Michael Beach, Clark Salisbury, Kevin Bayliss, Carolyn Eaton and Jerry Fugate.
Occasionally joined by guests: J. Michael Kearsay and Belinda Underwood.
Influences
Mohammed Adl Wahab, the Rabhani Brothers, Brothers of the Baladi, Vince Delgado, John Bilezikjian, Omar Faruk Tekbelek, Dr. Ali Jihad Racy, Mimi Spencer, Souhail Kaspar, Hossam Ramzy, Sami Nossair and the Cairo Orchestra, Simon Shaheen, Amer Ammouri, Oum Kalthoum, George Abdo and all of those lovely dancers...
Sounds Like
A cabaret in Cairo, a meydan in Anatolia, a caravansarai on the way to Isfahan.
Arabesque has been playing every Wednesday night in Portland for more than ten years. We play music from the Arab world, Turkey, Iran and Armenia. Every Wednesday night 4 to 6 dancers from our community of talented artists join us to interpret this beautiful music through the graceful art of belly dance.
The band has been, from it's inception, fronted by Michael Beach. Michael sings vocals in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, French, Spanish and occasionally in English. He leads the band playing the Arabic tablah (a.k.a. darbuka, derbekke and doumbek). Michael is the founding member of the Grammy-nominated Brothers of the Baladi and has been playing middle eastern music since 1975. He also plays mizmar, zourna, riqq, def and mijwiz as well as being a fine drum kit player (rock, blues, you name it).
Clark Salisbury (oud and bağlama saz) with Arabesque since 2008, about the same time he joined Michael as a member of the Brothers of the Baladi (where he also plays guitar). Clark's skills as a seasoned rock guitarist are taken in new directions with his entry into middle eastern music.
Kevin Bayliss (clarinet and oboe) has been playing belly dance music for a number of years and has been a member Portland bands belly dance Children of Paradise and Al-Arwah and also currently plays with Sinners' Serenade.
Carolyn Eaton (accordion) brings a dancer's sensibilities to the group as a long-time performer and student of middle eastern dance as well as music. She has studied with many master dancers and musicians at the well known Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp held every summer near Mendocino, California.
Jerry Fugate (def, riq, bağlama saz and buzuq) has studied middle eastern music since 2003 when he began taking drum lessons with Michael. Jerry former leader of the band Al-Arwah, which he left in 2009 to concentrate on developing his musicianship and is currently focusing on his role as back-up percussionist while also developing his skills as a melody player on the bağlama and buzuq.
Hey. Thanks for the add. If you like my stuff, I'll be playing at Mississippi Pizza in Portland on Dec. 8th at 7pm and I'd love to see you there :) Either way, THANK YOU for your support and have a great week.
The new True Margrit CD - The Juggler's Progress - is now available for pre-order, along with t-shirts and artwork, photo and drumheads, check it out here: http://bit.ly/7Cu8J
Next shows: October 28, Jazzbones in Tacoma, WA October 30, Mississippi Pizza in Portland, OR October 31, Nana's Irish Grill and Pub in Newport, OR November 1, Muddy's Hot Cup in Arcata, CA November 5, Molly Malone's in West Hollywood, CA
Our tour wraps up with the big show at San Francisco's best rock club, Bottom of the Hill! For the complete show schedule, check here: http://bit.ly/1UgGqQ
Thanks to the whole band for playing down in Corvallis. What a wonderful range of Belly Dance music styles you can play. And in almost total darkness too! Thanks also to Jerry for sharing his birthday with us. That was some mighty pinata bashing.
YOU GUYS ROCK (or is that RAQ?)!!! Thank you for the friend request... I am kind of embarrassed of my own recordings now... I had better start practicing ; )
Thank you so so so very much for playing for dancers at Sea Dog Nights (not the whole group I know). I can still close my eyes and see the stars overhead and the sheer bliss of listening to Erev Shel Shoshanim playing on the harp with green silk whispering its own siren song around my shoulders. I hope to have the opportunity to hear the whole band playing for the Corvallis Belly Dance Performance Guild some time soon.
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