Bands
Mazaj Ensemble
Mazaj Ensemble
MAZAJ, play a combination of Traditional Art and Folk music from the Middle East, on Oud, Arabic Percussion and Arabic Nay Flute, Egyptian Mizmar & Saxophone. Mazaj have performed nationally and internationally at many events such as Glastonbury Festival UK , WOMAD Festival UK, Bergen Festival in Norway, Bristol Colston Hall, Oxford University, The Namaste Club in Ibiza, Pelmke Zentrum in Hagen, Germany and the Fethiye World Music Festival in Turkey.
Band Members of the Mazaj Band have also recorded for feature films and TV Channels such as, Aljazeera, BBC, WDR – Germany and he Who Said No (2012), Tamasha Cultural Institute, Director Ahmad Reza Darvish and Producer Behrooz Paknahad, Iran.
Ensemble Line
CHAS WHITAKER - DARABUKA / DOUF / RIQ / ZILLS.
Chas has been playing Middle Eastern and North African percussion for over 20 years. Predominately self-taught he has travelled extensively across Egypt, Turkey and Morocco where he also studied. Chas has recorded Middle Eastern Percussion for the BBC andAljazeera, he is a full time member for Souk Bab El Louk and has performed with the Hossam Ramzy Egyptian Ensemble.
Maren Lueg - TRADITIONAL MIDDLE EASTERN WIND INSTRUMENTS - NEY, TURKISH CLARINET, ZURNA AND SAXOPHONE, SILVER AND WOODEN FLUTES.
Maren past her Masters in Near and Middle Eastern Music Performance with Merit at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She has also studied Turkish and Arabic Music and Nay flute in Cairo and Istanbul.
Over the last 10 years Maren has been performing regularly with western and MiddleEastern Music Ensembles national and internationally such as The Mazaj Band, The Babylon Arabic Band, Souk Bab-El- Louk. Maren has worked as a theatre musician specialised in Arabic Wind Instruments for the Arabian Nights Show at the RoyalShakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. She has recorded Arabic and Turkish Nay flute for Aljazeera, The German TV Program WDR and the Feature Film: He Who Said No (2012), Tamasha Cultural Institute, Director Ahmad Reza Darvish and Producer Behrooz Paknahad.
RUSSELL HARRIS - OUD, SAZ, REBAB, MIDDLE EASTERN PERCUSSION
Russell has been involved in the study and performance of Middle Eastern music since the mid 1980’s – After a initial period of study in Konya,Turkey specialising in Anatolian folk traditions with Ustat Ahmet Ozdemir, a renowned player of Oud and Saz ( long necked lute ) he broadened the scope of his study to include Arabic instrumental
styles, specialising in Oud and Percussion. Russell has
performed extensively throughout the UK with the Mazaj Band and Bazigah, Taaliqa and Panacea and with a range of international artists including Adel Salameh and Naziha Azzouz.
