TRAVELS

I guess I left the big question unanswered cause everyone is asking - why did you come home early? Well, lets say, sometimes, it is just time to come home.

This was quite a difficult decision for me to make and by no means was I able to make such a choice without great consideration. I did not WANT to give up the opportunities at my feet - spending 3 weeks in the Siberian wilderness with friends and people I trust and who love me, venturing east into China at a pivitol time in history, and returning home over the Pacific, thereby circumnavigating the globe. It is quite sad for me to let go of these experiences, but for the present time, this was the right choice for me. It was time for me to take a rest from pushing constantly onward.

Back to Siberia:

When we arrived at the airport in Abakan on July 1, we were greeted by 3 locals - Sergey Charkov, the drum maker, whose beautiful drums you can view on my website (www.luciacomnes.com/drums.html), Sergey the translator, whom we had hired to serve as our interpretor for the festival and film that Barbara Borden is making, and Olesya of Theater Skazka, who was the organizer of all non-Russian festival participants in Tchir Tchayan. It was about 8:30 in the morning (15 hours ahead of California time), the sun was shining and we were warmly embraced by all. When I flew out of Abakan 2 years ago, Sergey the drum maker was also there to see me off. This time he had fresh reasons for welcoming us - that I had assisted in the sale and import of more than 35 of his drums to the US, something which neither of us planned, expected or even foresaw coming. This business has made a tremendous impact on his family life, for example, he is currently in the process of building a large workshop, warehouse and home for his family just outside of Abakan. When he took me to see the property and his work in progress, I could feel the great joy and satisfaction that he found in this opportunity. After living in a small apartment with a family of 5 for so many years, and working out of a temporary workshop in one of the cities academy's, he is just so happy to be able to design his own workspace, and build a house that he can call home. More about Sergey the drum maker later.

Sergey the translator became our newest friend and hero almost instantly. Though he is native Russian, born and raised in Abakan, he speaks English close to perfectly and he has a particular affinity for American culture and American English. His English studies and experience had been in the US, and now he is a professional English teacher, runs a private English academy in Abakan and interprets for such guests as the Discovery Chanel and other film/TV/media teams, among other things. So he became our ticket to communication for everything from negotiating hotel rooms, to ordering food, to getting us through our sound check, to translating for all interviews we did on camera. But he was so much more than just a translator. He had a van, and he also became our band driver, taking us to and from events, giving us a special tour of the city and bringing us to lakes for a swim on our time off, to all the local hot spots, inviting us to experience the Russian "banya", which is my second favorite thing in Russia, next to yurts. "Banya" is most simply described as a steam bath, but it involves particular ritual procedures. First, it is always part of a larger bath house, with a changing room, a lounging/resting room, a shower with either a cold bucket rinse or a cold plunge pool, and the wooden banya room, which resembles a dry sauna, aside from the hot rocks which are heated over permanent, plastered-in-place stones. You undress completely and wrap yourself in a sheet if you don't want to be naked, and put a thick wool cap on, sometimew with horns (just for laughs). The wool cap insulates your head and actually keeps your brain cooler, so you can trick yourself into taking more heat. Our bodies can really withstand more than we can handle mentally, so this is the trick to dealing with the weak minded. Inside the hot banya, you pour water over the rocks and as the steam fills the air, you are overwhelmed with the sensation that the temperature is rising. But it is only the humidity which goes up and you loose track quickly of whether you are drenched in sweat or just condensed steam. And frankly, it doesn't matter. Then, you take turns slapping eachother with a wet bunch of birch leaf branches and this is supposed to remove the toxins from your body. It probably does more than just that, and just before you can't take the heat or the slapping anymore, you run out and plunge or drench yourself in icy cold water. And it feels soooooooo freakin wonderful!!!!!!!! I think one day I must have a banya and a yurt as part of my homestead. In the meantime, I will just take regular trips to Russia ; )

Sergey also took us out one night to experience the Abakan nightlife. In Russia, night clubs are called "Picnic" so you say to your friends, "Let's go for a picnic tonight," and that means to the club. As innocent as it sounds, we learned quite early on into the night, that the Russians don't hold back in their clubs. Plenty of beer and vodka is served, to be expected, and the DJ pumps the music, mostly Russian techno and pop hits, such as the one we heard over and over during our trip - "Moscow Never Sleeps" or various hits by the Russian pop group "Viagra" composed of 3 sexy females, one of each different hair color. But what we didn't expect was that every hour or so, there would be some entertainment thrown into the mix, and this normally means a female stripper. A woman with a body like a barbie and braided blonde extensions down past her waist came onto the dance floor in super pump heels, a g-string, a little white nurses jacket and a stethoscope around her neck. She did a dance, went around to take the heart beat of a few vulnerable men, and then took it all off except for the floss-sized g-string. She must have sensed that it was Bram (one of the members of Fools Gold who is 23 and was sitting next to me)'s first experience with a stripper, for she came over to our table and did a dance on the table top until he folded some cash into her floss. Later in the evening, she came out as little red riding hood, but again, who was missing her bottoms. It was all pretty funny. Especially when they announced that there were 2 Americans in the club - one from New York (Bram) and one from San Francisco - and then they played "The Hotel California" in my honor. So we really appreciated Sergey the translator, for all the logistical help he provided, but also all the fun. He even got on stage with us during our big concert to translate our comments between songs. He loved our music so much that not only was he dancing to each number, but at the end of each song, he would yell "Fools Gold!!!!!!" like a cheerleading broadcaster for a sports team or something. We told him we wanted to hire him as the band manager. He was thrilled and his response was, "Just call me Batman!"

Amongst 200 artisits in the Tchir Tchayan festival I was unable to attend all the concerts, presentations and events, but there was one group that totally stood out for me. A dance troup from Chukotka, the far northeast penninsula of Russian Siberia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_Peninsula) that was made of 4 women and 4 men, all of whom were exceptional dancers, singers and drummers. They looked and dressed very much like Eskimos, and I guess they are Eskimos of Russia. Their costumes were just gorgeous - seal skin pants and dresses, lined with thick fur, all sorts of shell, bead and painted decoration. They drummed and sang acoustic traditional chants and songs, some which had dancing and some without. And then they used some recordings to do very powerful dances and these recordings were the most effective mix of natural and animal sounds (such as ocean sounds, gulls, birds, seals and maybe even whales) mixed with traditional singing techniques and rhythms but expressed using modern sound technology and the influence of hip hop. It was like tribal Eskimo hip hop. It was fresh and hot!!!! Check them out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlhuM1x3SrI
It was just like the best of their indigenous culture had embraced the best of modern music and hip hop dance and the two just brough each other higher. Very good energy, thrilling, really!!

More to come....
Lucia

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July 15 or something like that

People plan and the gods laugh.... right?
My big surprise is that here I am back in the US of A! All explanations shall be revealed as to why I am no longer in Siberia, as originally planned, and how I was able to let go of passing through China on my way home through the East. As it turns out, I had to cancel the tail end of my trip and return home the way I came, backwards West. I am currently in the safety and comfort of my parents abode in Chicago, which is also where I took a pit stop before heading across the Atlantic 7 weeks ago. Many thanks that I made it home safely and the journey has been so full thus far that I actually am quite satisfied as it is, and relieved to be home early. No need to worry, everything is as it should be. I invite you to read on...

I wanted to reveal my trip to you in chronological order, so you would have somewhat of a parallel experience to what was going on in the current moment, but here I am totally backlogged as it is, so let me begin with the latest.

Two mornings ago I woke up on the floor of an airport hotel beside Sheremetievo Airport in Moscow, Russia. The morning before that I was still in Abakan, the capital of Khakassia, one of Russia's many republics in the south central region of Siberia, or in other words, the center of the Eurasian continent. This was the second time I have been to Khakassia, a follow-up trip to my initial visit 2 years earlier, when I accompanied the renowned Tuvan singer, Sainkho Namtchylak in a very special music festival hosted by Abakan's resident puppet theater Skazka. This is the Ecological and Ethnic Puppet Festival called "Tchir Tchayan" which in the Khakassian language means, "Spirit of the Earth." The festival is held every 2 years and brings together an ecclectic group of puppet theaters, actors, musicians, dancers, film makers and ecologists from all over Russia and from many other countries around the world. The festival lasts a week and involves a series of events and presentations by all participants in the town of Abakan, and then a few days of ecological excursions in the wilderness of the surrounding countryside. It is a unique opportunity, especially for Americans who really, for the most part, are completley in the dark about this remote part of the world.

This time I spearheaded the return trip and with the help of some fellow American musicians in my community, we put together a band especially for the festival called "Fools Gold." Made up of master drummer, Barbara Borden, bassist and cellist, Susanne DiVincenzo (both of whom are members of the band "Alive"), the young and talented drummer/pianist/guitarist/singer/songwriter, Bram Kincheloe, and yours truly on vocals and violin, "Fools Gold" is a band that draws on the most life-affirming and positive qualities of each artist involved. The one pre-requisite was a desire to to attend Tchir Tchayan 2008 in Siberia this July, and so there we were, met up at the Moscow airport for the first time and discussed our set list. Once we landed in Abakan, we had 4 days to rehearse before our first big concert. And so it went, another successful tour, and you can ask any of the band members how it feels to be a hit in Siberia. Strange and crazy as life is our motto was still, "Siberia...what the f#*k?!!!"

I want to write about the experience of just being in this very strange and foreign place, even for the second time. How does one begin to describe a surreal experience with very little context for comparison? I could say that the dominant charachteristics of Abakan, and Khakassia, are Russian, perhaps a type of third-world Russian, but I have spent little time in other parts of Russia so I hesitate to make such a statement. And I doubt that this would do justice to the quality of the people, culture and land itself. Of course, the language is Russian, the city architecture is a frozen echo of the Soviet era block buildings, grim in their design, and even grimmer in that they are now old and unmaintained, so often decrepid in appearance. The food selection must be quite alike to Russian cuisine in most parts of the world - lots of mayonnaise, sour cream and condensed milk on every food item you can possibly imagine, blini (Russian pancakes), mystery meat in the form of sausage or patties, instant coffee, borsch (a well known Russian stew made with beets, and of course, vodka.

Walking down the street in Abakan, a city of about 200,000 people, or half the population of the republic of Khakassia, the description of all things Russian must expand to encompass not only the white-skinned, often tall, high-cheek-boned Western/European looking Russians, but the many varieties of central Asians, most of which are indigenous to the Khakas region and whose ancestors were lived as nomads in this land not that long ago. Unique in their physical charachteristics which are very Asian but softer than their Mongol, and even Tuvan, neighbors, some share a resemblance to many Hawaiians I have seen, or other Pacific Islanders. What is even more striking is the cultural parallel between the indigenous North Americans and indigenous Siberians. We observed similar words, for example, the festival hosted us at Hotel Ansas, which we were told by our friend and translator, Sergey, was related to the name of the U.S. state of Kansas. We observed similar designs in everything from stone carvings and ancient paintings, to ritual drums, traditional costumes and even housing design. A teepee was set up at the Sayan Ring Music Festival, of which we caught the opening ceremony just before leaving, and at first we thought it was hosted by American Indians, but no, it was just the Siberian peoples from the North. The parallels between the indigenous heritage of both of these major Northern Hemisphere land masses were striking, especially when contrasted to all else "Russian." Somehow reminiscent of American Indians compared to all else "American" (or perhaps better stated, "Western European transplanted"). Although, there does seem to be a much more integrated society in Siberia, between ethnic Russians and indigenous Khakassians. Perhaps not just or equal, but integrated, and many Khakassians are quite in touch with their cultural heritage. Who I am to make such a conclusion after so little time there, and so limited by my lack of Russian language skills, but this was my impression.

When you leave the small container of Abakan, and begin to venture out into the landscape that holds these people and this little republic, it is a sight to behold. A sight that makes all the misery of the long and arduous journey we took to come and go from this place just evaporate into the ether. If you can imagine taking the best of Ireland´s green fields, adding them to the majestic and dramatically carved slopes and sculpture of the mountains that line the Norwegian fjords, or the foothills of the Swiss Alps, then add the sweet softness of the Hawaiian islands, and then take all this and multiply it by ten thousand times of vitality, amplitude and space, and then maybe you can get a sense of what this land feels, looks, sounds, tastes and smells like. And it just goes on, and on, and on and on and on some more.

Probably the most powerful aspect of this land is the quality of spirit. The spirit of this land is still so much in tact, protected, unfettered, and honored. Despite the attack on indigenous spiritual practices during the Soviet times, which include of course, honoring the land, animism and shamanism, in which many of the finest standing stones and stone carvings were put into museums, there remain to be thousands, even millions of stone circles, standing stones and kurgans just littered all over the place. Driving through the countryside you see at minimum, one cluster of standing stones every 5 miles. Some of these stones continue to be honored today. Locals will stop and leave offerings of money, food, prayer flags, cigarrettes, anything they have to give, when ever they pass the special stones or sites on the road. There are also numerous instances when very powerful stones taken into museums did not stop the local people from expressing their spiritual beliefs around the power of these stones. The mother stone of the Abakan region was housed in the Abakan museum for years, and regularly women would come with offerings and asking for help with female issues, such as pregnancy and child birth. The proper offering is made by smearing cream or some other dairy product over the mouth of the stone, and walking around clockwise 3 times. The traffic to this stone was so heavy that authorities decided to move the mother stone out of the city, back into the landscape and build a museum especially for her. The museum is in the shape of a yurt, the traditional nomadic building structure of central asian peoples, with glass walls, so there is less standing between this special stone and the natural elements. When we visited this stone, you could indeed see the stain left by the cream and butter that the people had been smearing over her mouth for so many years.

So is animism truly something of the past? I guess many would like to believe so. In any case, for those who have been fortunate enough to know for themselves what sacred land feels like to to the bodily senses and to the human soul, we yearn for these few remaining pockets where there is still a conversation between humans and nature. I don´t have photos ready to share online yet, but you can find some powerful images and sounds at one of my favorite Tuvan singers´ webpage:
http://www.myspace.com/tyulyushradik
Though these images and sounds are from Tuva, they reflect my experience of Khakassia as well. The circular structures in the photos are yurts and in Tuva they are still used by the remaining nomadic families. I had the great pleasure of staying in a yurt in 2006 during my time with Khakassian shaman, Tatiana Kobezhikova, and I can vouch that these are truly wonderful dwellings!

In the summer in Siberia, the sun is shining strong, and the climate is hot, sometimes rainy with lightening and thunder storms, and sometimes muggy and humid. The night doesn´t really get that dark, even though we were near Siberia´s southern most borders. In the north, the sun often does not fall below the horizon during the summer, similar to Alaska. The mosquitos and the midges are the only true discomfort in the countryside. They can really be a pain in the ass, but it is a small price to pay for the beauty and vitality that the land feeds you.

There is so much more to share, about my reunion with Sergey Charkov and his family, the makers of the ceremonial drums that I have been importing since my intial trip in 2006. About my reunion with shaman, Tatiana Kobezhikova and her family members. About the other participants in the festival, including Turks, a young theater group from Barnaul, Altai, and a very inspiring Eskimo dance troup from Chokotka and how they have embraced hip hop and modern culture by marrying it with their dance tradition in a very effective way. About our concert and the film we are making, about why I returned early, but this is enough for you to chew on for the moment.

I mostly wanted to say hello, I miss you and I want to hear back from you! How is your summer?

Holding you all in my heart,
Lucia

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Rollover images with your cursor to view the captions.

Lets see, where did I leave off....
After recovering from the adventurous weekend in West Cork, we prepared for our June 5 concert with the Polskadots - the Cork band I cofounded in 2005 which has now become a much-loved band in these parts playing a mix of gypsy music from around the world. Hard as it was for me to leave Cork after the Polskadots really began to kick off, I promised that as soon as I had my own band, I would return for a collaboration. This joint show was the collaboration and the main incentive for the whole tour. We played at one of Corks sweetest medium-sized venues, The Roundy (see www.goldiefish.ie/events.html). We had a fantastic turn-out of all the Polskadot friends and fans, and then a few more. I forgot to mention that my band was featured on UCC campus radio the previous day (see www.kencotter.com/bigbrunch.htm), so perhaps a few of the program listeners joined us for the evening.

Our lovely host, Graziela (Cork's resident Brazilian belly dancer) was in front of the stage with some of her bellydance students and together they danced choreographed steps to our song, "The Lemon Seller", which she had taught at her class the day before. Can I even express the joy that it brings me to look out into the audience during a performance and see the smiles of people dancing to our music that has inspired them to create something from it, such as a dance performance? I live for this circle of inspiration, when one artists creation inspires anothers. This is when I have no doubts about my creative and muscical path.

The Polskadots followed our set with a smashing one of their own. I joined the dancers at this point and we danced the night away. Every few songs, one of the Dots called me to the stage to sing vocal harmonies. Many of the multi-part harmony songs that the Dots perform are songs I taught them in 2005. It is again, so much fun to see how they have madet the songs their own. We even had a battle with the one song that was in both of our sets that night - "I Dreamt You Returned" was played by both bands. So Eileen in the Dots announced before they played it that the audience was expected to text (SMS) their vote of which version of the song they preferred and we would announce the winner at the end of the tally. All in good humor... You can see a photo of us performing at the Roundy below.

The next day brought more good times as I was invited over for a delicious, home-cooked Turkish style breakfast by the Turkish queen of Cork, herself - Sevinch. One of the Polskadots original fans, she had made her appearance at the Roundy show just as I was singing the first of my Turkish songs, 'The Anatolian Butterfly', and as soon as she made her way to dance in front of the stage, the song took flight. She LOVES the Turkish music we play and comes to be fed by a part of her culture that is hard to come by in Ireland. She feels the passion of the songs with me, and she sings the lyrics back to me. It is such a joy to have her in the audience! And breakfast with her was just a continuation of that joy. We were also joined by another friend and musician, Stella Rodriguez, who is Dutch/Portuguese/Indonesian, plays the fiddle and directs her band in Cork called 'Lazik', another Eurofusion project that popped up around the time of the Polskadots birth. We sat eating in Sevinch's back yard and soaked in the patches of sun that found their way between the passing clouds, until we were down to tea and coffee and the rain started to come down. That's Irish weather for you! But I am not complaining because we really lucked out in terms of weather during the trip at large.

Despite being quite full from Sevinch's Turkish feast, I met one of my Irish singing teachers from 2005, Máire Ní Chéileachair, for lunch in the upstairs cafe at one of Cork's gems - The Old English Market. The market place is like a permanent farmers market with wonderful displays and selections of fresh fish and seafood, produce, meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, coffee and prepared foods. We sat on the mezzaine and you can relax while watching the hustle and bustle of shoppers below. In addition to all her singing activities in the community, Maire teaches in primary school and this was her first week of summer holidays. Her summer plans involve quite a bit of singing and she will be the featured singer in the Cork singers club next month as well as featured in Martin Hayes's traditional music festival in West Cork in August.

On Friday evening, we rallied the troops to attend a local concert at the pub called An Spailpin Fanac, and everyone danced wildly, laughing in between rounds, to the music of The Critters (Down home old timey country music with an Eastern flare) and The Fireflies (good old crazy loony Klezmer music into the depths of the night). Probably one of the funniest nights out of the whole tour, I even have some small videos of the dancing that was going on (but cant figure out how to get them off my camera). It brought the clown out in all of us.

I taught another singing workshop before the concert, this time at UCC with a group of 8 singers from Cork. It went very well and I was reminded how much I enjoy teaching a group to sing in mulit-part harmonies. There is a small but hungry community in Cork for a multi-cultural choir, similar to the groups I teach in the Bay Area, and they requested I return to teach again, or even lead a choir there. One of the men, well, the only man who attended was 84, a sean-nos singer and uillean (means 'elbow' and refers to the traditional Irish bagpipe) pipes player and invited me to his trad session the following week. He was in great form, and gladly sang for the group at the end of the class. I was honored by his attendance.

So much goes on in every day during a good tour!!!

You can read more about us in a couple of Cork blogs:
http://corklivemusic.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
http://www.zimbio.com/Live+Music+in+Cork+City,+Ireland/articles/2/A+marathon+of+music+this+week

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Rollover the photos with your cursor for photo descriptions

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For any of you who have yet to visit the Emerald Isle, let me impart to you that the sun in Ireland is a rare and treasured event. The reason Ireland is so green is due to the fact that the damp, the clouds and the rain are constant all year round, aside from the few windows of sunlight that come occasionally and can be counted annually on your own 2 hands. So "sun is SHINING" is literally a headline, and the truth is that we have only had 2 days of proper rain since we arrived a week ago. We must have brought the sun from California, and it makes for a truly enjoyable experience of Ireland at its best!

We had a blast in the magical countryside of West Cork, where we featured as the headline band at Future Forests, a nursery nestled into the remote rolling hills and misty forests of one of the most picturesque parts of Ireland. The sun doesn't set here til almost 10pm, so it doesn't feel like night until nearly midnight really, which is about the time we began to play. Our opening band was a 70's cover band that played all the best motown and 70's dance tunes sped up, so it was like KC and the Sunshine took a dose of speed. Perfect introduction to our mix of world music that sped everyone around the world in a couple hours ; ).

We had the whole place, about 100 folks, dancing for nearly the whole set, they even got down to the rhythms in 10, 9 and 7, though their favorite happened to be the jigs and the reels, old Irish ho-down style, and we took great pride that we could bring the Irish (and a few English) onto their feet, and jumping a half meter off the ground, with our rendition of traditional melodies. Everyone there had a great time, we got so much positive feedback and they wouldn't let us stop playing, so those of us that could keep on, like Sean, Will and Aharon, we played til dawn indeed. In the candlelit tavern of the creatively handmade barn-like complex that was the venue, fire place blazing, crepes cooking all night, and good folk letting the music take them on a journey, it was nothing less than epic. It was great for me too, to bring the band to this place where I have enjoyed many an all night concert with some of Cork's finest musicians, though this time, I was the featured artist!

Spent the next 2 days in West Cork, enjoying the gorgeousness of the landscape and the weather combined. I fell a bit sick, as I taught singing classes all day in Bantry Bay on Saturday before the show, so I was wrecked from giving, giving, and partying, partying since we arrived here. But after a couple days of rest, I am back on my feet and ready for our big Cork city show tonight with the Polskadots - the band I co-founded here in 2005.

Another highlight was this past Tuesday when we seized the good weather and took up the invitation to bus out to a small town called Crosshaven, just south of Cork on the coast, where my dear friend from years ago, Clive, works on his father's farm. Clive was the one to initiate me into Cork in 2001 when I first visited Ireland, and then again, to help me on my feet when I came to school here in 2005. He also was part of my Burning Man team in 2002 when he came to visit California. Anyway, we go way back and I have been to his farm loads by now, but not with the band, and not on such a glorious sunny day. So we had the full tour of an Irish dairy farm, complete with horses, cows, hedges, stunning views, and remains of old stone circles and faery paths from times past. Clive knows the land like the back of his hand, and is a water wizard, as well as a drummer in a rock band. So we visited the local holy well in honor of St Brigid, got to experience his killer drum kit in the farm house and see his new tatoos as he got topless to tend a sick calf who was fighting to stay alive after his mother had died during birth. Part indigenous Irish farmboy druid and part bad ass rock and roll, he is a gemini at its best!!! It is great to be back in Cork!

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Greetings from Cork City, the sister city of San Francisco in the southwest of the Emerald Isle!

Not even sure where to begin, so much has happened since the plane landed in Dublin on Tuesday morning - it feels like we have been here months already! I ended up on the same flight from Chicago to Dublin as my drummer, Will Bates, so we crossed the Atlantic side by side, only to meet bassist, Sean Stillinger in the Dublin aiport upon arrival. It was raining of course, just to make sure we knew we were in Ireland ; )

Dublin is alive and bustling as usual, despite the rain, and we pulled into Isaacs hostel in city center, only to meet a friend and past colleague of mine from Marin, George Taylor, who was staying in the same hostel! He had just finished a 3 week bike trip all over the west of Ireland and was on the way back to California. Sharing lunch together was surreal, serendipitous and very fun. Even more fun was witnessing Sean and Will through many humorous moments as they realized they weren't in Amerikay anymore. For example, at the cafeteria register the server asked Will "Are you OK?" which is the Irish way of asking "Can I help you". Will was quite confused and said, "Yeah I'm OK, are you?" taking it personally as if she had asked him, "is there something wrong with you?" I had to explain later that this was quite a normal way to address a customer, and it was very amusing!

First stop after lunch was the Book of Kells in the Trinity College, which was my second time paying homage to one of the great gems of Irish history. Then paid a visit to my dear friend Liam O'Maonlai, one of Ireland's greatest musical legacies, who had just performed the previous night with Bobbie McFerron on one of Dublin's grand stages. Too bad to have missed that one! Look out for the next Riverdance called "Mouth Music" which both of these artists will be a part of. And if that was not enough, we finished the day by performing casually in the lobby of the hostel. The guests and management loved the music so much, they invited us back to play again and stay for free when we come through Dublin on the way home!

Day 2 we hopped the bus to Cork and arrived earlier than expected to the beautiful city I called home for 3 sweet months in 2005, some of you may recall those emails as well. So we pulled out our instruments on Patricks Bridge and began to busk, testing Seans portable, battery powered amp and Will's travel cajon. Our music filled the air and we caught many a passer-by's attention, even a few Euro's. The exchange rate is horrid at the moment. For 100 US dollars you get 55 euro, and that doesnt go very far in Ireland these days, so every coin in the case helps!

The percussionist, Aharon, arrived to Cork in the afternoon from Paris, and we settled into our host stays, thanks to my dear friend Graziela (Brazilian belly dance teacher in Cork), my sweet friend Lionel (from Congo), and a great service called couchsurfers.com. And then we hit the town! Walking through the city streets, I haven't been here for a while and I just kept bumping into old friends, musicians and folks that I share great memories with from the past. It had a sort of home coming feel for sure. We went to one of the many music sessions on the town at my favorite pub, the Sin E. Even tho it was a Wednesday night, Cork was raging as always. Music thrives, people go out and party is on 7 days a week in this town. All you do is walk out the front door and you are in the party!

Day 3 was yesterday - our Ireland debut show and first concert after the CD release! We played at the campus of University College Cork in an art gallery which had the most gorgeous acoustics ever. I would pluck a violin string and the whole building vibrated along, so cool! A free concert to the university community and well promoted, we had 80 people in the audience giving their full attention, and we felt very well received. Sold all the CD's we brought to the show and couldn't have asked for a better tour launch.

Finished the evening by attending another concert of another world fusion bamd led by a Brazilian guitarist and his german wife on violin. Had a drummer from India, a saxist from Italy and many other guests through the night. I jammed on violin with them, and Lionel got up to play the drums at one point. Graziela was dancing the whole time. Fun, fun, fun!

I am up at dawn tomorrow to go teach singing classes in the countryside of West Cork, and we play a big concert in a special venue called Future Forests tomorrow night. There will be no sleeping involved! So I must catch some sleep tonight. I am feeling so happy to be here with the band, and to feel so warmly welcomed by the Cork community of extended family, friends and musicians.

Sending you all lots of love and joy!
Lucia

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Join Lucia as she travels on another exciting musical tour for 10 weeks this summer!
From her band's tour in Ireland for 3 weeks,
Lucia then journies on to London to Berlin to Italy (Lucca) and to Russia.
In Russia she returns to Siberia for exciting musical, cultural and shamanic experiences, and then takes the trans-siberian railway through Mongolia and into China, just before the Beijing Olympics. She will visit Beijing and Shanghai before returning home to San Francisco in August.

Just sign up for her travel blog when you sign the mailing list.

Do you have contacts for Lucia in any of these places? Please email her to let her know!

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