After I completed a Bachelor of Music at UC San Diego in 1998, I went on an eight-month journey in Spain. This was my first trip to Europe and while I was there I was exposed to styles of music that were very different from any I had yet experienced. I found ethnic styles like Flamenco, Arabic and North African music, Romany (Gypsy) music, Sephardic and Klezmer music every bit as intriguing as the rock, jazz, free improvisation and classical styles with which I was familiar. When I returned to the United States in late 1999, I began exploring the interrelatedness of these Eastern styles and how I could relate to them, both artistically and culturally.
I knew I was on the right track when I first heard Goran Bregovic’s soundtrack for the film ‘Underground’ by Emir Kusturica. This music from the former Yugoslavia immediately spoke to me. The intensity of expression I found there, ranging from breathtaking joy to overwhelming tragedy in almost the same moment, resonated quite strongly.
Never one to be satisfied with half-measures, I dove into Balkan music headlong. I began attending the Eastern European Folklife Center’s Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, known as Balkan Camp. This was a doorway into a world that I felt I was always meant to be a part of, and through which I have found many teachers and collaborators, as well as supporters and fans of my artistic development.
Through the community that exists around these workshops, and through independent travels in the Balkans, I’ve had the opportunity to take lessons from a host of influential players, including Souren Baronian, Selim Sesler, Ferus Mustafov and the late Sami-Buco Zekirovski (of Esma Redzepova’s band), Goran Alachki and Bajsa Arifovska. It’s also been my good fortune to have shared the stage with such guiding lights of New York City’s Eastern European music scene as Frank London and Matt Darriau (Klezmatics), Yuri Yunakov (Ivo Papasov Band), Seido Salifoski and Ismail Lumanovski (NY Gypsy All-Stars).