Music Monday: Al Azifoon Has A Passion For Music From The Middle East

Nathan and Yosifah Rose Craver have been a major part of the Martinez music scene for many years. With Brian Walker and Robert Perry, they helped found and establish the Martinez Music Society in the 1980s, a loose affiliation of musicians who came together to support each other's musical endeavors at local establishments. 

Nathan Craver was also guitarist and bassist with local band Cocoanut Monkey for several years, but since 2005 he and Yosifah Rose have been performing in the band Al 'Azifoon. 

The public is invited to come hear Al 'Azifoon tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Martinez Library. Admission is free.

Martinez Patch asked Craver to tell us a little bit about the band and the music. 

Q: Tell us about the band Al Azifoon. How did it come to pass? 

A: In 2005, my wife Yosifah Rose and I founded our band Al 'Azifoon which means "the musicians" in Arabic.  Our band originally grew out of a weekly Arabic music ensemble class that we belonged to for three years.  A group of us from the class began to rehearse together twice a week, and then we began to play recitals together, and pretty soon we were a band!  As with any musical group, over time there have been membership changes.  However, once we became a formal band, Yosifah and I determined that Al 'Azifoon needed a clear mission statement, and this has helped us to stay true to our musical vision for the group.  We truly love Arabic music, and we are dedicated to sharing our love of this beautiful music with audiences.  Al 'Azifoon's musical  mission is to foster a greater appreciation for Arabic music, art, and culture through educational out-reach programs and community musical performances in the greater Bay Area. 

Q: What led you to this kind of music? 

A: As a musician and songwriter, I have always found inspiration in Americana folk, country, blues, rock, and jazz, but I also had a deep love for  "world music."  In 1987, I met my wife, Yosifah Rose, and we formed a musican duo Lost Prophets playing original and folk rock music.   For the first ten years of our musical partnership, I led the way and we played music that I knew and loved.  Then dynamic of our musical collaboration gradually started to shift, and my wife's deep love of Arabic music and her desire to study it led us to a completely new musical direction.     

Q: How long have you been playing music? 

A: I began studying viola in junior high school, but like every boy in the early 70's, I wanted to be a rock and roller.  When I was 13 my father gave me his acoustic guitar that he had studied Hawaiian steel guitar on as a young boy.  I spent every spare minute from then on teaching myself guitar with inspiration and guidance from my musical heros via LP records. Eventually, I also acquired and learned to play mandolin, bass, drums, and of course an assortment of electric guitars.   I also play oud, joura, and Arabic percussion instruments such as doumbek, duff, and riqq.

Q: Where do you learn to play these various instruments? 

I play oud and back up percussion for Al 'Azifoon.  My wife Yosifah sings, plays qanun, and plays back up percussion as well.  My wife and I began to formally study Classical Arabic music in 2000 with a variety of master teachers who are in the Bay Area.

The first step was that we attained a basic proficency in Arabic percussion (iqat) by studying with Susu Pamanin, Tobias Roberson, Mary Ellen Donald,  and a few other master percussionists who specialize in Arabic music.  Although I enjoy playing percussion, I am a string player at heart, so when I had a chance to buy a used oud (al 'ud) in 2002, that soon became my primary instrument.  In 2004, Yosifah and I began weekly group classes and private lessons  with Ustedz Elias Lammam who graduated from the Academy of Classical Arabic Music in Beruit, Lebanon.  Our three year progam of weekly study with Ustedz Lamman included classical Arabic music theory, the maqamat (modal tonal system), and an ensemble class where we focused on classical Arabic repetoire. In 2006, we traveled to Cairo, Egypt to attend the annual Classical Arabic Music Festival held at the Cairo Opera House and we also attended a month-long intensive Arabic language program at the Kalimat Language School.  We also bought some amazing musical instruments including the oud that I now usually play with our band. Musically and artistically, Yosifah and I consider ourselves to be life-long students and works-in-progress because Arabic music is an incredibly rich and challenging subject of study. 

Q: What kind of gigs do you get? 

Al 'Azifoon performs Classical Arabic music for schools, public libraries, charitable events, cultural events, as well as for private parties and weddings.  Al 'Azifoon also performs a monthly show called Dancers' Night on the first Sunday of every month at El Morocco Restaurant in Pleasant Hill, California to showcase and celebrate Middle Eastern dance and live music in a family-friendly venue. 

Q: What advice would you have for up and coming musicians? 

Stay humble, be grateful, be curious, be a life-long student, and keep growing...this is true for musicians, artists, and everyone else too!