Eastern Strings by Nathan Craver
Although I had a summer of piano lessons at the age of six and sang in the children's choir at my dad's church, my musical journey really began in junior high school, where I played viola in the orchestra for three years. I also began playing the guitar at age 12 and have never stopped, except for brief periods to learn to play the many other stringed and percussion instruments I have acquired since then. Among these are the mandolin, mandocello, bass guitar, joura and balalaika - and the oud, which I had long admired but feared. Following my wife, Yosifah Rose, into the world of Middle-Eastern music helped me overcome my fear and embrace the possibilities and challenges of the microtonal Arabic maqam scales.
I studied Creative Writing, Music Theory, Voice and Electronic Music (and had a semester of flute, which I was miserable at) at San Francisco State University in the mid-70s and Computer Science, Recording Arts, Video Editing and Voice at Diablo Valley and Los Medanos Community Colleges in more recent years. In the past few years, I have studied Arabic percussion with Susu Pampanin, Mary Ellen Donald, Tobias Roberson, Ziad Islambouli and Souhail Kaspar; oud with Naser Musa and Haig Manoukian; and studied Arabic rhythms, maqam theory and Arabic ensemble music with Elias Lammam from 2004-2007.
I have performed in many different musical formats and styles throughout the Bay Area for the past thirty+ years and have also toured Mexico and Germany. I have performed and recorded with local legends such as Linda Hirschhorn, Van Rozay, Toby Mountain and Dale Miller, as well as my old bands, local folk-rockers Wunderfungus, Lost Prophets and Coconut Monkey.
I have more recently recorded and produced several solo instrumental CDs of improvised Middle-Eastern influenced pieces on various instruments. I currently play Middle-Eastern classics on oud with Al 'Azifoon.
