left to right: Susu Pampanin, Sonja Drakulich, Tim Rayborn,
Gari Hegedus, Shira Kammen

Caladrius is a new ensemble devoted to medieval and traditional Mediterranean,
Middle Eastern, and Indian music. Founded by Tim Rayborn, the group is based in the East Bay, California, and is a collective of musicians from a wide range
of backgrounds, united by a common interest in the relationship
between early music and traditional music.

Caladrius makes use of voices and a variety of instruments to recreate the diverse music and cultures of long ago. These include the vielle and rebec (medieval bowed instruments), lap harp, psaltery, 'ud (Arabic lute), saz (Turkish lute), sehtâr (Iranian lute), numerous percussion instruments of medieval and Arabic origin, and the
Indian sarod, sitar, and tamboura.

The group is currently preparing to record their debut album, music from the journey of the twelfth-century Sephardic Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela. A century before Marco Polo, Benjamin made a similar journey, from Spain across southern Europe to the Byzantine Empire, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. He wrote of Persia, India, and China, traveled the Arabian Peninsula, and returned to Europe via Egypt.

This program recreates the wide variety of medieval and traditional music that Benjamin would have heard, or that was played in the lands he wrote of in his chronicles.

Each member of Caladrius has extensive experience in performance and recording, and expertise in their chosen instruments. Collectively, they have appeared on dozens of early music and traditional music CDs for numerous record labels, and have performed throughout America, Europe, and the Middle East.