violin
Laura Harada is a violinist and educator who has been studying and performing Arabic music for decades, taught by esteemed artists Simon Shaheen, Bassam Saba, Dr. A.J. Racy, Charbel Rouhana, and Naseem Dakwar. She performs with the National Arab Orchestra in Detroit and locally with Amwaaj, and has been awarded grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC).
riqq, darbukka, buzuq
Percussionist/Multi-Instrumentalist Tim O'Keefe has studied and performed with well-known Arab, Kurdish and Persian musicians including Simon Shaheen, Siwan Perwar, and Sattar and has recorded with oud master Sakhar Hattar. Performances include concerts at the Jerash Festival in Jordan, Bir Zeit University, the National Gallery in Washington DC, and the Asia Society NYC among many others. Tim is available for private and group lessons.
nay
Dawn Doering is a multi-instrumentalist, a founding member of Amwaaj, and a nay teacher. She studied Arabic music and nay under Bassam Saba, Dr. Ali Jihad Racy, and Simon Shaheen with grants and a fellowship from the East Central Arts Council (ECAC) funded by the McKnight Foundation.
oud, violin
Yaron Klein is a violinist, oud player, and a scholar of premodern Arabic literature and Arab music. He is an Associate Professor of Arabic at Carleton College, where he also teaches oud. Yaron was trained in both (Western) classical violin, studying with Avigdor Zamir (Haifa) and Maurice Crut (Paris), and in Arab music, studying with Bassam Saba (NYC) and Taiseer Elias (Haifa). He received his Ph.D. from Harvard, in 2009.