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Dena El Saffar; Viola, Violin, Djoze, Vocals 
email: dena@salaamband.com
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Dena
El Saffar, of Iraqi and American heritage, was exposed to Arabic music
in the suburbs of
Chicago
, where she grew up attending Iraqi gatherings with her family. She
began learning the violin at the age of six. At age 17, completely
engaged in classical music, she accompanied her father to
Baghdad
and became enchanted by the music of
Iraq
and the
Middle East
. In 1993, while obtaining a classical music degree from
Indiana
University
, she founded the group Salaam, a Middle Eastern music ensemble which
has performed throughout the
United States
. She has studied with Hamid Al-Saadi, Munis Sharifov, Mohammed Gomar
and Anwar Abudragh, and has
performed with the Master Musicians of Jajouka and Youssou N’dour.
Dena, who plays the viola, violin, joza and kemanche, has also performed
with Central Eurasian ensembles, salsa groups, bluegrass, blues and rock
bands. She is the older
sister of Amir, is married to percussionist Tim Moore, and is the mother
of two: Jamil and Layla.
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Hakan Toker; Kanun, Accordion, Piano, Vocals
email: hakan@salaamband.com
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Hakan A. Toker (1976) is a classically trained musician. He
began his formal music education at 12 in a conservatoire system in his
native Turkey. He later moved to USA and got his bachelors in piano and
composition from Indiana University School of Music in 2000.
Starting in his teens, he performed piano recitals and with orchestras in
Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Iceland, and USA including several
festivals in these countries; playing classical repertoire, his own
compositions and improvisations. He is currently pursuing an
improvisation-based career. He plays "kanun" in Salaam.
You can find out more about Hakan at his website:
www.hakanalitoker.com
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Tim Moore; Percussion
email: tim@salaamband.com
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Tim
Moore grew up in the
Midwest
, and began playing drums at
the age of 12. A natural
percussionist, he began performing with different groups early on,
gaining experience in a variety of genres including jazz, blues, salsa
and rock. After earning a computer science degree from
Indiana
University
in 1989, he worked on the East
and
West
Coasts
as a computer programmer, but
in 1993 he left that world in order to devote himself to music.
In his quest to become a better, even more diverse musician, he
began learning rhythms and instruments from around the world, eventually
bringing his focus to Middle Eastern percussion.
He has studied Iraqi-style percussion with Wessam Ayoub, Sattar
al Saadi and Lateef al ‘Abeedi. Tim
plays the dumbek, riqq, naqqarat and bendir, tabl and zanbur as well as
drum set and guitar. Tim is married to Salaam violist, Dena
El Saffar, and enjoys spending his free time with their two children,
Jamil and Layla. |
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Amir ElSaffar; Santoor, Trumpet, Vocals
email: amir@salaamband.com |
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Amir ElSaffar, born in 1977, is an acclaimed
classical and jazz trumpet player who in recent years has delved into a
completely different musical tradition, that of his ancestral past, the
Iraqi maqam. This journey took him to Iraq and other countries throughout
the Middle East, where he encountered several masters of the Iraqi Maqam
and learned to sing the Maqam and play the santoor, a hammered-dulcimer
native to Iraq. He has performed Iraqi Maqam nationally and
internationally, including the cities of New York, Boston, Chicago,
Minneapolis, Bloomington, IN, Montreal, Cairo, Beirut and London. Hamid
Al-Saaidi, Amir’s teacher, who is considered by many to be the best
living Maqam singer, regards Amir as one of the important carriers of this
tradition in his generation, and has said "Amir is a great addition
to the Maqam…he is preserving the true essence of this music."
www.amirelsaffar.com
www.safaafir.com
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Victor Santoro; 'Oud
email: victor@salaamband.com
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Victor Santoro acquired his love for Arabic
heritage from his mother of Syrian descent, who had spent most of her life
immersed in Arabic culture. When his family moved to the Midwest,
Vic learned to play guitar, but later pick up derbeki (Arabic drum), and
learned Arabic rhythms. He began collecting a wide variety of Middle
eastern recordings, and soon found himself combining his guitar skills and
his love for Arabic music on the 'Oud (Middle Eastern lute). Victor
has performed with several Middle Eastern ensembles, often accompanying
belly dancers, and has served as director of music for the Indianapolis
Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble. When not performing with Salaam,
Victor designs roads for an engineering/architectural firm in
Indianapolis. |
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Joe Donnelly; Ney, Woodwinds
email: joe@salaamband.com
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Joseph Donnelly has a Bachelors of Music Education from Vander Cook
College of Music where he graduated as valedictorian. He studied saxophone
with Jim Kaspyrzk of the Chicago Saxophone Quartet and flute with Kay
Clements of the Chicago Lyric Opera. He has been a member Salaam
Middle Eastern Music and Dance Ensemble for over two years and is the
musical director of the Latin Dance Band Orquesta Son. He performs and
records regularly with many local and regional acts including: Alma Azul,
Serenade Big Band, Unstable Ensemble, Toothpick Wilson and the Cavaliers
and the Klezmorchestra. |
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Raja Hanania; Percussion
email: raja@salaamband.com
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Raja began his musical journey at the age of
seven when he had his first guitar lessons in the old city of
Jerusalem. He performed as a guitarist and a vocalist in numerous
musical festivals throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. At the age
of 17, Raja came to the U.S. where he played the Arabic flute (shababeh or
nay), touring the Midwest with a Middle Eastern dance group. The
Arabic drum (tableh) has always been Raja's favorite instrument, and for
the last six years, he has been playing the tableh with several local
bands in Indiana. Although Pharmacy is Raja's main profession, music
occupies a big part of his life to which he devotes a lot of his
time. Raja has been living in Bloomington since 1993 with his wife,
Rula, and their two children, Dina and Tareq. |