Baris Kaya has been in the US since 2003. In 2004 he started playing with Barakka, featuring Roger Mgrdichian on Oud, Joseph Tayoun on dumbek and himself on guitar and vocals. Barakka has had a number of gigs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 2006 they recorded a demo of three songs, two traditional Turkish and the third is an acoustic middle easter rock song written during his solo career. Barakka had just finished their first single called Agit which consists of two versions of the song. The first track of Agit is a rock-metal version featuring Nick Menza, former Megadeth drummer. The second track of Agit is an acoustic middle eastern verion.
Roger Mgrdichian specializes in the oud, an ancestor of the European lute. He is from an Armenian-American musical family: his father and uncle (Roger and George Mgrdichian) were members of the Gomidas Band, a well-known Philadelphia-based Armenian ensemble in the1960s. His uncle went on to become one of the most accomplished oud players in the world.
Roger performs regularly in diverse styles of Middle Eastern music (Armenian dance music, belly dance accompaniment, classical Arab and Turkish music, Turkish folk and Arab pop) in the Philadelphia area and regionally with several different ensembles.
Since 2001 he has been performing and teaching about the diversity and similarities of Middle Eastern cultures for Strings for Schools, and has also performed with Intercultural Journeys, concert/seminar events hosted by cellist Udi Bar-David. A member of the Jewish/Arab ensemble Atzilut: Concerts for Peace, he has worked with Simon Shaheen and singers Jack Kessler and Maurice Chedid. Roger has participated in concerts with Flamenco Ole, and has recently started a collaboration with flamenco guitarist Tito Rubio for the Herencia Arabe project which explores North African/Middle Eastern roots in flamenco music. He is also currently working on several new compositions for Jaffna which highlight the interplay between the oud and the sarod playing of Raji Malik.
Joe Tayoun, a second generation Lebanese American, is an accomplished Middle Eastern percussionist. He started playing at age eight at his family’s renowned Middle East Restaurant in Philadelphia where live authentic Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, and Israeli music and dance were performed nightly for forty years. Learning from many of the area’s top Middle Eastern players, Joe became adept at the many styles of drumming within these different traditions. He also performed much of this repertoire with an ensemble at the Nile restaurant in Philadelphia, and with other ensembles locally and nationally. Having taught music in a New Jersey public school for years, he currently teaches drumming at St. Maron’s Hall in the heart of Philadelphia’s Lebanese community, in part, through PFP's FAME program. In the summers, he teaches at Al-Bustan Arabic Day Camp along with Middle Eastern dancer Michele Tayoun. He also conducts workshops at conferences and universities.
oseph’s performance history includes seasons at two of the world’s largest casinos: the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and Foxwoods in Connecticut. He has participated in several residencies with Zakir Hussain and with Simon Shaheen at Swarthmore College and The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. He accompanied Yair Dolal of Israel for performances in Princeton, New Jersey, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and performs with Philadelphia Orchestra cellist Ohad "Udi" Bar David, and his Intercultural Journeys ensemble. For the past decade, Joseph has also been playing "Concerts for Peace" with the Arabic-Jewish ensemble Atzilut, with whom he has performed at the United Nations, and traveled throughout the U.S. as well as Germany and Portugal. Currently participating in PFP's Folk Arts Education program, and collaborating in Tito Rubio's PFP artist residency this year, he will be one of PFP's artists in residence in 2005-2006.
Barakka is currently working on new tracks in the studio and can be heard playing in the tristate area...
