Souri Shirzadi
Traditional handcraft has evolved to an extremely fine level in Iran,
where Souri was born. Souri’s skills as an artisan are wide-ranging
and impeccable. She was a premier Tombak student with Dr.Analouei
but now concentrates solely on her favorite instrument, the Daf. She
has performed in many concerts, including the Chakavak and the Sama
Ensemble concerts in 2005 and the Norooz concert at the Kennedy
Center in March 2006. She is currently studying Daf with her mentor
Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in
Vienna, Virginia.
Giti Abrishami
One of the area’s first, and most devoted of the current apprentices
with Dr. Ali Analouei on the Tombak, she began studying Persian
classical music in 1999. Born in Kerman, Iran, she has been a prominent member of the Sama Ensemble and has appeared in all of their performances.
In 2003 she joined the Center for Persian Classical Music apprentice on
the Daf and Tonboor under the Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
She has also played in several concerts with the Chakavak and Nava Ensembles.
Azam Shariatpanahi
She was born in Iran. She started learning the art of Tombak
playing under the guidance of Dr.Analouei for two years before
she began embarking upon learning how to play the Daf. She
has been taking Daf ,Tanboor and Vocal lessons From Mr.Naser Khorasaniat the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia
for the past two years. She is also a vocalist and has performed
in many of SAMA ensemble concerts including Norooz festival
of 2005 at Kennedy Center, chakavak concert at Corcoran Gallery of art is Washington DC in 2003 and Chakavak Concert of 2005
Hasti Esmaeli
Hasti was born in Virginia, in 1989. During her elementary and middle school years she played the violin and the flute. Cherishing her Iranian culture as a birthright, she was motivated to undertake her apprenticeship on the Daf with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
Nazanin Zolriasatein
Nazanin is a developing poet and painter, and credits her family background for instilling a central place in her life for Beauty, Art and Nature. Born in 1979 in Iran, into a family with generations of experience creating fine art, especially Calligraphy, she also credits the spiritual power of the Daf for bringing a smooth melodic rhythm into her life. After introductory Daf training with Mr. Azadi in Shiraz, she has been studying and playing Daf with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
Audrey Elizabeth
With a degree in theater direction from Pennington College, Audrey was a student for eight years of Adnan Sarhan, Sufi master from Baghdad. She has taught and studied in Spain, and studied dance in Uzbekistan and India. For twelve years she taught movement meditation and dance, as well as founding Dance without Borders in New Orleans. Fleeing Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she moved to Washington D.C. and immediately began studying Daf with Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
She has been performing with the Sama Ensemble since March 2006.
Haydeh Eradat
Born in Iran, Haydeh began training in Persian Classical Music Theory with Ms. Fereshteh Houshmand in Tehran in 1993. Since moving to the United States in 1997, she has pursued a calling she has always felt and undertook her Daf studies with Mr. Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia beginning in July 2005, and is a member of the Sama Ensemble. She holds both a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
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.
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 Analoui, and Easer Khorasani (both from Iran) at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
He has studied since 2001 with Dr. Analoui, and recently has received a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to continue his formal apprenticeship on the Daf with Naser Khorasani. A member of the Sama Ensemble, he has been featured with them on several occasions as a percussion soloist. 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.
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.
Bahareh Sarrami
In 2007, Bahareh graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. And from an early age, she had great passion for music and was gravitated especially towards Classical Persian music. At age 7, she began playing the Piano and later on was a student of Golnoush Khaleghi. While Bahareh enjoyed the Piano, she yearned to study a traditional Persian instrument and at the age of 13, she began to play the Santur, or Hammer Dulcimer, under the guidance of Shahriar Saleh. Bahareh performed with the Nava Ensemble at the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center on several occasions and often alongside the Saba Ensemble. And since 2008, Bahareh has been playing the Daf as a student of Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
Zohreh Bakhshizadeh
Born and raised in Abadan, Iran, Zohreh received her
BS and MS in Economics from Central Missouri State
University. On the side, she recently commenced a
masters program in Social Work at Catholic University.
Although her studies did not include musical
instruments, she has always had an ear for music. As
a youngster, she played the trumpet and years later,
she pursued piano. Unfornately her practice came to a
standstill during the Iran-Iraq war. And now, with 2
daughters graduated from college, she is returning to
music and to her Persian roots. She is currently
studying daf and vocal with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia and hopes to one day
perform alongside her younger daughter, who is an avid
santur player.
Sam Zahed
Sam was born in Maryland, in 1996. He is in six grades at Rocky hill middle school his hobbies is playing soccer and Football. He had interest in playing Daf with Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia and hopes to one day And He Studies Farsi and Iranian Culture.
Nancy A. Fitzgerald
Currently studying daf with mentor and teacher Mr. Naser Khorasani since spring 2008. Previously studied briefly with Dr. Ali Analouei and performed with the Nava Ensemble at the Washington, DC Folk Festival at Glen Echo, Maryland.
In February 2008, released a CD with Stream Ohrstrom, Born on Wind and Fire. The music is entirely improvisation, with Nancy on singing bowls and Stream on flutes anddrums. People who are not related to either Stream or Nancy have praised the CD as “meditative and energizing.”
Played djembe (West African drum) with The Blue Dragons in concert on several occasions.
Sara was born on October 24, 1983 in Dubai, UAE. She has been a student of Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia since June 2009. She is currently attending The School of Islamic Sufism, MTO where she was inspired to learn the Daf. In Sufism, the Daf is used during Zikr whichliterally means remembrance. Professionally, Sara is a Business Development Manager specializing in technology sales. After working over nine years for several technology corporations she recently established her own consulting firm based out of Ashburn, VA.
Tricia Collins: CPT, RD, LNT,MA
Tricia graduated in 1981 with a BS in Exercise Physiology. She began personal training but found her clients needed nutritional guidance. In 1999 she graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Nutritional Sciences and subsequently became a Registered Dietician and Licensed Nutritionist. In 2007 she received a MA in Integrative Medicine. She plans to pursue a Psy.D degree and combine it with her love of the arts to offer an Art of Medicine approach to healing. She is currently studying Daf with her mentor Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble music (SEMC) center in Vienna, Virginia.
Haydeh Eradat
Born in Iran, Haydeh began training in Persian Classical Music Theory with Ms. Fereshteh Houshmand in Tehran in 1993. Since moving to the United States in 1997, she has pursued a calling she has always felt and undertook her Daf studies with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble music (SEMC) center in Vienna, Virginia beginning in July 2005, and is a member of the Sama Ensemble. She holds both a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
Shideh Hafezi
Faribandeh Fayzmehr
Fari was born in Tehran Iran in 1957. She went to England at the age of 13, where she began her piano studies. Fari attended St. James’s College and Princess Helena College and advanced her studies in mathematics and English literature. She began her vocal studies August 2005 with Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia.
Payam Mafi
He is 14 years old. He attend Cooper Middle School. He played guitar for 5 years when he was younger and now he has converted his music studies to the daf.
He began his Daf studies with Mr. Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia, since 2009.
Dana Esmaili
Kaivon Tolooei:
He has been studying daf with Mr. Easer Khorasani since January 2009. He grew up listening to classical persian music and i have always loved the sound and warmth of the daf in the music. He always have been drawn to its full and beautiful sound and have always wanted to learn how to play the instrument but never have had the chance until he found out about Mr. Khorasani. He has been playing music since he was really young and for the past 14 years . He has been playing drums and percussion. he play in a flamenco/middle eastern band in Denver, CO and continue to try to incorporate more daf into the music. He is currently trying to start a non-profit music therapy organization that meets at children hospitals and centers to play and teach music with the children. Since he was a kid he has been listening to persian music and dreaming about playing the daf and now he is living that dream!
Mandana Mafi
She Studied jewelry design at California State University, Long BeachClass of 1985 · Opened her first jewelry store in Newport beach ca. at the age of 23 then moved to Virginia and expanded my business and opened 3 more stores in Tysons corner, fashion center at Pentagon and Montgomery mall. currently she is the vice president and design consultant to The building group, the company that her husband and she have founded in year 2005.
She is currently studying vocal with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia .
Shahrzad Movafagh:
She has studied in the fields of psychology, clinical pharmacy and pharmacology. She has been
involved in research and teaching in the above fields. She spend a good deal of her time reading,
writing and she is interested in singing and playing classical persian instruments.She is currently studying vocal with Mr.Naser Khorasani at the Sama Ensemble Music Center (SEMC) in Vienna, Virginia .
