Tariqh Akoni

Tariqh grew up in Santa Barbara in a home filled with music from a diversity of genres, from Carlos Santana to Mac Davis to Sly and the Family Stone. His father was a college educator and his mother was a counselor.

Following high school, Tariqh studied contemporary classical composition at the University of California at San Diego. But his guitar passion beckoned and he made the move to Boston to attend the famous Berklee School of Music.[7] One highlight of this experience was his private study with jazz tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi and jazz guitarist Rick Peckham.[7]

Complementing his class study was Tariqh's focused daily practicing and, importantly, his nightly playing in the clubs of Boston where he was exposed to musical genres as diverse as blues, jazz and rock. Tariqh considers this latter to be where he found his musical voice. It was from his experiences with jazz saxophonist Walter Beasley and eminent sessions jazz saxophonist Gerald Albright that he found encouragement to pursue his musical career in Los Angeles.

Tariqh assembled an extensive and eclectic resume, working with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Bette Midler, Tom Scott, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, the Backstreet Boys, and Aerosmith.[8][9][10] Tariqh has toured nationally and internationally, most recently as the Musical Director and Conductor for Josh Groban.[5] He is considered a "six-string virtuouso".[8]

A select sampling of his appearances:

Tariqh uses a diverse set of instruments, including Gibson, Tyler, McPherson, Blankenship, Bogner, Eventide, Voodoo Lab, Electro-Harmonix, and Seymour Duncan.