Biography
Ali Reza Analouei (Ensemble Master)
Ali Reza Analouei was born in Esfahan, Iran. Dr. Analouei has undertaken the lifetime quest to amplify and apply the concepts of Sufism, Erfaan, and music within his playing, his teaching, and his personal development. He began playing Tombak at the age of ten, and as a young member of the Kakh-e Javanaan Ensemble, was privileged to interact personally and even sometimes perform with many of the greatest Persian musicians. His command earned him first prize among all of the high school students in Iran, adjudicated by Ostad Amir Nasser Eftetah, among others. The work and style of Iran’s late Master of Tombak, Ostad Jahangeer Malek deeply informs Ali’s playing. His teaching is firmly rooted in the work of Ostad Hosain Tehrani, enriched by some of the contributions of Ostad Malek, Ostad Muhammad Esmaili, and Bahman Rajabi. The training received by Dr. Analouei’s apprentices is unique in that the styles, tablature, and techniques of the major Tombak Masters are explored each in their own right, and contrasted with each other. An overview of these elements, complete with extensive documentation, is the subject of professional- and university-level seminars which he offers with the SAMA Ensemble performance residency package.
After taking his Doctorate Degree at Manchester University in England, Ali migrated to the United States in 1986 and has been playing and teaching Tombak based in Washington, DC. Metropolitan area. Currently a member of several important music groups based in the Mid-Atlantic U.S., Dr. Analouei has played internationally in many concerts and ensembles over the past two decades, including various radio and television shows. He is the founder of the SAMA Ensemble, a large group featuring Tombak, Daf and vocals (whose name references the best known of the ritual dances of the Sufis, characterized by whirling) offers performances and recitals in the Mid-Atlantic U.S.; and of the SAMA Summit, which is a smaller, elite group performing three kinds of works: those which amplify the Sufi tradition of melding ecstatic music and poetry; those which showcase the astonishing range of sounds, dynamics and textures of the Tombak and Daf; and those which extend the sonic possibilities to include other select instruments, and guest artists.
Beyond the top-tier concert venues which have showcased the SAMA Ensemble such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Theater, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Geographic Society (under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees) the SAMA Summit has performed for the full General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, for the prestigious American Folk Festival, and for several events for the Maryland and Virginal States Arts Council. Tel 202-329-8176 Email ali.analouei@gsa.gov
Naser Khorasani
Naser Khorasani is a Master of the Daf; a frame drum traditionally used in Sufi mysticism and Persian folk music, and a highly respected Master of Persian Classical Music Theory and Practice. He is originally from Tabriz, Iran and currently resides in the Washington DC area. He is a Psychologist and member of the American Psychological Association, with a specialty in music therapy and meditation. He studied under Mr.Masood Habibi one of the most prominent Daf players in the world and under the guidance of Mr. A. Kaveh for the tanboor and divan.
He has traveled world-wide as manager and player of Mr.Habibi's orchestra of more than 60 Daf players to perform at Sufi festivals such as the Konya Rumi International Sufi concert in Turkey, Europe 2001-2003 and the Jahan-e-Khosro Sufi Festival (2001-2005) in India. He has performed with some of the most famous ensembles including Hadis, Masnavi, and Dalahoo for various venues including the opening ceremony for the National Olympic Canoe Committee. His recent performances in the District of Columbia include Georgetown University, The Washington DC Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, Library of Congress Folk life Concerts and the Smithsonian Folk life Festival. In 2006 the Maryland State Arts Council recognized his outstanding contributions with a Maryland Traditions grant. This past spring the United Nations honored Naser Khorasani to perform for the assembly in commemoration of the Persian-language poet and philosopher Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi.( 2007 ).
In 2007 as manager and member of The Dalahoo Sufi Ensemble Khorasani began a global tour. To date the ensemble has performed in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver (Canada), Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York ,San Francisco (United States), Damascus, Doha, Dubai, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Tajikistan (Asia).
Naser Khorasani directs the Daf division of SAMA Ensemble and currently teaches at the Center for SAMA Ensemble Music training center Persian (SEMTC) in Vienna, Virginia.
Steve Bloom
Since 1969 Steve Bloom has played percussion professionally in thousands of performances and recordings in Cuban, Latin, Brazilian, Jazz, Rock and Roll, New Age, Celtic and Middle Eastern and Persian styles. A founding member of both the SAMA Ensemble and the SAMA Summit, he is often featured as a percussion soloist with the group, and also serves as research assistant, extending the Ensemble’s comparative catalog of Daf and Tombak styles, technique, and tablature pursued by some contemporary developing Persian and Central Asian masters, through personal instruction and video documentation. He has developed a participatory program with Mrs. Giti Abrishami which spotlights the training they have both received from the Ensemble’s Directors, with further elucidation of the context of Persian history, geography and culture.
With an academic foundation including Music Theory and Composition, Piano and Percussion technique, Bloom has since achieved a command of African and related traditions of drumming and song by the Oral Tradition, apprenticing with several fine Cuban masters; a Senegalese Griot named Djimo Kouyate; the Nigerian patriarch Babatunde Olatunji (each of whom he recorded an album with); and three Sufi master drummers, Adnan Sarhan, dervish of Bagdad, Dr. Ali Analouei, and Naser Khorasani (both from Iran). He has studied since 2001 with Dr. Analouei, and his Daf studies under Naser Khorasani continue to this day, building on their formal Master/Apprenticeship roles fostered under the auspices of the Maryland State Arts Council. Bloom has performed and/or recorded with other noted artists like Tito Puente, Gregg Karukas, John Faddis, Dennis Cahill, bassists Andy Gonzales and Michael Manring, and flute masters John Wubbenhorst, Paul Horn and Nestor Torres, and a Persian tar prodigy named Behfar Bahadoran.
Since 1980 Bloom has studied in Cuba and elsewhere with masters of the bata drumming and guiro traditions and the ceremonial cantos of Afro-Cuban Santeria. Based in the DC area, Bloom directs and/or plays in several fine groups there. Bloom has designed workshops and clinics, some suitable for accomplished players and others recommended for beginners, to accelerate mastery of musical skills.
Behnaz Bibizadeh (Sama Junior instructor)
Born in Iran, Behnaz has been studying Tombak and Daf under the guidance of Dr. Ali Analouei exclusively for many years and is the alternate teacher of the SAMA Ensemble’s junior students. A prominent member of both the SAMA Ensemble and the SAMA Summit, it is the voice of Behnaz most often heard when the group is fusing ecstatic Sufi poetry and drumming. She is the recipient of the Virginia Folklife 2009 apprenticeship award under the guidance of Dr. Analouei. She has appeared in all of sama’s performances. She has also played in several concerts with the Chakavak and other Ensembles.