~A virtuosic cadre of performers who have roamed the freeways and backroads of the new and old acoustic caravan trail in search of a revolutionary ancient sound for modern times~

Emerging from a long tradition of gypsy circus troubadours come a merry band of acoustic explorers~ Taarka, marrying the new millennial, sonic adventures of David Tiller (mandolin, tenor guitar, vocals), Enion Pelta-Tiller (five string violin, vocals), Ben Blechman (Baritone Violin), Troy Robey (bass, vocals), and, for select shows, Dale Largent (percussion). While the musicians have individually been spreading song and tune over the aural superhighway since the last century, their collaborative intersection marks a new era of Taarkan tunesmithing. Taarka's fourth album Seed Gathering for a Winter Garden, is a collection of beautifully written and arranged songs and original instrumentals swimming the gamut of indie-gypsy chamber folk.

While the word "Taarka" means many things in many tongues to many peoples, the musical Taarka of your concern hails from Lyons, CO and performs a patented and irreplaceable blended evolution of Western and Eastern folk traditions of jazz, rock, bluegrass, old-time, gypsy, Indian, and Celtic music interpreted through the highly capable ears and hands of four of today's top classically trained, eclectic-acoustic music pioneers.

TAARKA has been a pioneering force in acoustic music for 8 years. Collectively and individually, members of Taarka have shared stages with members of the Grateful Dead, Phish, and String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Darol Anger, Joe Craven, ALO, Keller Williams, Mike Marshall, Danny Barnes, Leftover Salmon, Steve Kimock, Garaj Mahal, Widespread Panic, The Samples, Colonel Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit, Kevin Mohagoney, Kaki King, Drew Emmit Band, Rob Wasserman, Tony Furtado, The Slip, The Motet, Dan Bern, The Everyone Orchestra, and have been Mark O'Connor fiddle camp performers and instructors.

Taarka has performed at such music festivals as High Sierra, Joshua Tree, Northwest String Summit, Oregon Country Fair, Whole Earth, Telluride Bluegrass, Bumbershoot, Seattle Folklife, Earthdance, Full Moon Dream Dance (String Cheese Incident), Horning's Hideout with Leftover Salmon, Faeirieworlds, Willamette Valley Folk, Seattle Hemp Fest, Seattle Rhythm Fest, Bite of Portland, Nedfest, Lightening in a Bottle, Berkeley World Music, Stone Soup World Music, Bend Summer Music, Boise Alive After 5, Frogville Records Frogfest, Yellowstone Music Festival, Garden Valley Bluegrass, Remembering Jerry, Eagle Island Experience, Solano County Fair, Dancin' in the Dunes, Groovefest, Crested Butte Festival for the Arts, Aspen Bluegrass Sundays, Rogue Valley Earthday Celebration, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and The Millpond Folk Festival.

David Tiller

Enion Pelta-Tiller

Enion Pelta-Tiller began classical violin studies at age 3, but her education was always supplemented by improvisation lessons from her jazz guitarist father. By 16 she had taught herself to compose impromptu melodies in styles from classical sonatas to East Indian ragas and jazz standards. She attended Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD, working towards a viola performance degree, while also studying english at Johns Hopkins. She, eventually landing in NYC, where she performed cutting edge music straddling punk, free jazz, and classical with various local musicians, and landed a gig with the crown prince of Hungary's New Wave music scene, Menyhart Jeno, as the violinist in Mr Con and the Bioneers. She traveled to Hungary in the summer of 2001 to play the main stage at the Pepsi Sziget, Europe's largest music festival, playing immediately before Run DMC and Morcheeba. Upon her return she focused more on composing and performing the music she and David had been working on together, and the two decided to make a life of it. Enion has performed onstage with Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead, Darol Anger, Darrol Scott, John Cowan, Fareed Haque and many others.
photo by Morgan Corviday

Troy Robey

Troy Robey studied with the world renowned Jazz bassist Larry Gray in Chicago in the early 90's. While in Chicago he played electric bass in The Junction, a jam rock group that toured the Midwest, South, and East, opening for acts such as Buddy Guy, Widespread Panic, The Samples, NRBQ, and Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. When not playing with The Junction, he freelanced with a number of jazz, rock, and blues groups around the Chicago area and Midwest. Taking an eight year hiatus from professional playing, Robey moved west to study psychology in Corvallis, OR and Pullman, WA. He completed graduate school, spent time working in higher education, writing and traveling, and returned to playing the bass in 2004 to fill a vacancy in the Moscow, ID-based touring bluegrass/jam band Chubbs Toga. In 2006, he began a relationship with the music department at Washington State University, playing for the university big band, Symphony Orchestra, and small jazz and chamber music groups. While at WSU he studied with jazz bassist, David Snider and cellist Ruth Boden, and had the opportunity to perform with such jazz musicians as singer Kevin Mahogany, saxophonist Brent Jensen, trombonist David Glenn, as well as WSU music faculty Greg Yasinitsky (saxophones), Horace Alexander-Young (saxophones), Jennifer Scovell-Parker (vocals), Dave Jarvis (percussion), and Charles Argersinger (piano). In 2007 and 2008 he competed in the international Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, ID and won the collegiate level bass soloist award both years.

Ben Blecham

Ben began studying violin at the age of 8 in Santa Rosa, CA, and began private instruction with Dominic Dissaro at age 11. He arrived at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), and much to his surprise found himself enrolled in the Music major. He had the great privilege to study advanced classical technique and repertoire under a true master of the violin, Roy Malan. While at UCSC he also studied jazz improvisation with jazz greats Ray Brown (trumpet) and Smith Dobson (piano). He completed a BA in violin performance, and continued on for an MA in 20th Century performance practice, with an emphasis in computer music. Ben spent some time earning a living playing and teaching classical music. He has played with the Santa Cruz Symphony, the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra with Roy Hargrove and Terrence Blanchard, and various other symphonies, string quartets, opera companies, etc. Ultimately, he found the classical music world to be unfulfilling, and not particularly lucrative. First and foremost Ben's love of music stems from a feeling of being the music, that he can best achieve through improvisation. He has spent most of his musical energy during recent years intensely studying jazz violin and other fiddle styles. Ben is also an active teacher. He specializes in taking intermediate to advanced classical violinists and continuing their classical training while also broadening their horizons into non-classical and improvisational styles. In 2003 Ben played extensively with the Hot Club of San Francisco (filling in for Evan Price). Since that time, Ben has played with various bands including, Frizz, Hot Club Pacific, Route5, Water Bear, the Djangophiles, Clambake, Graxxus, Xavier and the Classic Band, Blue Lightning, Vagabond Opera, and the 12th Ave Hot Club.

Dale Largent