Bios
Caravan: Music from Around the Globe presents a world-trotting array of exciting and beautiful music played on many traditional instruments. Guaranteed to showcase the new and unusual, as well as the familiar!
Come join us as we take you on a whirlwind tour from South America to Europe, Africa to the Middle East, and Central Asia to East Asia. Let's celebrate and enjoy the rich variety of music in our world!
Caravan members include multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Keefe playing buzuq, mandolin, tenor guitar, harmonica, and hand drums; multi-instrumentalist David Burk on guitar, lap steel, oud and cümbüş; and Laura Harada playing violin, ukulele, kemanche, and hand drums. All three have extensive knowledge of many world music styles and decades of experience performing and educating audiences of all ages. Tim O’Keefe is a Smithsonian certified World Music Instructor.
Laura Harada
violin, oud, ukulele, kemancheh, percussion
Laura Harada is a Minneapolis-based violinist and educator who enjoys a richly diverse musical life. She has spent the last 30 years studying and playing music from around the world with a special focus on the Middle East and has explored music spanning eastern microtonal music, free jazz, folk music from Brazil to Armenia, Argentine tango, new music, and other improvisation-based music. She has performed with and/or created original music for theater and dance companies (Jawaahir Dance Company, Black Label Movement, In the Heart of the Beast), toured the US with Senegalese star Youssou N’dour, improvised for the Merce Cunningham Dance Group, and worked with local composers in realizing their new works.
Laura has studied other instruments including the oud and drums from Brazil and the Middle East and enjoys creating original music inspired by the musical traditions she has studied. A member of the National Arab Orchestra in Detroit since 2016, she appears locally with classical Arabic ensemble Amwaaj, Samba Meu, and recently formed world music trio Ottie the Mink. Laura also occasionally performs with Zeitgeist New Music and The Laurels String Quartet. A dedicated teacher, Laura maintains a private violin studio helping students from ages 7 to 70+ reach their musical goals through individually crafted curriculums.
Tim O'Keefe
oud, cümbüş, buzuq, hand percussion, harmonica
Percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Keefe has been an important artist in the international music scene for over thirty-five years.
Specializing in traditional percussion and string instruments he has studied with world masters and performed with highly acclaimed artists Simon Shaheen, Nasser Musa, Siwan Perwar, Sattar, George Lammam, Morteza Varzi and numerous others. Tim has performed extensively nationally and internationally including prominent festivals at Jerash and Bir Zeit in the Middle East, the National Gallery in Washington DC, Museum of Modern Art in NYC and before international dignitaries from around the world.
He has co-founded and/or appeared with well-loved world music ensembles in the Upper Midwest including Robayat, The Ethnic Dance Theater, Saharan Nights, Amwaaj, Brasamba, Canto e Tambour, Choro Borealis, Batucada do Norte, Mark Stillman and his World Music Ensemble, along with countless others. Tim has also spent many years working in theater and dance as a composer and performer as well as an orchestra and artistic director.
Tim is a sought-after educator working with local arts organizations and schools in the area and holds a Smithsonian Certificate as a World Music Instructor.
David Burk
guitar, lap steel, oud and cümbüş
Long fascinated by the endless palette of sounds found throughout the world, David Burk has studied various musical traditions of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America. Playing instruments such as guitar, oud, mandolin, ukulele, cavaquinho, bass, banjo, and lap steel, he has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Persian Gulf with many bands, including the Rose Ensemble, Choro Borealis, Voices of Sepharad, Vanessa Paloma, Ethnic Dance Theater, Shangoya, Lau Hawaiian Collective, and others. He has taught private lessons for over thirty years and had composed and arranged music for a number of commercials, movies and television programs. He holds a holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. As a member of the Rose Ensemble's Senior Community Outreach Program, David received training from ArtSage,which focused on giving working artists better skills for working with elders.
All Photos by Antonio Rodriguez Photosantonio.com