The Middle Eastern ensemble Salaam once had myriad Bloomington venues to showcase its unique sound.

Gigs at the Wild Beet, Lennie's Brew Pub, Borders Books and Music, Morgenstern Booksellers and an eatery on Third and Atwater streets kept the group in the local eye.

"In the mid-'90s, there were lots of places," said Ron Kadish, bass player and co-founder of the group.

But a Subway sandwich shop moved to Third and Atwater; the Wild Beet, Second Story and Morgenstern's closed; Lennie's stopped hosting live music, and Borders made a corporate decision not to showcase local players.

And Salaam — a blend of musical sounds from Turkey, Iran, Israel, Kurdistan and more — was determined to keep playing.

"We started just going out of town to play," said Kadish, 36. "We realized we kind of had something — a Middle Eastern band in a place where there weren't many Middle Eastern bands."

Salaam traveled to play weddings and ethnic festivals, and it started playing monthly at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, in 1996.

Salaam has toured regularly since 1997, hitting elementary schools in Indiana to bring culture and music to students.

Musicians in the band — whose lineup has changed some over its decade together — bring their personal tastes and variety of musical interests to the collaboration.

"I went to Egypt and bought tons and tons and tons of cassettes," said viola player Dena El Saffar, who grew up in an Iraqi community in Chicago.

Kanun player Hakan Toker has "tons of recordings," Kadish said. "He's just a wealth of information about Greek music."

And anytime the group meets a new Middle Easterner, new opportunities open up.

"They love their music," El Saffar, 31, said.

So despite a lack of diversification on the local club scene, Salaam's repertoire continued to grow over the years. But because gigs in Bloomington were so rare, Salaam's members realized they had to be pro-active about playing for their home-based community.

"No one's going to create it for us," Kadish said.

The group decided to host an event — with Salaam's friends and family members in mind —that blended its sound with song, dance and food from the Middle East.

"A feast for the senses," El Saffar calls it.

The first year, the musicians expected a good turnout, but not the crowd of 500 that showed at the John Waldron Arts Center. Needless to say, baklava and other food the musicians had prepared themselves ran out early in the night.

But the annual Salaam gala was born. The sixth event takes place March 6.

Salaam will be joined by solo and group dancers and singers, and food will be prepared and sold by local establishments Olive Market, Falafels and Tenth Street Market.

If history repeats itself, the 561-seat Buskirk-Chumley Theatre will sell out.

"It never ceases to amaze me," Kadish said.

The timing for the upcoming Salaam event is pertinent, too: The eight-member group seeks to dispel myths about the region of the world so often villainized in the media.

Noted on the 2001 Laylat Salaam CD, "Salaam means peace … Our goal is to show the beauty of the many cultures coexisting in this richly historic region and to promote a broader understanding of the Middle East."

"People like to paint all the Middle Eastern women as oppressed," El Saffar gave an example of the common misconceptions. "Definitely, there are some terrible stories that are true. But when I went to Iraq, my observance was that men and women have different realms of control."

For example, in homes, women have control, and they make a lot of the social decisions, she said.

"They are the emotional drivers of the family," she said, adding that she knows "intelligent, independent Iraqi women" who defy the oppressed stereotype.

She also said for the most part, Iraqis are a well-educated people.

Kadish said National Public Radio is the only news outlet he knows that includes positive, enlightening reports about the Middle East. Even that only happens about once every couple of weeks.

"Well, it's hard to talk about the Middle East without talking politics," he said. "As far as Americans go, all we hear is the bad stuff."

There's so much more that can be reported, he said.

Kadish, a New Jersey native, speaks from a unique vantage point. He played in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra for two years.

He said he was "continually surprised" by what he saw in the tumultuous area — and by the "warmth and friendliness of the Arab population" that he lived so close to.

He liked to watch Arabs play music on the street, and that helped him make the "conscious decision" to spread a positive image of the Middle East when he returned to the United States.

The image is one of fascinating instruments — including an Iraqi pre-cursor to the modern violin, a djoze, and a ceramic drum called a tableh — and creative song and dance that Salaam owes its existence to.

"There are so many sides of a story," Kadish said.

WHO: Salaam's sixth annual Middle Eastern Gala

WHEN: 7 p.m. March 6; doors open at 6 p.m.

WHERE: Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, 122 S. Walnut St.

HOW MUCH: $12 advance general admission; $15 day of show; $10 seniors and students with ID; and $7 children younger than 12. Call Sunrise Box Office at 339-6741 for tickets.

WHAT ELSE: There also is a 2 p.m. matinee March 6, with an educational component geared toward pre-school through elementary-age children and their parents: $5 for children younger than 18, $7 general admission. Doors open at 1 p.m.

INFO: www.salaamband.com or call the Sunrise Box Office at 339-6741.

Reporter Nicole Berner can be reached at 331-4357 or by e-mail at nberner@heraldt.com.