sam@samhyson.com  (850) 294-0057

Sam Hyson is a Chicago-based musician with a passion for international music. A cofounder of Chicago Folklore Ensemble, he helped produce two albums of music and a book of immigrant stories. He plays violin, accordion, and other instruments, performing traditional music from the Middle East, South Asia, Latin America, Europe, and beyond. 

The World in Chicago (Album and Book)

The World and Chicago is an album and book presenting music and stories of musicians who immigrated to Chicago from Argentina, Thailand, Jordan, Ghana, and Serbia. The album features the five master musicians accompanied by string quartet, with arrangements by Sam Hyson and Lucia Thomas. The book connects the songs on the album to stories from the lives of the five featured musicians, with beautiful illustrations. 

Praner Alap (Album and Booklet)

Praner Alap (“Meeting of Hearts”) is an album by Ochin Pakhi, produced by Chicago Folklore Ensemble and released on the label Innova Recordings, presenting a selection of songs from Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry collection Gitanjali (Song Offerings). The companion booklet includes English translations of the Bengali lyrics and artwork inspired by each song.

 

Middle Eastern, Southwest Asian, & North African Music

  • In 2017, Sam Hyson collaborated with musicians from Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine, and helped create Chicago Folklore Ensemble’s show Where Rivers Meet, which intertwined Arabic and Middle Eastern music with stories of immigrant musicians.
  • Sam has attended the Arabic Music Retreat and has taken a course on maqam composition.
  • He has performed with various Chicago ensembles, including Chicago Arabic Music Ensemble, University of Chicago’s Middle East Music Ensemble, Newberry Consort (for a program of Ottoman Turkish music), Salaam-Shalom Music Project (Arabic and Jewish music), and Shalizar Ensemble (Persian and Central Asian music).
  • He has performed at several Persian, Palestinian, and Egyptian weddings in Chicago.

 

South Asian Music

  • Sam Hyson is a founding member of Ochin Pakhi, a band performing Bengali folk music in Chicago since 2017. The band was the subject of an award-winning 2023 documentary by Elja Roy.
  • In 2024, Sam organized a string orchestra for the North America Bengali Conference in Chicago, and helped write arrangements to accompany Bengali duo Sourendro & Soumyajit.

 

Latin American Music

  • Sam Hyson has performed Mariachi and Mexican folk music for well over a decade, often with Cielito Lindo Family Folk Music, and has performed as a solo violinist for Mexican families at birthdays and funerals.
  • He loves South American music and has attended an ethnomusicology summer program in Peru.
  • On accordion, he has performed Brazilian music for Forró dances in Chicago.

(an arrangement worked out by ear with Lucia Thomas, without sheet music)

European Music

  • Sam Hyson has a background in Western classical music and has played numerous European folk styles.
  • He has a special love of Eastern European folk music, and has studied Serbian violin with Jovan Mihailović via the Illinois Arts Council’s Master/Apprentice Program. He has performed Greek music in various collaborations, and has performed Jewish music on accordion with New Budapest Orpheum Society and as a guest performer with Maxwell Street Klezmer Band.
  • He has many years of experience performing Italian repertoire as a strolling violinist in restaurants, has accompanied French cabaret singers on accordion, and has performed Irish fiddle music with the Butterfly Swindlers.

 

Music for Theater

  • Sam Hyson has accompanied storytellers in semi-theatrical creative projects with Chicago Folklore Ensemble, and has performed classic Ukrainian and Soviet songs for guerrilla theater events with performance artist Dani Che.
  • Other theater experience as an onstage musician includes A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre 2022, 2023, 2024, understudy – violin, viola, accordion, guitar), Primary Trust (Goodman Theater 2024, understudy – keyboard, guitar), Indecent (DePaul University 2023 & Roosevelt University 2024, accordion), and Unveiled with Rohina Malik (WaterTower Theatre, Dallas, TX, 2019, violin and oud).