Summer Music Festival to feature Salaam

Courtesy photo Featuring Dena El Saffar (left) on joza and other stringed instruments, percussionist Tim Moore and others, Salaam will bring the sounds of the Middle East and North Africa to the Greencastle Summer Music Festival at Gobin Church from 7:30-9 p.m. Wednesday.

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues its weekly concert series Wednesday night with a performance by Salaam.

The series offers weekly concerts featuring "friends making music for friends" which are free to the public thanks to the support of donations by local individuals and businesses including the Inn at DePauw and an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation.

The concerts take place at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church from 7:30-9 p.m.

"Salaam" is the Arabic word for peace. The ensemble explores a cultural mosaic of music from countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

The group's innovative arrangements, improvisations and compositions reflect the traditional styles of these countries as well as the band's fresh interpretations.

Each member of Salaam is well versed on many instruments, both Western and traditional, giving the group the flexibility to evoke the many colors, textures and sounds of the Middle East.

Salaam has been together since 1993 and has played with international artists including Real World recording artists The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Grammy Award winner Youssou N'Dour, Moroccan Gnawa musician Hassan Hakmoun, Iraqi Maqam masters Hamid El-Saadi and Farida, Turkish multi-instrumentalist Emin S. Sağbaş, Egyptian trumpeter Sami El-Bably, Azeri Kemanche player Munis Sharifov and more.