Performance

As a musician, I am experienced with both Western and Near Eastern music. I have had extensive training in various forms of Turkish and Arab percussion as well as with the Arab reed flute (nāy) and I am proficient with the piano and guitar, as well as the Arab lute (‘ūd). In recent years, in the Republic of Cabo Verde in West Africa, I have performed as a member of Afro Jazz Quinteto with bandleader Zito Kaumy, and directed the Conjunto do Médio Oriente de Cabo Verde—an ensemble specializing in the urban art music of the Arab world. In Santa Barbara, California, I have performed as a soloist with the UCSB Middle East Ensemble and have been the founder and director of the Sahlala Band, another Arab music ensemble, as well as the bandleader of Anatolian Gold—a band dedicated to performing the greatest hits of Turkish psychedelic rock music from the 1960s and ‘70s. My past projects have also included the Turkish-music groups Serbest Hava in Austin, Texas, and Kırık Hava in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as collaborations with Istanbul-based groups Native Project and Turko Trans, and performances with Pittsburgh-based artists such as Phat Mandee, Ishtar, Colter Harper, The Shastanauts, and Hypnosurgery.