MIKAEL ELSILA loves to improvise. He earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan where he studied and played Japanese music, Indonesian gamelan, French horn, jazz improvisation and piano.

He has visited Cuba many times to study salsa and traditional Cuban music. He became interested in Yofiyah's special style of kirtan when he started playing with her around the time of her first CD release.

Mikael has given several solo piano concerts that were entirely improvised.

Contact him at Melsila@Hotmail.com.