Out of the Darj من ضارج
Birmingham's Middle Eastern Percussion Ensemble
Meet the members of Out of the Darj
Kevin was formerly Assistant Principal Percussionist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for 15 years. He has also performed and recorded with the St. Louis Symphony. Kevin is well versed in many musical styles and has performed in jazz, rock, funk, classical, and Scottish ensembles. He served as Lead Drummer with the Alabama Pipes and Drums for 5 years. Most recently Kevin has been studying Middle Eastern percussion with an emphasis on doumbek, frame drum, and riq. Kevin holds degrees in music education and computer science. An experienced teacher, he has served on the faculties of several universities.
Mark Freeman
Mark fell in love with Middle Eastern drumming after seeing Issam Houshan perform at the first Belly Dance Superstars concert in Birmingham in 2004. In May of 2004 he started taking classes with Ryan Morrison, of Karachi Rocket, and quickly found his place with the group as a doumbek player. In 2008 he left Karachi Rocket and began teaching classes at Devyani Dance Company. He also performs with his band, Out of the Darj, Birminghams Middle Eastern Pecussion Ensemble. He has performed for several local dance troupes as well as multiple guest performers. Mark has taken workshops and classes from many renowned percussionist and continues to seek out chances to learn at every opportunity.
Rich Miller
Rich has entertained visions of himself as a tavern-hopping minstrel-percussionist for far longer than is probably good for him. Since in real life he's a computer programmer, he's had to content himself with enjoying good beer and trying to keep up with Out of the Darj on the practice evenings they let him hang around. His cabaret-bellydancing wife Amy keeps Rich motivated to practice in his own right; playing for her and performing with Out of the Darj keeps him off the streets and out of the bars on Friday nights, which is probably to everyone's benefit.
Robert Stewart
Riqq, tar (frame drum), occasionally djembe and assorted noisemakers.
Robert Stewart is a graphic artist and photographer who has been living in
Alabama since 1968.
Before discovering Middle-Eastern rhythms, he had explored Native American and African drumming.
Robert began studying Middle Eastern percussion with Ryan Morrison in late 2000, and early on put aside doumbek to focus on riqq and frame drums.
He joined Ultra Hip Revue (in an early incarnation as Dancing Bellies) in the
summer of 2001, and continues to perform with Karachi Rocket (UHR's current band).
Robert also plays with most any other ensembles that will put up with him, including Out of the Darj and, occasionally, the informal Atlanta Middle-Eastern music salon.
Robert has been playing with Out of the Darj since its inception as a drumming class recital group in 2007.
Ryan Carlson
Ryan developed a love for middle eastern music at an early age after discovering a vintage bellydance lp at a local thrift shop. A chance meeting with Ryan Morrison at a Buddhist meditation group quickly led to a spot in Morrison's group, Karachi Rocket as a bendir, tar and doumbek player. Since then he has had the privilege of learning under and even performing with a few renowned musicians. Ryan's love and appreciation for this style of music continues to grow and he looks forward to practicing and performing whenever given the chance. Having played with friend and bandmate Mark Freeman in Karachi Rocket, Ryan welcomed a spot in Mark's group, Out of the Darj in 2007. When he's not playing drums Ryan is enjoying his other passion, visual art.
Vikas Hegde
Born and raised in Bombay (Mumbai) India, music has always been an integral part of all aspects of Vikas's life. Growing up in Hindu culture, every festival, religious event and holiday was full of celebratory music. This along with the proliferation of song and dance numbers in all the Bollywood films created a close connection to music which translated to a love of singing and drumming for Vikas. Though he would always drum on anything he could find to use as a drum, he started formal drumming lessons with Mark Freeman in 2007 and has been a member of Out of the Darj since it's inception.
