Every musician I have profiled in this series of blogs are wonderful, talented, and very nice people. This time I might have picked the nicest of the nice to write about. Both of these are gentlemen, kind, helpful, and knowledgeable in the music we play and, generally, in life.
It is truly a pleasure being in this ensemble with fellow musicians like Eli and Ed.
Eli:
Eli, 42, was born in and raised in Chicago. He fell in love with anthropology which he majored in at UIC. He went on to the University of Montana to earn both his masters and PhD in the subject. Currently, he teaches at Northwestern
It has been a great pleasure having dinner with Eli before practices in the Logan Center Café and sitting next to him in practices. His is a very smart fellow and a wealth of general knowledge that speaks to how well-read he is. His perspectives are generally unique and always thought provoking. Becoming friends with Eli has been a real bonus of being part of MEME. More often than not, when we are playing a new and complicated piece for the first time, I lose my place in the music which is peppered with dal segnols, codas, sections, and repeats. I will ask Eli, “Do you know where we are?” Sometimes, he will point to a measure but most of the time he looks at me, shrugs… and we laugh.
Eli has a wonderful ethnic heritage. He is both Krajina Serbian and Little Shell Band of Chippewa-Cree. I asked Eli what brought him the Middle Eastern Music, thinking it was from his Serbian-Croatian roots and the influence the Ottoman Empire had on that culture. That wasn’t quite the answer, however. It turns out that his maternal grandfather was a hydro-engineer working for Bechtel. During and after World War II, he worked in India, Indonesia, and Iran. His mother’s half-brother was Uzbek. So, she grew up listening to regional music form those various countries and cultures. She continued that play it at home after she got married and had children. Eli’s brother was a huge Ravi Shankar fan, so Eli grew up listening to this incredible mix of music growing up. He was also exposed to Greek, Serbian, and Croatian music from the neighborhood he grew up in. He played cello in grade school and later taught himself both guitar and bass guitar.
At the University of Montana, Eli met a lot of Iranians of the Bahai faith. He bought a setar from an Iranian Luthier and got some informal training from these Iranians. He was exposed to Mahmoud Sabah and Jeffery Werbock who were touring, lecturing, and performing Azeri maqam (mugham) music. He had some master lessons from these artists. In meeting Azeris living in Idaho and Montana, he learned to play the Azeri tar and dutar.
When Eli moved back to Chicago in 2011. He watched videos of and then took setar lessons from Kazem Davoudian in a formal fashion. He also took informal lessons (the sufi style of learning) from Kazem’s friend, Mohammad Fathi. His love for Persian classical and folk music was firmly established under the tutelage of these masters.
Eli came to hear that the lauta was making a return to Serbian music. Until then he never cared for the lauta or the oud. He started listening to oud virtuosos Hamza al-din and Armand Sabach. It motivated him to buy an oud and take lessons at The Old Town School of Music with Ronnie Malley. He also took lessons and workshops at Oldtown from Wanees Zarour and Majed Abu Ajamia as well. Because of his knowing Ronnie, Wanees, and Majed, Eli joined MEME in 2014 for the Persian concert and has been a part of the ensemble ever since. In 2015, he joined the Shalizar Ensemble when the ensemble leader, Negin Almassi, put out a call for musicians.
Edward:
Edward is an Assyrian from Basra, Iraq. He is in his early 70s. He is an amazing percussionist, but he is also a gifted teacher. At first, in Basra, he was physical education teacher. Today, he has an amazing skill at helping musician’s move to the next level. He quickly assesses a musician’s skill level and coaches them on playing the maqam and selections correctly. He then encourages and challenges everyone to take the next step. He never makes any feel inadequate or that they are being scolded. Ed has personally been a great advisor to me. I love his tenet in this regard, an Arabic proverb: Learn from the day you are born
Ed’s grandfather moved the family from Iraq to Belgrade. Ed’s father was born and grew up in Belgrade. Then the family came back to Iraq to be closer to family. Ed’s father was an accountant for a British petroleum company.
Growing up in Basra, they lived in the Armenian quarter. As Ed always tells me, the first melodies to hit his ears growing up in Basra were Armenian. He neighbors were a family of Armenian musicians, the Hagopians, who all worked with Edward’s father. One of the girls, Seta Hagopian, went on to be a popular singer in Iraq.
He started playing music when he was 7 or 8 years old. His mother’s brother came to live with Ed’s family for work. He played oud. He liked Abdul Wahab and Asmahan. When he played oud, he would have Ed play the rhythm which his uncle would teach “dum tak tak…” In the summer, the Armenian club near his house would have outside parties in the summer. Ed would fall asleep on the roof of the house, as was the custom in those days before air conditioning, listening to the mix of continental and traditional music. The next day, Ed would get some cans and play the rhythms he fell asleep to the night before.
Ed developed quickly. He had a set of drums and could play continental and popular music. He also, learned the def, riq, and dumbek for folk and classical Arabic music. When he was in his late teens, his friend invited him to join a middle Eastern group. A kanun player, Hamid, took Ed under his wing and taught him the maqam system and to read music and the maqam system. This training serves Ed well to this day, making him an invaluable member of MEME and a teacher to all.
Ed performed with some of the best-known musicians in Basra and Iraq. His musical talents had him in bands playing in Iraqi TV and films. He also backed-up notable Arab singers when they were in Basra. One story he related was performing with the great Lebanese singer Wadi el-Safi in the early 1970s. Ed was playing drums in an American themed nightclub. The owner of the nightclub worked with a Lebanese contractor to bring Wadi and other Lebanese singers and musicians to come to Basra for four days of concerts. The first two days the concerts went well. But, the Lebanese contractor stiffed the musicians and so the musicians refused to play, so Wadi recruited local musicians, including Ed, to play the last two days of the tour.
Ed left Iraq in January 1982 as a result of the Iraq-Iran war. He stayed with his wife and three kids in Rome for the remainder until he could he was approved to immigrate to the US. He came to Chicago because his sister lived here. Jobless for three years until 1985 he got a job as an accountant with Newark Electronics. He worked there for 27 years. Needless to say, he taught new employees the accounting basics used in the company.
Ed was happy in Chicago with its large Assyrian and Arab community. It wasn’t long before he was playing music again, mostly with traditional Arab groups. In the heyday, in the 1980s, Ed would play three to four nights a week. Combined with his working full time, Ed kept quite a schedule. The groups back then included several musicians including violin, keyboard, oud, guitar, nye, riq, def, dumbeg, singers, and belly dancers in the Arab night clubs in Chicago e.g. Juliana.
He used to play three or four nights. To play music well and not be so tired for his full-time day job, Ed established some rules for himself. Ed focused on the music, no band politics, no drinking, just he played the music he loved. In his musical career here in Chicago, he has played all over the city and toured in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and California.
Ed’s family appreciates and supports his dedication and love for the music. In MEME, we all see and admire that love. From my perspective, his love and dedication is contagious. Ed is the kind of musician that lifts the entire ensemble up.
Ed has been with MEME for the past three years. He became friends with Kathy Cantone on Facebook. Kathy is a long term member of MEME, a percussionist in her own right, and an icon in the Middle Eastern dance scene in Chicago. She is also a member of Shalizar with Eli. Kathy told Ed that she learned a lot from watching him play in night clubs and that he influenced her drumming. She invited him to play in the 2018 Persian Concert of MEME. Cathy introduced him to Wanees Zarour, our director, who also encouraged him to join the Ensemble.
Come to the Middle East Music Ensemblefor our yearly Arab Concert as we
Doors open at 4:30, come early to beat the crowds and get a seat! This event is kid-friendly and FREE with a suggested donation of $10 for general and $5 for students/children.
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The Middle East Music Ensemble (MEME) at the University of Chicago is a 45 piece orchestra that was established by the Music Department in 1997, to provide a performance space in which theoretical, practical and historical interests in Middle Eastern music could be explored, and performers from across the university and the neighboring community could share their expertise and learn from one another.
I have told many people that Edward is the Middle Eastern drummer I would like to have studied with when I was first learning to play, but his busy work schedule precluded that! However, I was able instead to start learning percussion from the late Vahi Zakarian, another iconic drummer whose technique I admired. When I saw Edward was on Facebook, I knew I just had to get him over to MEME! As for Eli, what can I say about one of the few guys I know around here who can actually play a dutar!
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