Jason Bailey Band goes to Colombia!
Donation protected
Howdy Folks,
The Jason Bailey Band is honored to get the opportunity to do a week tour in Colombia South America for our second time! The first time we built our tour around the Sevi Jazz festival in Sevilla and the BNC Colombo Americano school of arts in Armenia where we tought a master class on American roots music as well as did a concert that night in El Parque de la Vida. Although our schedule is not complete at this time we do know we will be traveling to both cities again and will be working with our friends we made last year. One event that is solid on our tour schedule will be two shows at one of Colombia's longest running (21 years) folk festivals called Bandola Fest! I am super excited about this particular festival because the bandola is a small multi coursed string instrument very similar to the mandolin. What a treat not only for me to get to play the American version (mandolin) and feature my American folk influenced music for the Colombian people but also to get to listen to and hang out with traditional Colombian musicians who have their own unique music on a similar instrument. I am soooo excited!!!
As you might expect, these festivals don't have significant money to fund our travel expenses. They do take care of us very well while we are there with lodging, food, great vibes and kindness of extraordinary degree. Last year they sent volunteer drivers to come pick us up over an hour away from the Sevi Jazz festival so that we would not have to ride the bus. Thats just the beginning of their kindness... For example, while on our ride we were talking about all the coffee that grows there and our driver (who was a farmer) decided to take us on an impromtu detour so we could see the farms. This is their main livelyhood for Colombians in the town of Sevilla. We saw coffee, pineapple, agave, plantains, and much more in that little detour we took. We even stopped on the side of the road to pick a few ripe coffee beans. They are sweet and slimy on the outside and the bean inside is green before its is roasted... if you were wondering ;). This was probably the coolest thing ever. People pay big money for guided tours and we got this for free just because this is his home. Once we got to Sevilla we even got a free tour of the coffee COOP Federacion Naciona de Cafeteros de Colombia.
The plant manager stopped his day and showed us the entire process of how the beans come in, all the levels of grading that they go through to determine quality, etc etc. We were at the coop for several hours, got to taste the highest quality coffee that they currently had in stock and had just roasted. These folks stopped their day and did all of this for us just out of the kindness of their hearts. They knew that we were there to share our music with them and they wanted to share their life with us in return. We obviously received the better half of that deal! Juan, Julio, and Maria who own the local candy company Jardin took us out to lunch and gave us a tour of their candy factory. They sent us home with so much free candy that we almost had to pay extra baggage fees on the returning flights. But it was well worth it because their caramels are not just fantastic on their own, they go incredibly well with the local coffee!!!
I could go on about their kindness but unfortunately I really need to get to the buisness part of this message. Our travel costs come to a little over $1200 a person for each band member. We are touring as a four piece band so I set the fund goal as $5000 in hopes that we can get all of our travel costs covered and break even after the trip. We are not wanting to make any money from this funding. Rather, we are looking for a way to help absorb the financial costs we have in making this tour possible. Any donation amount we receive, be it $1 or $100, is not only helpful but is greatly appreciated.
Our tour is set for Aug 9-16 2016. The Jason Bailey Band will feature Carlos Pino (guitar), Chas Williams (dobro), Todd Brasher (bass) and of course JB (mando and vocals). Please pass this on to your friends.
Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Jason Bailey
The Jason Bailey Band is honored to get the opportunity to do a week tour in Colombia South America for our second time! The first time we built our tour around the Sevi Jazz festival in Sevilla and the BNC Colombo Americano school of arts in Armenia where we tought a master class on American roots music as well as did a concert that night in El Parque de la Vida. Although our schedule is not complete at this time we do know we will be traveling to both cities again and will be working with our friends we made last year. One event that is solid on our tour schedule will be two shows at one of Colombia's longest running (21 years) folk festivals called Bandola Fest! I am super excited about this particular festival because the bandola is a small multi coursed string instrument very similar to the mandolin. What a treat not only for me to get to play the American version (mandolin) and feature my American folk influenced music for the Colombian people but also to get to listen to and hang out with traditional Colombian musicians who have their own unique music on a similar instrument. I am soooo excited!!!
As you might expect, these festivals don't have significant money to fund our travel expenses. They do take care of us very well while we are there with lodging, food, great vibes and kindness of extraordinary degree. Last year they sent volunteer drivers to come pick us up over an hour away from the Sevi Jazz festival so that we would not have to ride the bus. Thats just the beginning of their kindness... For example, while on our ride we were talking about all the coffee that grows there and our driver (who was a farmer) decided to take us on an impromtu detour so we could see the farms. This is their main livelyhood for Colombians in the town of Sevilla. We saw coffee, pineapple, agave, plantains, and much more in that little detour we took. We even stopped on the side of the road to pick a few ripe coffee beans. They are sweet and slimy on the outside and the bean inside is green before its is roasted... if you were wondering ;). This was probably the coolest thing ever. People pay big money for guided tours and we got this for free just because this is his home. Once we got to Sevilla we even got a free tour of the coffee COOP Federacion Naciona de Cafeteros de Colombia.
The plant manager stopped his day and showed us the entire process of how the beans come in, all the levels of grading that they go through to determine quality, etc etc. We were at the coop for several hours, got to taste the highest quality coffee that they currently had in stock and had just roasted. These folks stopped their day and did all of this for us just out of the kindness of their hearts. They knew that we were there to share our music with them and they wanted to share their life with us in return. We obviously received the better half of that deal! Juan, Julio, and Maria who own the local candy company Jardin took us out to lunch and gave us a tour of their candy factory. They sent us home with so much free candy that we almost had to pay extra baggage fees on the returning flights. But it was well worth it because their caramels are not just fantastic on their own, they go incredibly well with the local coffee!!!I could go on about their kindness but unfortunately I really need to get to the buisness part of this message. Our travel costs come to a little over $1200 a person for each band member. We are touring as a four piece band so I set the fund goal as $5000 in hopes that we can get all of our travel costs covered and break even after the trip. We are not wanting to make any money from this funding. Rather, we are looking for a way to help absorb the financial costs we have in making this tour possible. Any donation amount we receive, be it $1 or $100, is not only helpful but is greatly appreciated.
Our tour is set for Aug 9-16 2016. The Jason Bailey Band will feature Carlos Pino (guitar), Chas Williams (dobro), Todd Brasher (bass) and of course JB (mando and vocals). Please pass this on to your friends.
Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Jason Bailey
Organizer
Jason Bailey
Organizer
Birmingham, AL