An accomplished and well-traveled group of musicians will bring their new band, Avaaza, to the Blue Heron stage on Saturday.
Avaaza — named after the Persian word for “voice” — plays a world music amalgam inspired by the vibrant cultures and sounds of the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia.
According to band member Jason Everett, concert-goers can also expect to hear some Gypsy and Turkish tunes as well.
“The band’s intent is to be contemporary, danceable, accessible and really fun,” Everett said.
For Everett, who has a day job as a firefighter, recruiting the band’s personnel has been a musical treasure hunt.
He said he worked with Avaaza’s lead singer, Azula, to find players who were eager to share the group’s ecumenical approach to world music.
“One by one we started adding people,” he said.
The band now has eight members playing a range of exotic instruments, including the nay (Egypian flute), darbukkah (Egyptian tabla) and an electric sitar. Everett holds down the bass line in the band, plays the sitar and sings back-up vocals. He also contributes arrangements and composes songs.
Azula, who had classical training as a mezzo-soprano coloratura before moving to Europe in the 1990s, said she was thrilled to be a part of the band.
The Michigan-born songbird, who learned to sing in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Persian while living in Paris and Vienna, enthusiastically dove into the local music scene when she moved to Vashon in 2010.
Coming to Vashon, she said, gave her a chance to reconnect with her own passion for performing — something she had put on hold in recent years while working as a consultant, project manger and organizer in the nonprofit world.
“(Vashon) was a very rich place to discover what was percolating and what I wanted to plug into,” she said.
Noting the talents of her fellow band members, she added, “I couldn’t be more humble to be involved with them.”
The band also includes Charles Reed on guitar and Terri Garrett, a clarinetist who is a member of Northwest Sinfonietta and a freelancer with the both the Seattle and Tacoma Symphonies.
Everett and Azula also recruited flutist and keyboardist Michael Nageub and drummer George Sadak to be in the band. Both Nageub and Sakak were born in Egypt and have had long careers as musicians.
S. Chandra Naraine, another percussionist for the group, was born in Guyana, South America. Rounding out the group is Tracy Helming, a violinist who is also a professional belly dancer.
Everett said he’s looking forward to the show at the Blue Heron, which will be the band’s second gig. The first show took place at the Red Bicycle Bistro, where he said the dance floor was packed.
This time around, he said, the show will be only a little more sedate.
“We’re selected a repertoire that is a little more technical and challenging, that the audience can sit and listen to,” he said. “But if people want to get up and dance we’re not going to stop them.”
