Mediterranean Mystique

We will work with you to customize our show to your needs.

We can provide anything from serenely exotic Mediterranean background music for a cocktail hour, to an all out dance party! ....Whether it be bellydance, Greek/Balkan folk dance, Turkish Chiftitell, or just all around dance music. We bring the Mediterranean to your event!

We have played events at Chicago's Field Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, and The Oriental Institute in Hyde Park, and many hotels, banquet halls, and concert arenas around the US and the world.

We have our own sound system which is perfect for the average size restaurant, outdoor gathering, or house party. At larger venues, we can work with the sound tech to feed them our audio signal in as high quality as possible, to patch into the main PA system.

We take pride in being professional and making sure all the details of each performance are covered.

Our stage footprint is not large, as a duo we can fit into many different settings, outdoors or indoors.

A typical show might start with relaxing journey through the Greek islands, with dulcimer melodies backed by folk rhythms on traditional Mediterranean percussion instruments, ( darbuka, frame drum and riq/ defi/ tambourine) and harmony from the guitar. As the show escalates, we dive into gypsy vocal melodies, Egyptian classics, Turkish clarinet songs and a variety of dance styles from the Mediterranean. Of course, the flow of the show is able to be customized by the event planners.

Eve Monzingo and George Lawler are a married couple who have been playing music together since they met in 2004. Both are experienced in a wide variety of styles of folk music from Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Middle East. They have performed at festivals, concerts, private events, weddings, dance parties, and more, both as a duo and with a variety of larger groups. With their current setup as a duo, they provide the sonic profile of a full band, with George playing guitar, singing, and laying down rhythms with his custom foot pedal Middle Eastern drum kit. Eve sings in Greek, Turkish, and Roma, and switches between Sandouri, (Greek hammered dulcimer), Turkish and Greek clarinet in Bb and G, Saxophone and flute.
Bios:
George Lawler is an accomplished per­cus­sion­ist and music producer who has been involved in the Chicago music scene for over 20 yrs. He has been playing drum set for 33 years, and is adept at many genres of percussion, from ancient to electronic, with an emphasis on styles from the Middle East and Mediterranean region. George began learning the art of Middle Eastern percussion in 1995 through a 12 year mentorship with Tunisian master percussionist Najib Bhari.

George has performed music in 23 countries, and most recently he was awarded a DCASE grant to tour India with the group “East Meets Middle East.”

His experience in various genres is as follows:

Arabic/Middle Eastern music:
George has toured the U.S. with Egyptian pop star Natacha Atlas; Performed 3 times at Arabic music festival in Milwaukee; Performed at the Jaipur Literature Festival with East Meets Middle East; Performed at the The Festival International de Louisiane and Chicago Arabesque Festival with the Arabic fusion group Lamajamal; Played percussion with legendary Egyptian Jazz drummer Yehya Khalil; Presented a seminar with Lamajamal at Georgetown University’s Center for Arab Studies; Taught Middle Eastern rhythms at the Old Town School of Folk Music; Presented Middle Eastern per­cus­sion work­shops and residencies at 8 Chicago Pub­lic Schools; Presented Palestinian music with the Turath Ensemble.

Turkish Music:
George has played percussion for Turkish clarinet virtuoso Selim Sesler, played Chicago Turkish Fest 5 times with Lamajamal and worked closely with TACA (Turkish American Cultural Alliance) when the band provided the music for their 20 piece choir. George has performed in Istanbul with A Hawk and a Hack­saw and Lamajamal; he has studied in Istanbul under a student of the great master Misirli Ahmet.

Greek/Balkan Music:
From (phone number hidden)7 George and his wife Eve were musical directors for the Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society, providing instruction for their student music group and performing folk music from the many regions of Greece as well as the Balkans. The two have toured Greece as backing musicians for a greek folk music choir, and performed in the USA at many festivals and weddings with bands such as Hellas 2000 and the Linardakis Orchestra; They have performed in Bulgaria with the group Lamajamal, as well as in Chicago at Balkan Music Fest; George has performed Balkan music with Chicago’s Mucca Pazza, and Black Bear Combo.

“Ethno-Fusion” and other genres:
George understands that electronic music is today’s “folk music” and has been combining elements of House music, Trap, Drum n Bass, and Techno with folk music from cultures around the world. His group Byzantine Time Machine has been picked up by the label Outtallectuals, London UK, and this partnership has spawned many cross-cultural collaborations fusing electronic music with folk genres. George has taught private workshops showing how to use ethnic percussion instruments such as a Persian Tombak to trigger MIDI and electronic sounds. George has also produced 2 albums of Kashmiri folk music for Funkar International, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the culture of Kashmir. He is currently recording an album of Afghani folk music for Intercultural Music Production.

Other gen­res George has per­formed exten­sively include: Afro-Cuban per­cus­sion (L’Orchestre Super Vitesse, Occi­den­tal Broth­ers, Roc­cambu jazz), Chi­nese surf-pop (Red Cham­ber), elec­tronic music (Fre­quency Lab, Tran­quil­ity Bass), reg­gae (DaDa Do, Family of Souls), and indie rock (Dan Wal­lace, Bobby Conn), along with his hob­bies, rag­time piano and Span­ish guitar.

Eve Monzingo is a talented multi-instrumentalist who specializes in folk music of the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. She has performed in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, England and France with the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble, Die Naye Kaplye, (both Jewish folk music groups) and toured the US with Lamajamal (mid-eastern/balkan music) and Mucca Pazza.

Eve plays Greek, Turkish, and Middle Eastern style clarinet, and has studied with several virtuoso teachers including Jim Stoynoff, Selim Sessler, and Richard Corpolongo. Eve is an expert on the Sandouri, (hammered dulcimer), and has used it in many genres including, Klezmer, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, and Balkan. She also plays saxophone, (specializing in Balkan styles), flute, and piano, and sings folk songs in Greek and Turkish.

Eve has played with the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble since 1995 and in 2010 the group was invited to perform at Amsterdam’s famous Concertgebouw. In 2008 she was part of the musical cast in the Goodman Theatre’s production of “Mirror to the Invisible World.” With Lamajamal, Eve has played many festivals including Chicago Balkan Fest, Blues Fest, Festival International de Louisiane, and Global Union in Milwaukee. She has performed on the Conan Obrien show, and at Lollapalooza Chicago with the group Mucca Pazza.

Eve is passionate about music education and has presented music workshops and assemblies at many schools around Chicago. From (phone number hidden)7, she was the musical director for the Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society‘s youth and adult Greek folk music groups. Eve has taught group ensembles and workshops at the Old Town School of Music, KlezKanada in Montreal, the University of Chicago and Roosevelt University.

Eve began her journey into folk music by earning the Ethnic Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the Illinois Art Council to study Greek clarinet music under Jim Stoynoff when she was still a teenager. She then went on to earn scholarships to attend various folk music conferences, including the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Culture, the Eastern European Folklife Group’s Balkan Music and Dance Camps, and Simon Shaheen’s Arabic Music Retreat.

Eve received her degree from Roosevelt University where she studied classical composition and music theory with Dr. Robert Lombardo. Her composition credits include 1st prize in the American Jewish Song Festival (1994), 2nd prize in the Midwest American Chapter of Women Composers competition (1996), and 2nd prize for her string quartet in the Virginia and Seymour LaRock Composition Competition (2001). Her compositions are featured on the recordings “Sweet Home Bukovina” by the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble (1996) and “Trumpets” by the Amsterdam based klezmer group, DiFidl-Kapelye(2006).

We provide all our own sound equipment in most cases unless there is a separate sound company. We have our own mixing board, mics, mic stands, monitors, and PA system. Our PA system is suitable for a restaurant, small outdoor concert or house party. We can also bring a larger PA system for larger venues at an extra cost.

In cases where there is a professional sound company, we can provide an audio feed to the event sound tech from our mixing board.

For outdoor performances, we prefer a covered stage area in case of rain. If this is not available we would move the performance indoors or cancel the performance if rain occurs.

For electrical needs, we require power outlets within 15 ft. of our stage area, unless the performance is all acoustic.

All or semi acoustic performances are very intimate and sometimes suitable for rooms with a large reverb/echo.

All acoustic performances are not recommended for outdoor concerts unless the audience is very close to the performers, (3-15 ft).

For festivals, we will work with the sound tech to optimize mic placement, monitoring and overall balance.