Old friends:

The first photo was taken in Seattle with Omar Baptiste, a well respected, charming man from Seattle with a vast knowledge of folkdance and music. He was a mentor to many of the Northwest dancers and much beloved. The second photo was taken when Hamza el Din was in residence at the University of Washington. He generously gave his time to both Muzzy and John as a mentor and teacher. It was Hamza who first inspired me to into the field of research while I was still in high school and discovered his albums on Vanguard Records. I had the incredible honor of dancing for him when he came to one of our performances at the Seattle Center, and later was thrilled to see him in a small concert setting as part of his time as an adjunct professor at UW. The last photo was taken at Town Hall in Seattle at a performance Bou-Saada did with Sirocco. Sol and Armando were always good to us as we wound our way through the learning process of Middle Eastern music and dance. Sol was an old acquaintance of Muzzy's from the folk music scene in Southern California in the early 1960's. I saw Sol and David Lindley with the rock band Kaleidescope, when they performed at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco in 1967. It was the first time I saw belly dancers with a rock band, and I beleive it was Marta Schill, who was with Sol at that time. We finally met in person when I became friends with Farideh/Cathryn Balk, who moved from the Bay area to Vancouver B.C. She and Sol had a daughter, Fairuza Balk, and Sirocco (Sol and Armando) often stayed with us in Bellingham on their way north to play in Vancouver B.C. Armando passed away in December 2012 and will be sorely missed for his great warmth, generous praise and encouragement and enormous talent. He was truly a Great Soul.