Salaam Band Member Bios

Dena El Saffar, Viola, Violin, Joza, 'Oud, Vocals email: dena@salaamband.com		Dena El Saffar is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, teacher and recording artist who has performed throughout the US as well as in the Middle East and Latin America. Born and raised in a musical family in Chicago, she learned about her Iraqi heritage through stories, music and recipes. She began violin lessons at the age of 6. At the age of 17, after winning several concerto competitions and touring Europe with a youth orchestra, she traveled to Iraq and became inspired to learn the Iraqi music traditions. While completing a Viola Performance degree at the IU Jacobs School of Music, she founded Salaam in order to focus on music of the Arab World. El Saffar plays several traditional Middle Eastern instruments – ‘oud, and joza – as well as violin and viola. She has a long list of recording projects with well-known American musicians such as Krista Detor, Slats Klug, Moira Smiley and Michael White. She has toured and performed with countless ensembles including Youssou N’Dour, Rivers of Sound Orchestra, the National Arab Orchestra, and Iraqi Maqam ensemble Safaafir. When she is not busy performing or teaching, Dena enjoys hiking in the woods and spending time with her family.

Tim Moore, Percussion email: tim@salaamband.com		Tim Moore grew up in the Midwest, and began playing drums at the age of 11. 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, more diverse musician, he began learning rhythms and instruments from around the world, eventually bringing his focus to Middle Eastern percussion. He has studied Arabic percussion with Wessam Ayoub, Sattar Al Saadi, Lateef Al ‘Abeedi, N. Scott Robinson, and Mohammed Khalil Salih. Tim plays the dumbek, riqq, naqqarat, bendir, tabl and zanbur, as well as drum set, bass and guitar. Tim is married to Dena El Saffar, and enjoys spending his free time with their two children, Jamil and Layla.

Tomás Lozano, Guitar, Hurdy-Gurdy, Percussion, Vocals www.tomaslozano.com		Tomás Lozano is an instrumentalist, vocalist and composer born in Barcelona, Spain, and raised between southern Spain and Catalonia. Known for his eclectic musicianship, Lozano's performance of Spain's traditional ballads sung in Castilian, Catalan and Galician, stand out as iconic. Lozano also plays contemporary, popular and European folk music from France, Spain, Britain, the Middle East and Sepharad. Beyond that, he performs his original compositions, solo or accompanied. He currently performs with a variety of ensembles such as Daily Bread & Butter, !Viva la Pepa!, Kativar, Istanbul Breeze, Simkhe, M3rde, Celtica, Tamango and Salaam. Tomás has performed throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Jamil Moore, Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals Jamil's Website		Jamil Moore has, in a sense, been a member of Salaam for his whole life. As the son of Dena El Saffar and Tim Moore, he has been listening to and traveling with the band since before he was born, and has an innate familiarity with Middle Eastern melodies, rhythms and modalities. He is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and song-writer who has released an album of his own compositions entitled, "Songs For Shirley". Jamil brings a youthful energy and a creative spirit to Salaam and to all of his endeavors!