Artist profile: Blaine teacher Don Sayegh plays Irish tunes

Brooklyn-born and raised, Don Sayegh came to Bellingham in 1991, and although he started studying at Syracuse University in New York, he ended up getting his master’s degree in education at Western Washington University.

Sayegh has been active in the Whatcom County music scene for about 20 years. He will play with his Irish group, Flattery, on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Chuckanut Radio Hour, featuring best-selling author Simon Winchester, at Whatcom Community College’s Heiner Center Theater. The band’s next gig is Nov. 16 at Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro.

Question: What’s your day job?

Answer: I started teaching physics, general science and algebra at Blaine High School in 1996 and have been there ever since.

Q: What have been some of your memorable musical experiences?

A: My first musical experience was Christmas caroling three weeks before I was born! It’s continued as an annual tradition to this day. I’m a January baby.

On Saturday mornings in the 1960s, Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” was my baby sitter. When I was 5, I wanted to be a singing cowboy like Gene Autry, but The Beatles; the Partridge Family; Peter, Paul and Mary; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and Sly and the Family Stone changed my mind.

I got serious about learning guitar when I was 11. I loved playing guitar with friends on the street corners and parks in Brooklyn. I started playing guitar, harmonica and keyboards in bars when I was 16 and have been gigging on and off since then. In my teens and 20s I was in a variety of bands playing rock and roll, pop, folk, Grateful Dead and southern rock.

Q: What do you like about performing?

A: There are two things I love about playing music. One is the transcendent experience of it. Whether I’m playing alone or with others I often lose myself in the melody, rhythms and sound. But the thing I love most about music is the way I can connect with anyone regardless of our differences in age, culture, experience, politics or religious background. None of those things matter in the moment of the sound we make together.

This way of connecting is deeper and unlike any other form of communication; whether it is playing with my son, Jamie, in our living room or with old friends and passers-by at the Taylor Avenue Dock on a summer evening, I usually leave the experience feeling closer to those with whom I’ve played.

I enjoy performing, but mostly I love playing with other musicians. There is something particularly magical about making music together very late at night — at music parties, the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, or the Subdued Stringband Jamboree.

Q: How have your interests changed over the years?

A: In my 30s I got turned on to Irish music through contradancing. Over the past 20 years I have had a great time playing fiddle tunes and songs with the group Eagle’s Whistle.

Seven years ago I formed a group, Fisher Street, with my friends Beth Fuller — voice, percussion and whistles; Todd Citron — whistles, flute, bodhran and voice; and Eric Mickelson on fiddle. I sing and crank up the rhythm on my guitar.

Earlier this year, Kurt Yandel, who plays mandolin and bouzouki, joined us and we changed our name to Flattery. It is a tremendous joy to play with these excellent musicians. We play music that starts with Irish tradition and takes off to other destinations. We bring influences of West Africa, pop, rock and funk.

A lot of our music is very energetic. But in Irish music, one minute you can be racing along and the next can be sweetly walking along a quiet moonlit creek.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Artist profile: Blaine teacher Don Sayegh plays Irish tunes."