Sarah Funk's Music Performance Page

Sarah Funk (violin, vocals, oud, recorder, percussion) plays international music with Ek Balaam, Folk Voice Band, Hejira, Nordiska Folk Dancers and, most recently, with master oud player Munir Beken's Turkish Ensemble. She is a regular participant in the NorthWest Folk Life Festival, Skandia Midsommar Festival, Nordic Heritage Museum's Yulefest, and the Ethnic Heritage Council's WorldFest, among others. She also plays viola and viola da gamba and has performed in the University of Washington's Collegium Musicum, under the direction of Margriet Tindemans. She has performed with the City Cantabile Choir, the Italian Folk Dance Ensemble, Sno-King International Dance Band and Seattle Skandia Spelmanslag. Highlights of her ethnic music career include performing with Nordiska for the grand opening of Benaroya Hall: "World Day of Music" in 1998, playing at the opening of the new Henry Art Gallery in 1997, and as impromptu guest fiddler for the Australian contra-dance group, The Wombats, in 2001.

With Hejira at Bastyr College, 2003

Throughout high school and college (Oberlin College and University of Iowa) Sarah played viola for symphony and chamber ensembles, opera and music theatre ("the pits!") After moving to Seattle and getting a "real job" in a research lab at UW, she continued to play in string quartets and various community orchestras.

Sarah made the leap to folk music in 1991, when Art Nation talked her into joining Seattle's Skandia Kapell. ("We get together and play music and Fiddl'n John brings a pie..."). She has been playing Scandinavian dance music around the Puget Sound area ever since and regularly accompanies Nordiska Scandinavian Dancers.

Folk Voice Band at Midsommar Fest, 2002

After becoming thoroughly hooked, she bought a violin and joined Folk Voice Band in 1994, took up international folk dancing and singing, began transcribing ethnic music. She met belly dance teacher and percussionist, Yasmin, while performing at WorldFest in 2000 and began a collaboration of transcribing and adapting Middle Eastern music to make live music more available for the Seattle-area belly dance community. This led to the formation of Hejira, world jazz improvisation with Don Baragiano, and most recently, Ek Balaam, with Yasmin, dancer and flute-player Jawahir Bahiya, and percussionists Erik Brown and Mark Rook.

At Kolbeh Persian Restaurant, 2002

Ek Balaam

Please visit the web sites below for information about the bands:

• Folk Voice Band, international dance music
• Ek Balaam, Middle Eastern dance music ensemble
• Nordiska, Scandinavian dancers
• Hejira, Don Baragiano's guitar-centered world jazz
• Jawahir Bahiya's web site
• The Turkish Ensemble
• SeattleDance.org, links to Seattle-area folk music and dance
• Georgia's Greek Restaurant, our favorite dinner & music place!

I am always looking for new music and performance opportunities. Click on the green icon below to view a schedule of upcoming and past performances

Please feel free to contact me at the following address: