Emam & Friends Presents: Gari Hegedus (AKA Gary Haggerty) oud, violin, sarod, mando-cello Watch Concert Video samples featuring Gari From a concert @ U of WI - Eau Claire Smile My Friend Dance of the Hermit From a concert @ Le Petit Trianon Theatre - San Jose, CA Smile My Friend Listen to music samples featuring Gari (from "Sacred Insanity" by "Emam & Friends") Tinkers Dance (Gari on Oud, Mando-Cello) Gypsy Song (Gari on Oud, Violin, Mando-Cello) Dance of the Hermit - Part 5 (Gari on Oud) (from "Is This Real?" by "Emam & Friends") Artichoke (Gari on Oud) Malkino (Gari on Violin) (from "Voices of the Goddess" by "Emam & Friends") Ode to Zanko (Gari on Oud) Whisper in my ear (Gari on Oud) Whisper in my ear - Ending (Gari on Oud) Gari Hegedus has been performing traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa for the past twenty years. Gari performs on a wide range of traditional instruments including: Oud [Middle Eastern Lute], violin, Turkish Saz, Yayli Tambor, Irish pennywhistle, Mandocello and flute. He began devoting his life to music with the study of Celtic and Bretagne music. From there he was led eastward into the intense practice and performance of Turkish classical and Mevlevi ceremonial music. He toured with the Mevlevi Dervish Order of America for several years, and continues to participate in Turkish ceremonial and devotional gatherings around the country. Gari is widely sought after as a highly accomplished and versatile recording and performing artist. His repertoire and playing styles reach outward from Turkey and Greece into the Arab lands, Iran and India. Gari began his musical career with fiddle and mandolin, and had devoted a decade of his life to the violin before learning of his ancestral Hungarian name, Hegedus, meaning "violinist." Gari's main instruments are the oud, violin, saz and mandocello, yet his talent is also proficiently and soulfully expressed on many other instruments, including the yayli tanbur, sarod and setar. Being largely self taught, with an insatiable drive for the discovery of new depths and intricacies of playing, he asserts a distinctive talent for capturing the delicate essence of traditional music, offering a passionate, heartfelt uniqueness and freedom of expression. As a composer and performer, Gari has developed the art of taksim (improvisation) to a deeply soulful level for which he has become highly recognized.