Mark Eliyahu

Mark Eliyahu
Born	28 May 1982 (aged 33)
Origin	Dagestan, Russian SSR, USSR
Genres	Folk, Oriental Music
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Kamancha, baghlama
Years active	1998 – present
Associated acts	Habil Aliyev
Website	http://markeliyahu.com

Mark Eliyahu (Hebrew: מארק אליהו‎‎; born 28 May 1982, Dagestan, Russian SSR) is an Israeli kamancheh player.

Eliyahu was born in 1982 in Dagestan and emigrated to Israel with his parents in 1989. At age 16, he was inspired by Habil Aliyev's performance, a prominent kamancheh player, and moved to Baku, Azerbaijan to learn kamancheh under guidance of Adalat Vazirov.

"This was the first time I heard this sound, but I felt as though I had always heard it within me, as though it were my own inner voice. I had chills, and I knew definitively that I had to quit the saz, and start playing this new instrument. When I told my father about this, he was very moved. As it turns out, my great grandfather was a kamancheh player in Dagestan."

In 1999, Eliyahu participated in “The Spirit of the East” – a concert and album directed and composed by his father, Peretz Eliyahu, with the participation of the Azerbaijani mugham singers Alim Qasimov and his daughter Farghana Qasimova and other artists. On that year he also performed as a soloist with the Israel Chamber Orchestra of Ramat-Gan in an Israeli festival. In 2004, he recorded his first solo album “Voices of Judea“ and performed with his ensemble throughout Europe and Israel.

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