Dec. 5, 2011

Welcome to the new website. Please take a look around because each page is spunky with photos and new ideas. Notice especially that Spontaneous, my live, improvised album will be released in Spring 2012 as well as Vocal River; book, dvd and teaching cards. Huge push with the excellent guidance and collaboration of my new booking management: classactsontour.com headed by Margie Farmer of Baltimore. My Leo Nani Farms on Hawaii Island has 200 tea and 100 cacao trees planted, nourished and growing. Blessings on the music and the food of life.

July 28, 2011

Riding Eurail to Paris with WeBe3 headed for our last Circle Song, workshop and gig. Western Europe has received much rain this summer. The countryside is verdant, the crops growing well.

My tour began in Amsterdam in early July where All The Way In Europe had its 3rdand final week. It was beyond my dreams. Our acoustic bassist, Brice, our percussionist, Gunga, and our dancers Martine and Mati gave us wonderful collaborative opportunities and the chance to explore body/voice in innovative ways. All the 17 singers and the three co-pilots - Nicoline, Johanna and Chantal, gave their best and it was a beautiful closing but also an opening to all that can come next. I wish them all great success.

Before that I was in Hawaii for 6 months on my farm, Leo Nani (Beautiful Voice). My partner Janne and I have committed to this 8½ acres, to these ducks, chickens, cows, plants, each other and the aina (land) herself. We are in the midst of planting our major crops of cacao and tea. Our friend Floyd, who lives with us, contributes mightily to building and maintaining the structures and systems. We have also begun to receive WWOOFers (World Wide Opportunities for Organic Farming). We have lived with 2 young enthusiastic farm assistants so far. Their muscle and energy helped us get so much work done and taught us that our vision of sharing this land is real. It is taking everything we have to move forward, but it is a miracle of a place and the island and her cultures are inspiring and challenging. We are learning to fit in and contribute in a local community that is very supportive of us, teaching us what we need to know. We are home.

I taught the fall 2010 semester at Berklee College of Music in Boston prior to that. The way everything is evolving and moving, it seems important for me to be at home on the farm as much as possible, and so I have let go of my teaching position and will return to Berklee this coming fall as an artist in residence for 2 weeks. It was a difficult decision but my intuition guides me to trust that Hawaii is really the place for me for all kinds of personal and musical reasons.

My newest collaborator is Shizuno Nasu, improvisational, Shinto temple-trained Japanese dancer from Volcano Village, Hawai’i. Our performances are taking me to new places in body and spirit. Jami Sieber on electric cello and voice will join us for spring concerts on the Big Island. I continue to work with WeBe3 (Joey Blake and David Worm) and the Spontaneous trio; Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuña and Otmaro Ruiz, as well as Jetro daSilva. My performance companions are soulful, skilled, free spirits, all of them.

I have found the editor for my book, Vocal River, and will spend some days with her this fall in Point Reyes preparing the book for presentation. I plan to find an agent and publish by next spring, 2012. My live improvised album Spontaneous, will be released in spring as well, on Wayne Wallace’s Patois Recordswww.patiosrecords.com. I am thrilled on both counts to be releasing these projects that are several years in the creation. And finally, yet another blessing, I have signed on with a booking agent, Margie Farmer of Class Acts on Tour, to help keep all the balls in the air! www.classactsontour.com

Back to July in Europe. I met up with WeBe3 after I left Amsterdam and we traveled to Germany, Switzerland and now France. Our collaborations are better than ever, I believe, and our friendship of 26 years is solid and growing. This is our 5th tour of Europe so we have the gift of having treasured friends here and watching singers blossom in this work. We will join Bobby McFerrin on August 28 for a week of teaching Circle Songs at Omega in Upstate New York, along with singers Roger Treece, Judy Donaghy and Christiane Karam. 150 singers from around the world are registered.

All The Way In, Hale Kai Big Island Retreat, Hollyhock 2011 and 2012, and our newHamakua Retreat are the classes arranged for the next year. Consider one of them now because in my dual roles as farmer and musician, my workshop offerings must become more infrequent. I treasure convening these gatherings and so I hope to see you there. Also, it looks like I will begin spending more time in Japan, Taiwan, Australia and other parts of Asia in the future. Makes sense from my Pacific Island home……

And so, may we meet somewhere soon singing!
Be well and create in these turbulent times.
Trust the song inside you.

Rhiannon