy).
His skillful presentation and comprehensive teaching technique
has lead to him performing and conducting seminars at prestigious
institutions such as the University of Maryland, University
of Utah, UCSF, San Francisco State University UCLA.
Shirzad is also the first Tonbak player to have researched &
performed other Middle Eastern, Arabic & non-Persian techniques,
rhythms & compositions on the Tonbak, accompanying instruments
such as the Riqq, Mazhar, Darabuka and Indian Tablas while preserving
the unique technique and sounds distinctive to the Persian Tonbak.
He has composed and performed many percussive compositions using
Arabic, Persian and Indian drums thus connecting and creating
a triangle within the three ancient regions of Persia, India
the Middle East. He is also the founder of Som'ma and pioneer
of a new sound he refers to as Avant-Garde Persian music, a
new and exciting sound that has its roots in Persian classical
music and abstract Avant-Garde ideas. |
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Dr. Lloyd Miller -
Pirano/Clarinet (Jazz
Master)
Dr. Miller also known to many Persians as Koroush Ali
Khan is one of the first jazz innovators who was
interested in Eastern music since the 50's but did not gain
fame because he left the scene in 1959 to travel through the
orient and to live in Tehran. Before going on to Europe, Dr.
Miller was working on Eastern music and finding ways to bring
metaphysical and highly developed Eastern concepts into modal
jazz.
While in Europe Miller played with top jazz artists like
Don Ellis (where he was inspired by Miller's Eastern concepts)
and Eddie Harris including occasional appearances at the
famous Blue Note in Paris where he sat in for Bud Powel to
play with Kenny Clark. During his residence in Europe, Miller
was prominent in the Stockholm. Frankfurt, Brussels and Paris
jazz scenes and played at two major jazz festivals in Belgium.
Miller's LP album Oriental Jazz released in the late 60's
and the three consecutive years he won composer and other
trophies at Intercollegiate Jazz Festivals indicate that he
was one of first to bring Eastern music ideas to Jazz.
Dr. Miller has always endeavored to retain the highest
musical standards of both systems and has refrained from
sacrificing either or producing a commercialized blend.
Dr. Miller has spent
8 years in Iran where he recieved his PhD in Persian music which
resulted in his work Music and Song in Persia being
published by Curzon Press in London in 1999, he also studied
with master Daryush Safvat and Karimi and also hosted his own
prime-time NIRTV main network jazz show while in Tehran.
For
more information please visit http://www.jazzscope.com/VAM.html |
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Leila Sadeghi - Middle Eastern Dance
Leila Sadeghi is a Middle Eastern dancer specializing in Persian and belly dancing.
Her unique style is a fusion of Persian traditional, belly dance, and more contemporary modern movements. Born in the Bay Area to Swiss and Iranian
immigrant parents, she started dancing as a child. At an early age she started learning ballet, jazz and even tap
dancing. While visiting relatives in Tehran, Iran she was exposed to "Tehrani" style Persian dance movements which
sparked her interest in Middle Eastern dances.
During a long stay in Tehran she continued studying Persian dance as well as "Arabi" (belly dance) which was also taught
in the schools she attended. The daunting movements and fast finger cymbals of belly dancing fascinated her and while in
the United States Leila continued studying belly dance at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She has been
dancing professionally and loving it ever since. Leila Sadeghi has also performed with Irina Mikhailova, Star Sounds
Orchestra, Lumin, and Luna Groove.
|
 Dr.
Alan Kushan - Santur
Alan Kushan is one of the most accomplished santur players in
the world of music. He is recognized for his unrivaled technique,
elegant musicianship and innovative creativity as a composer
of avant-guard soundscapes.
Alan has been invited to give numerous seminars and master classes
throughout Europe and North America. He has performed at music
festivals, on radio and television bringing the ancient and
hauntingly spiritual sound of the Santur to new audiences across
the world.
He has a keen interest in the musical traditions of all cultures.
Prior to his relocation in the U.S., he held the position of
instructor of classical Persian music at the University of Toronto.
He is the featured solo artist on several albums including Pegah
(XDOT25 1006-2), Within the Galaxies, Planes of the Similitude's,
Arctic Soul (XDOT25 1014-2), and East to East (XDOT25 1015-2).
Please visit Alan's site at www.alankushan.com
For over fifteen years, Alan has maintained an active involvement
performing and composing for theatrical and cinematic productions.
He is the recipient of numerous awards for his accomplishments
including the 1991 Genie Award for "Best Short Film", and a
nomination in 1993 for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for "Best
Musical Score for Theatrical Production". Alan was recently
honored as Associate Composer at the Canadian Music Center.
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Noah Waldman - Drumset
/ Percussion
Noah a graduate of Boston's Berklee
College of Music plays with some of the best musicians in the
area. It was at Berklee that he was exposed to different types
of music such as Afro-Cuban, Jazz, Middle Eastern, Indian and
the music of the African Diaspora.
He was privledged to study under the direction of the late
Tony Williams and other greats like Kenwood Dennard, Bobby
Sanabria, Ernesto Diaz, Wayne Nauss, Ed Uribe, Oscar
Stagnardo, Bernardo Hernandez and Jamey Haddad.
Noah has additionaly performed with greats like Rebecca
Muleon, Orestes Vilato, Larry Harlow, Edgardo Cambon, Oscar
Stagnardo, Ed Kelly, Danilo Lazano....
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Pourya Khademi - Violin
Pourya Khademi was born to a widely
recognized master of traditional Iranian violin Alireza Khademi which began
teaching Pourya at a really early age. Due to the post-revolution political
turmoil, the family fled to Germany where they spent the next eight years.
In fact, music became one of the most important elements in the family’s
struggle to maintain their Iranian heritage. Father and son continue to work
together and have performed at many widely publicized concerts and events
including the Los Angeles debut of the legendary Iranian singer Marzieh.
In 1994 the family moved to the US, where Pourya continued his musical studies,
obtaining a B.A. in violin and vocal performance with a minor in composition.
Over the years, Pourya has developed his own style of performance by bringing
together classical techniques with traditional Iranian music. Currently he is
working toward his second degree at the University of California, Berkeley. |
Jeffery Stott -
G3 Laptop electronics
Producer, performer and composer, Jeffery Stott, has been deftly
merging the worlds of modern electronic music production and
Middle Eastern traditional musics for over a decade. He has
studied rural and classical forms with master musicians from
Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. These teachers have
led him to become accomplished on several traditional Middle
Eastern instruments including oud, baglama, yali tambur, and
santoor, as well as the full range of percussion instruments
of the Middle East. Equally at home in the digital realm, Jeffery
contributes much of the programming and production found on
the LUMIN albums and live performances. In addition to releasing
three full length critically acclaimed CD's Hadra, Datura, and
Star of the Sea by STELLAMARA, he has produced international
music remixes by Turkish and Persian artists for Universal Records
and EMI Europe, as well as composed for film, modern dance and
theatrical productions. Visit Jeff's website www.jefstott.com
He has performed at festivals and concerts in New York, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Edinburgh, London, and Mexico.
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Amir Koushkani -
Tar
Born in Tehran, Amir was introduced to classical Persian music
at home. At thirteen, he began formal training in the art of
playing Tar and Setar at the National Iranian Radio and Television's
Center for Preservation and Propagation of National Music. He
studied under the guidance and supervision of Master Darioush
Peerniakhan. At nineteen, Amir became an instructor of Tar at
the Center, and subsequently continued to explore his passion
for Persian music through composition and improvisation.
Amir has worked extensively on Persian 'Radif' (stylization
of music) over the last 13 years, and has mastered the classical
approaches to performing and studying Radif. In 1991, he emigrated
to Canada and since then has given over 60 performances in Canada,
the U.S.and Europe, including the WOMAD Festival in Toronto
(1991), the Sufi Music Village Festival in London, UK (1997),
Comox Festival and Vancouver Folk Festival (1999). He created
and performed the music for two plays on Sufi themes, Quest
(1996) and Love (1997), for both of which he was nominated for
a Jesse Richardson award. Visit Amir's website at www.koushkani.com
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Mark Deutsch -
Bazantar
Mark is a visionary artist with a background in non-linear mathematics,
sacred systems and cosmology. As a classically trained bassist
whilst studying sitar and North Indian classical music with
the legendary Ustad Imrat Khan developed a breaking new instrument:
The Bazantar - a five-string acoustic bass fitted with an additional
twenty-nine sympathetic strings and four drone strings. The
result is a remarkable instrument that weaves a mesmerizing
soundscape of resonance, and evokes all the power of Western
classical music with the depth and nuance of Eastern traditions.
Since the creation of the Bazantar, Mark has been performing
extensively world wide, performing at the Juilliard School of
Music and at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. On the collaborative
side, his music has attracted an eclectic array of musicians,
including the Grammy award-winning cellist David Darling; the
seminal Chicago rock band Tortoise; virtuoso erhu player and
principle soloist with the Beijing National Symphony Yang Ying;
and jazz luminaries such as William Parker, Roy Campbell, and
Hamid Drake. For more information on Mark the Bazantar visit:
www.bazantar.com |
Mary Ellen Donald -
Middle Eastern Percussion
Mary Ellen Donald is a nationaly acclaimed performer and instructor
of Middle Eastern percussion. Her musical accomplishments are
even more so noteworthy because she is blind. She plays her
drums and lives her life with joy in her heart.
Mary Ellen has taught workshops and performed with Middle Eastern
bands in most of the major cities throughout the US. For over
twenty-five years she has maintained a large student body in
the San Francisco Bay Area. Please visit her site here!
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John Connell -
Ney & Daf
John Connell has always been involved in creative endeavors such
as music, art, and theatre. Realizing five years ago that he had
spent a past life in Iran, John decided to submerge himself in
the subtleties of Persian music and culture.
He studied ney, daf and
tonbak for many years with Mohammad S. Nejad. John has been fortunate
to perform with prominent Persian musicians on many occasions, as well
as with Bay Area Persian/Central Asian dance company Ballet Afsaneh.
Currently John performs traditional folk and classical music from Iran
and Afghanistan on ney with Armando (Uncle Mafufo) in Santa Cruz, CA. |
Ramin Zoufonoun -
Persian Tuned Piano
Ramin was born to a family of musicians in Tehran. His strength
and primary interest is in the area of improvisation on the
Persian-tuned piano, and the tar. He owes much of his knowledge
of Persian modal system (radif) to his father and mentor, Mahmoud
Zoufonoun. He studied tar with Mahmoud Zoufonoun, Hossein Alizadeh
and Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Ramin has studied music theory and
harmony with Anna Pokleswski and has also explored possibilities
within the realm of electronic music.
Ramin has been performing in numerous cities across the United
States as a soloist and as a member of traditional Iranian and
cross-cultural ensembles. He also appears on several recordings
and frequently shares his knowledge and experience as a guest
lecturer/ performer at various educational institutions. |
Kousic Sen
- Tabla
Tabla artist Kousic Sen, a child prodigy, was initiated in Tabla
playing by Professor Biswanath Bose of the Benares Gharana and
later became a disciple of the Tabla wizard Pandit Kumar Bose.
Kousic is an accomplished soloist and accompanist, and has performed
with many luminaries of Indian dance and music and world music.
Over the last decade Kousic has been performing in all the major
festivals in India, UK, Europe, Canada and USA. |
Jaron Lanier -
World Instruments
Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist,
and author. Currently, Lanier serves as the Lead Scientist of
the National Tele-immersion Initiative, a coalition of research
universities studying advanced applications for Internet 2.
Lanier is probably best known for his work in Virtual Reality.
He coined the term 'Virtual Reality' and in the early 1980s
founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products.
As a musician, Lanier has been active in the world of new "classical"
music since the late seventies. He is a pianist and a specialist
in unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string
instruments of Asia. He maintains one of the largest and most
varied collections of actively played instruments in the world.
Lanier has performed with artists as diverse as Philip Glass,
Ornette Coleman, George Clinton, Vernon Reid, Terry Riley, Duncan
Sheik, Pauline Oliveros, and Stanley Jordan. Current recording
projects include his "acoustic techno" duet with Sean Lennon
and an album of duets with flautist Robert Dick.He also writes
chamber and orchestral music. Recent commissions include: A
concert length sequence of works for orchestra and virtual worlds
(including "Canons for Wroclaw", "Khaenoncerto", "The Egg",
and others) celebrating the 1000th birthday of the city of Wroclaw,
Poland, premiered in 2000; A triple concerto, "The Navigator
Tree", commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and
the American Composers Forum, premiered in 2000; and "Mirror/Storm",
a symphony commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and
premiered in 1998. Continental Harmony, a PBS special
that documented the development and premiere of The Navigator
Tree won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. His CD "Instruments
of Change" was released on Point/Polygram in 1994For more info
on Jaron please visit: http://www.well.com/user/jaron/general.html
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Mahour Mellat Parast -
Tar
Mahour Mellat Parast was born in 1973 in Iran. He grew up in
a music loving family, where his father was a musician, composer
and a player of Tar, Setar, Piano and Turkish Tar. He started
playing Tar at the age of 14, under the supervision of his father
and in 1989, he was awarded the first rank Tar player in the
Province of Gilan, Iran. Mahour also joined the Oshagh musical
group at the age of 16, as their youngest player and took part
in many concerts with that group throughout Iran. After his
admission to Sharif University, he moved to Tahran.
At that time, along with his academic studies in Industrial
Engineering, he practiced the themes of Persian music (RADIF)
under the supervision of Houshang Zarif, a renowned Tar player
and instructor, from 1993-1997. He also became familiar with
the style of many Tar players, including Jalil Shahnaz and Farhang
Sharif. Visit Mahour's
website! |
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Other people who have
collaborated with Som'ma |
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Pandit Habib Khan
is regarded as one of the best sitar players in the world today.
He was born into a family of musicians and can trace his lineage
back several generations. He began his training at the tender
age of five under the strict eye of his accomplished father,
Ustad Hameed Jaffar Khan. Habib Khan has carved out a distinct
style of his own which is a blend of his father's traditional
techniques and his own imaginative innovations. Habib Khan lives
and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs all over
the world. Visit his website here.
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Stephan Junca self-taught on the
drum set, has been playing drums and percussion for over 20
years, in almost every style from rock, jazz, fusion and country
to afro-Cuban, reggae and various world beat. Over the last
10 years he's seriously expanded his hand percussion repertoire,
playing African, Middle Eastern and Cuban/Latin styles and rhythms
on djembe, conga and bongo, dumbek and various frame drums,
udu and a wide assortment of percussion items from many cultures.Stephan
also has extensive work with keyboard programming, writing and
arrangement. He's been involved in a number of solo projects,
including a nature recording soundtrack, meditation accompaniment
tapes and psychoactive light and sound programs. His work has
been featured on more than a dozen releases. Visit the Azigza
website. |
Other information and biographies
will be added when available....
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