The vision of Helm has always been to play acoustic music reflective of
the traditions of the Middle East through classical, folkloric and
original compositions. Based in Marin County, California, we have been
able to perform with excellent musicians and dancers. Part of our
extended musician family is listed below, some of the dancers include
FatChanceBellyDance, Mira Betz, Zoe Jakes, Elizabeth Strong, Hannah
Romanovsky, and Terry del Giorno.
Without Helm (and Sage Hoban) there would have been no Hahbi Ru. We also
played an instrumental part in the formation of !Aywah.
Our years of playing for dancers both in Tribal and Cabaret styles
enables us to provide dancers with arrangements that really work and
music for all to enjoy. Our close association with Carolena Nericcio
helps keep us attuned as well. We travel abroad frequently to enhance
and refine our knowledge and bring this information into the workshops
and classes we teach. See the instruction section for more details.
Ling Shien Bell
Ling Shien's music studies began on piano at the age
of five. Her formal training in western music continued at the Music
Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence. She started playing Arabic music
shortly after meeting Mark in Southern California in 1979. Having
already started playing recorder, a much more portable instrument than a
piano to bring along while traveling, Ling Shien switched over to the
nay to more accurately play Arabic music. She studied Arabic and Turkish
disciplines at the source in Cairo and Istanbul.
Her interest in folkloric music, especially of Upper Egypt, led Ling
Shien to pick up the mizmar (Arabic oboe), zumara (an ancient form of
the clarinet), and kawala (a folkloric flute). She has added accordion
into the mix as well to allow Helm to better represent the music of the
Turkish Roman, the Balkans, and convey the atmosphere of the Golden Age
of Egyptian compositions of the 20th century.
Ling Shien is the primary composer of Helm's original music. The songs
convey both the life and soul of the folkloric and the accuracy of the
classical.
Mark Bell
Mark Bell started playing Middle Eastern percussion in 1972 and got his
first gig that same year playing for Bal Anat. He performed many years
in both Arabic and Persian nightclubs in the San Francisco and Los
Angeles areas, as well as many California Renaissance Faires.
Nightclubs include the Baghdad, the Casbah, Apadana, Cabaret Tehran and
Delilah's where he worked on a regular basis. Mark has traveled and
studied percussion extensively throughout the Arab world. A partial
listing of percussionists he has studied with include Mahmoud Hamouda in
Egypt and Farhadman in Iran. This experience is reflected in his
playing. This is why Arabs and Persians as well as American audiences
appreciate his style.
Mark plays Arabic tabla (a hand drum also known as doumbek or darbukka),
toumbak or zarb (a Persian hand drum), tabla beladi or davul (a type of
bass drum usually played with sticks), and various instruments of the
tambourine/ frame drum family. He also performs with the Armenian group,
Mirage, the Arabic/American fusion band, Light Rain, the Greek group,
The Aegeans, the Turkish group, Tufan, and, occasionally, with the
Balkan group, Panacea. Mark won a Grammy in 2005 for his tracks on Beautiful Dreamer - Songs of Stephen Foster. Mark recorded the song Autumn Waltz with friends Henry Kaiser, Robin Petrie, and Paul Hostetter.
Larry Klein
Larry Klein has been playing music since he got his
first guitar at age 7. He has played just about every
genre of music over the years. In the last 10 years,
he has studied Turkish oud with Ustad Necati Celik &
Ali Sinan Erdemsel, Persian Tar with Mohammed Nejad,
Ashkan Qafari & Mohammed Reza Lotfi and Afghan Rebab
with Ustad Rahim Khoshnavaz of Herat, and the Andaluse
Music of North Africa from Maestro Omar Ait-Vimoun.
In addition to having a deep love and appreciation of
middle-eastern music, Larry has become fluent in Farsi
and is currently studying Turkish.
David Glazier
David began studying Arabic percussion in 2004 with Mark. An accomplished painter, David has avidly put the same dedication into music as he previously had with art. We are happy to have him as a friend and fellow musician.
Pat Bogel
Pat started her career as a percussionist primarily to further her studies of belly dancing. She started off with darbukka and then switched over to frame drum. She has taken lessons from Mark for several years. A great friend as well. She and David have become an integral part of the group, rounding out Helm's percussion section.
Corwin Bell (photo: Corwin on the frog)
Primarily trained in Western classical violin, Corwin has been a frequent contributor to Helm on stage and on recordings. He has played Egyptian rebaba on two of our recordings, and performs on violin for the Turkish Roman section on Spicebox. His teachers for Middle Eastern music have been Ali Sinan Erdemsel and Lars Tergis. His first credit is under the pseudonym of Abdullah ibn Marak on F'il Waha.
Rayna Bell
Rayna is a self taught vocalist. Having had years of exposure to all forms of Middle Eastern music from birth, she has the natural ability to project herself into the music. She has performed many times with Helm and sings on the recordings, F'il Waha and SpiceBox.
Tobias Roberson
Tobias is a virtuoso percussionist specializing in Middle Eastern and Balkan music. His innovative approach and style have been well documented on a plethora of recordings, from movie sound tracks to DVDs. He and Mark played all the percussion tracks on Helm's CD, Itneen.