Salaam Band Member Bios

Dena El Saffar; Viola, Violin, Djoze, 'Oud, Vocals email: dena@salaamband.com		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.

Tim Moore; Percussion email: tim@salaamband.com		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.

Kevin MacDowell; Accordion, Guitar, Bass		Kevin MacDowell began his musical studies at the age of four, and is a multi-instrumentalist. He has been playing accordion, bass and guitar with Salaam since 2007, and leads several of his own bands, including The Pirate Flags, The Klezmorchestra and Kid Kazooey and the Ballroom Roustabouts. Kevin is also a composer, a private music teacher and a regular guest performer at preschools and libraries, instilling the joy of music into the hearts of the young, as well as the young at heart.

Sam Finley; Guitar, Bass		Bloomington native Sam Finley is a guitarist, composer and teacher and the most recent addition to Salaam’s fantastic group of musicians. From 1998 to 2009 Sam lived, played and studied in Austria, Spain, the Czech Republic and Argentina. His love of music and learning has led him to study many different styles including flamenco, klezmer and jazz. He has studied with the Brazilian guitarist Marcos Cavelcante at Indiana University, the Bloomington classical guitarist and composer Sulaiman Zai and while in Europe, Sam studied at the Prague Conservatory with the Czech classical guitarist, Milan Zalenka. Currently, Sam is a member of the Bloomington based bands The Klezmorkestra and The Bafoonski Brothers and he is working with the Indianapolis flamenco studio FlamencoÓle. He is also a popular teacher and has students of various ages and styles.

Amir ElSaffar; Santoor, Trumpet, Vocals email: amir@salaamband.com www.amirelsaffar.com		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."

Hakan Toker; Kanun, Accordion, Piano, Vocals email: hakan@salaamband.com www.hakanalitoker.com		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.

Victor Santoro; 'Oud email: victor@salaamband.com		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.

Joe Donnelly; Ney, Woodwinds email: joe@salaamband.com		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.

Raja Hanania; Percussion email: raja@salaamband.com		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.