Music

Accompanied by the amazing violin & talent of Katie O'Neill, Idris Phillips weaves heart-enlivening music, both his own & that of others, live at the 2018 FGC gathering in Toledo. Inspired by music greats like James Taylor, Paul Simon, and his friend, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, Idris writes, sings, & plays music of the deep.

Listen to Nici Peper and you'll know why she won the title of Minneapolis's most authentic artist at the Wholly Guacamole contest. Whether performing solo, as part of Firefly, with The Big Smooch, or in other configurations, Nici radiates. Titles like indie, Americana, folk, etc, do not capture the reality of this love-based, Lutheran-raised, intense and deep woman who delights in performing in rowdy dive bars.

Jan Krist and Jim Bizer make music that is fun, profound, quirky, insightful, and moving. As a duo their creative name is Jan Krist & Jim Bizer, but they also perform in a number of other groups & configurations, with Diamonds in the Rust, The Yellow Room Gang, Floyd King & The Bushwackers, and more.

The mission of Ananda Marga is self-realization & service to humanity, and one of the ways they do this is the work of RAWA (Renaissance Artists and Writers Association). They hold an annual contest of Songs for Social Change and today we look at the fruits of their 2017 submissions & CD with Dada Veda who oversees the contest.

Robert B. Jones, Sr works joyfully to build bridges of understanding through music in an organization & project called Common Chords. Using tools of music, story-telling, history, & inspiration, Robert brings pleasure and insight to diverse audiences. Part of his richness is that he is also pastor of Sweet Kingdom Missionary Baptist Church of inner-city Detroit, where he seeks to inspire & heal the world in other ways.

Encinitas is home to Ashley Mazanec whose passion for earthcare merits her the title of "A Voice for Sustainability". Living in a tiny house on an urban post-organic farm, attending San Diego 350 activities for fun, passionate about water protectors - this only scratches the surface. She runs, yogas, and surfs - and wait 'til you hear her sing in a perfect marriage of art and activism! Ashley has toured with Inspired Flight and currently performs with The Altruists and solo.

Irfan Ali Taj left the business world to follow his passion, making music full of peace, understanding, & spirit. Originally from Chitral in the north of Pakistan, living in Karachi, Taj loves passing Chitrali folk culture forward. You can catch Taj on YouTube and on Facebook.

Billie Holiday still looms larger than life even close to 60 years after her death. At the nexus of complicated subjects like race, drugs, sexuality, & music, she acts as a compelling subject for those seeking to understand our society's trajectory, especially when religion is added as a layer to the experience.

David Tamulevich's life is folk music, in various configurations. He's been performing for more than 40 years with Michael Hough as Mustard's Retreat, been writing songs and performing with a group called The Yellow Room Gang for about 12 years and, on top of that he puts in a full week plus overtime as booking agent & manager services as Tamulevich Artist Management.

Cathy Reitz is a musicpaloosa and it's a gift she shares abundantly. Sometimes she's front-and-center like with her Cathy Reitz & 7 Swing, or when performing the blues, but she also brings out the music in all kinds of people, like the Stand in the Light Memory Choir, the Chippewa Valley Community Chorus, the Valley Gospel Choir, and the Chippewa Valley Youth Chorus, to name only a few.