Şerefe, Balkan & Middle Eastern Music
Balkan and Middle Eastern music has been a primary focus since
1988. When performing live (and not doing an original score for a
multimedia production), Jesse is almost always found playing traditional
music from this part of the world. The primary performance vehicle
is Şerefe, an ensemble varying in size from a trio to a small Orchestra
that has been performing at concerts and dance parties in the western states
since 1996. Şerefe (who's name is taken from a Turkish drinking
toast "to your honor") dearly loves this music and devotes significant
time and energy to it. The repertoire consists of large numbers of
Greek, Turkish and Arabic songs, as well as smaller numbers of Bulgarian,
Macedonian, Bosnian, Rom, Albanian, Persian and Armenian pieces.
Şerefe usually plays mixed repertoire shows, but sometimes plays entire
evenings of songs from just one of the cultures mentioned, for ethnic audiences.
Jesse is a founding member of Şerefe and plays Bouzouki, Baglama, Flutes,
Vocals and percussion in the group. Other core members include Cameron
Powers, James Hoskins, Meg York, and Zahara. Members of Şerefe often
perform with touring artists from these cultures, such as Latif Bolat,
Nabil Azzam, Souhail Kaspar and Naser Musa. To receive notice of
upcoming Şerefe activities please join our Google group.
Where do we learn this music?
Most of us have travelled and studied abroad in Greece, Turkey, Morocco
and Egypt for weeks or years at a time, but our biggest training ground
is at the Balkan and Middle Eastern Music and Dance Workshops held each
summer in the Mendocino Woodlands of Northern California. Our teachers
there are Angele Dimovski, Georges Lamamm, George Chittenden, Lise Leipmann,
Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Christos Govetas, Haig Manookian, Souren Baronian,
Nikolay Kolev, Beth Bahia Cohen, Polly Tapia Ferber, Bob Beer, Merita
Halili, Necati Celik, Ergun Tamer, Brenna MacRimmon and others. We
are forever grateful for their encouragement and expertise.
Download or purchase Şerefe's CD on Magnatune:
magnatune.com/artists/albums/manno-opium
links: www.cameronpowers.com,
www.cellohoskins.com,
www.eefc.org
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