Manna thanks!!!

Thanks to everyone for imparting such warm and enthusiastic vibes at our “Southern Ontario Small World Tour” shows!  It is truly a joy and a privilege to make music for you.  And thanks to the wonderful folks behind the scenes who made the concerts such a success — Laura and Mark Donelan (Vienna); Sandy Clipsham (Paris); Anne Melady and Steve Goettler (Dublin); Erica and Jim at Back Eddies (Paisley); Mary Ann Cassidy (Lion’s Head); Brian Craig and Paula Jongerden (Delhi); Marc Fortin (Durham); the staff at Lula Lounge, Cafe con Pan, and Catherine Hume and Jeff Beardall (Toronto); staff and volunteers at Aeolian Hall and Carolinian Canada Coalition (London); Barb Fulton and Paul Shilton (Stratford); and the wonderful Stephanie Aykroyd and David Boyer (Huntsville).   And with my hand on my heart I thank my masterful music-making compadres: Charly Pena, Paul Shilton, Mark Mariash, Alison Wearing….and Brent Jones.  To my soul, all of you are manna.

Paris and Dublin

On Thursday the 29th, Charly and I played to a warm bunch at the Cedar House in Paris — a “Friends of the Carolinian Canada Coalition” event — the first of many! Great food, great fun, great company and a great cause! Then Alison, Charly and I played to an overflowing house at Goettlers, in Dublin, Ontario. Thanks millions to Anne Melady for almost single-handedly handling everything related to the event, and to Steve Goettler for hosting us in the beautiful room with its great acoustics! Gotta run — the Road to Damascus, Paisley and Lion’s Head await…

First Stop: Vienna

Alison and I were aglow the whole way home after a magical evening at Dancing Creek Retreat Centre in Vienna (www.dancingcreek.ca), Ontario, our first stop on the Southern Ontario “Small World” Tour. I don’t know who had more fun, us or the beautiful souls who sat on the cushions, danced wildly, laughed, cried, cheered and used the floor as an instrument of percussion in ways that I have never seen done before. Thanks to Laura and Paul for hosting such a wonderful evening amidst their magnificent project — a place of grace, healing and stretching of the body and soul, with exquisite acoustics to boot! Namaste!

Tickets for Lion’s Head and Toronto concerts

Buy your advance tickets here and save 33% for our October 2nd concert, with Alison Wearing and Charly Pena, in Lion’s Head–part of the Biosphere to Biosphere Monarch Butterfly event. Your Paypal receipt is your ticket, so please print and bring it with you to the door. Showtime 7:00 PM.

Buy your advance tickets here (and save 20%) for the October 9th “Jarmo Jalava & his North American Free Trade Ensemble” concert at Lula Lounge in Toronto. Your Paypal receipt is your ticket, so please print and bring it with you to the door. Dinner reservations guarantee seating (call Lula Lounge at 416 588 0307). Dinner 6:30 PM, showtime 8:00 PM.

Transition Town video now on YouTube!

Jarmo Jalava\’s \”Transition Town\” Official Video

Southern Ontario “World Tour” Shaping Up!

We’ll be touching down for our southern Ontario “World Tour” with dates in Vienna (September 24), Paris (September 29), Dublin (September 30), Paisley (October 1), Lion’s Head (October 2), Delhi (October 5), Durham (October 7), Toronto (October 9) and London (October 11), and others to be announced soon.   Some will be small (duo or trio, with Alison Wearing www.alisonwearing.com and/or the inimitable Charly Pena), and others with a full band, including Juno-winning drummer, Mark Mariash.   Along the way, we’ll be celebrating and promoting conservation causes and groups that are working toward resilient, sustainable and healthy communities.  Hope you can join us!

Transition Town release

I’m really excited about the release of my new single “Transition Town”.  It’s a rocking 21^st century paean to everyone concerned about peak oil (peak everything, really), and who know we urgently need to do something about it.  The song moves from apathy to awareness, and soars to inspired activism and hope—with the percussive foundation of lightning-struck huehuetl drums and teponaztles (indigenous Aztec instruments hand-carved and) played by master Nahua drummer Juan Botas, anchored by the adroit bass lines of Grammy-winning Marco Renteria (of Jaguares, Lila Downs) and the tango-inflected accordion riffs of Basque multi-instrumentalist Javier Carasusan, as well as artfully urgent back-up vocals of silken-voiced Alison Wearing, and the cool world-jazz percussion of James “Jimi” Doney. 

Transition Town (the single) will be available on iTunes by late June, and we’ll be doing a targeted radio release over the summer.  Part of the proceeds of sales of the single will be donated to charitable organisations involved with conservation and transition initiatives.

Que Milagro!

What can I say? The past couple of months in Tepoztlan have been as magical as ever — an endless feast of friendship, festivities and culture in this sacred valley. And I’ve been so lucky, again, to be blessed with the support of such stellar, kind and committed musicians in concert and with the start of a new recording project — “Transition Town”. They are: the usual North American Fair Trade Ensemble members Charly P. and Jimi Doney, along with Alison Wearing, as well as our dear friend and multi-instrumentalist, Javier Carasusan, who has returned to his Basque roots and is playing accordion with a heart as big as the accordion itself. Grammy-award winning bassist Marco Renteria (Jaguares, Lila Downs) joined the “Transition Town” project with gusto, and, if the gods are willing, will be part of the next road show when it happens! Stay tuned for YouTube links, concert photos, and the announcement of tour dates, as well as the digital release of a new single!

Thank You!

Thanks to all the wonderful, enthusiastic folk who embraced us on our cross-Ontario tour earlier this summer! Helping to raise funds for the Bruce Peninsula Environment Group (June 3 in Lion’s Head) and the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory (June 13) was especially gratifying — but so was the delightful warmth we felt from Sarnia to Ottawa to Huntsville and many places in between (e.g., Delhi and London, yes, Delhi and London…).

I have a couple of shows in Ontario yet to come this fall, then we’ll be performing as a trio again in Mexico through March, and another spring tour is planned for the north in May and June, during which we’re hoping to dip our toes in at least two oceans!

concert tickets – May/June 2010

Here’s some information on where you can buy advance tickets to some of our “North American Fair Trade Ensemble” Ontario shows in the next few weeks:

For the Paisley Town Hall concert (May 29, 2010), advance tickets can be bought at Back Eddies http://www.backeddies.com/eddies_presents.phpother

For Renee’s Cafe in South River, reservations can be made through the contact info here:  http://www.renees.net/events.html

To purchase tickets for our Huntsville (June 5, 2010), Ottawa (June 6) and Peterborough (June 12, 2010) double-bills with Alison Wearing’s play, “Giving Into Light”, please click here: http://www.jarmojalava.com/upcoming-performances/

For all the other shows, tickets will be available at the door.

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