We need musician(s) for our Dec. 4th event, and, as well, we need to fill out our pool of volunteer musicians for future events. Occasionally none of those we know are able to play one of our events and we end up panicking to find someone (as now). 

The situation is the large terrace room at MYkonos Restaurant, during the half hour before our poetry event begins (from 6:30 to 7:00) and during the intermission. 

It is a good chance, either for a relatively young musician to get their name out there or for someone who just loves music as a hobby, to play before an artistic audience of 40 to 60. Anyone with CDs can sell them. 

We can use individuals or groups, instrumental or vocal or both. As for genre, the music simply must be beautiful. It can be ethnic (which really suits the Greek milieu), classical, blues, jazz, pop, etc. The proviso is that since the event is centred around the poetry, not the music, it must be music which most people will find pleasing. In other words, something you might think of as 'alternative' music, which sounds wonderful to some people but definitely not to others, wouldn't work. 

If you're a musician who likes the idea of playing for us, or if you know someone who might, please contact me:   Stan Burfield at burfield@live.com or phone at 519-204-1792

The Light Of East Ensemble, a group of up to seven musicians, will be bringing the perfect internationally-inspired music to the Greek Mykonos Restaurant for the first event of Season 2 of London Open Mic Poetry Night. 

The September 4th event will feature local poet Frank Beltrano, followed by many open mic readers. 

The Light Of East Ensemble will begin playing earlier than our live music normally does, at 6:15 instead of 6:30, and will play until the poetry begins at 7:00, also during the intermission and for half an hour after the poetry, from about 9:00.

The Light Of East Ensemble, a London-based instrumental group, performs music from the Near and Middle East, including traditional, folk, classical Arabic, Greek Rembetika, and modern urban music of the 20th century from regions such as Armenia, Greece (Asia Minor - Smyrni, and Konstantinoupoli), Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.

The Light of East Ensemble are the winners of the 2013 Jack Richardson Music Award, and the 2013 London Music Award in the category of World Music, also the winners of the 2011 Jack Richardson Music Award in the category of World Music and a London Music Award in both 2011 and 2008. The group’s music may not be what Western listeners grew up hearing, but the rhythms and melodies are instantly captivating and listeners are quickly drawn into the intensity of the music.

The Light of East Ensemble has appeared in various venues in Southwestern Ontario including at the Aeolian Performing Arts Centre, TD Canada Trust Sunfest, Sunfest World Music and Jazz Series 2009 - 2010, Home County Folk Festival, Mill Race Folk Festval, Stratford Summer Music Festival, Museum London, War Memorial Hall, Innes Town Hall, and the River Run Centre. Light of East also performs educational concerts for schools.

The musicians in Light of East come from different musical backgrounds and experiences but all share a love for the music. Their passion for the exotic sounds of the music they create is immediately apparent to the listener. CBC’s “In Town and Out”, “Bandwidth”, and “The Bridge”, have broadcast their music.

CD: ‘Beyond Our Shores’: For The Beat’s review, see page 22.

For many audio and video samplings

Audio tracks: From a Greek folk song                       
                                From a traditional Arabic song 
  

THE SEPTEMBER 4TH EVENT

WHERE: Mykonos Restaurant terrace, 572 Adelaide St. N., London. Admission is by donation. Overflow parking available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

LIVE MUSIC: will open the event at 6:15, featuring local The Light of East Ensemble.

FEATURED POET: At 7:00, local poet Frank Beltrano will read.

OPEN MIC: Following the featured poet, there will be about 1.5 hours of open mic, ending at 9:00 pm. Each poet has five minutes (which is about two good pages of poetry - but time yourself at home). Names are selected at random.

RAFFLE PRIZES: Anyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night receives a ticket for a raffle prize, three of which will be picked after the intermission. The prizes consist of poetry books donated by Brick Books and The Ontario Poetry Society. Donations are our only source of income. 

We are very pleased to feature 'THE LIGHT OF EAST ENSEMBLE' at our September 4th event, which will also feature poet Frank Beltrano, and will kick off our second season. This group has a Mediteranean/Middle Eastern feeling which should be very compatible with the Mykonos Restaurant. You can get an early taste of the ensemble this Saturday (Apr. 13th) at Wolf Performance Hall, Central Library. It has an incredibly beautiful sound by itself, but will be sharing the stage at 7:30 with the CCH String Ensemble and Ishra:  
 
The Light of East Ensemble Presents: East meets West: An Embrace of Musical Cultures with special guests the CCH String Ensemble and Ishra 7:30pm Saturday, April 13th, 2013, The Wolf Performance Hall, 251 Dundas Street, Central Library, London, ON, Doors open at 7:00 pm, General Admission: $15 / Students $10 Tickets available at: Long & McQuade (North Location) (519.439.0101), Long & McQuade (South Location) (519.433.2434), Village Idiot (Wortley Village, 135 Wortley Road) (519.434.9594), Grooves Records Store (353 Clarence Street) (519.640.6714). Information also available at: www.lightofeastensemble.com 

In the beautiful Greek terrace at Mykonos restaurant, there will be lots of open mic, harp music like you’ve never heard before Celtic with song, and London’s own John Tyndall reading from his latest book of
poems. 

At 6:30, JENNIFER WHITE will open the evening with her incredibly lovely Celtic harp and vocals, performing her own work, accompanied   by percussionist Robert McMaster. You can hear a sample of  their music here: http://www.knockgrafton.com/contents.html

At 7:00 long-time Londoner JOHN TYNDALL comes on, reading from his latest book, ‘The Fee for Exaltation’. Tyndall’s spare, image-rich poetry reflects an interest in family, love, religion and traditions.  There will be a Q&A. Our interview with him:  http://www.londonpoetryopenmic.com/1/post/2012/12/john-tyndall-interview.html

We have doubled the length of our OPEN MIC this time to two hours. At five minutes per reader (which is roughly two big pages of poetry - but time yourself at home), that’s 24 readers. In case there aren’t that many, we will have A SECOND ROUND, so bring two five-minute batches if you would like to. If so, just write ‘yes’ in the appropriate space on your ballot when you enter.

There will be an intermission during the open mic, after which we will pick the winners of our three RAFFLE PRIZES. These will include Tyndall books and broadsheets. Everyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night will receive a raffle ticket. 

WHERE: Mykonos Restaurant terrace, 572 Adelaide St. N., London. Wheelchair accessible; cover is by donation. Overflow parking available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

The terrace is enclosed and well-heated from above, but in cold weather there can be cool air at floor level so WEAR WARM FOOTWEAR.

At the 100,000 Poets for Change reading at Landon Library in September, many of
us in the audience were nearly brought to tears by the harp and vocals of Jennifer White.

When she opened with the harp, we were in awe of the beauty of the celtic music, and of her virtuosity, but when she began to sing, her vocals and original, celtic-based songs were even more astonishing. From the murmurings of the crowd, and the huge smiles, it was obvious the rest of the audience was just as affected as I was. She and her partner, percussionist Robert McMaster, received a
standing ovation.

So I was very happy when she and Mr. McMaster agreed to play for our  next, Jan. 3rd (Thursday) London Open Mic Poetry Night event.

Most of Ms White’s pieces are original compositions, both melody and lyrics. They were inspired by Celtic music, myth and story. Her songs and her storytelling (which we may hear at another time) are “woven together with old tales”.

Influences? She “likes hanging out with wyrd people”. A more likely early direction came from her father, jazz cornetist Eddie White, whom she quotes as saying: “I'm just here to play!"
 
 In her own words: “I've been an independent musical artist since 1998, mostly since I never fit nicely into corporate 9 to 5, so I had to figure out a creative way to pay the bills and keep the wolves from the door. I hooked up with an ecclectic percussionist, Robert McMaster, around the same time, who's kept life interesting around my little corner of the world. One of these days I'll get those novels out of my head and onto the page. In the meantime, I'm having fun with my music. I get to meet people I would not normally have met, and venture off to places I wouldn't otherwise have had opportunity to visit.”

Those of us who attended the Poets for Change event remember Robert McMaster as the white-bearded, beret-wearing gentleman behind the huge assortment of drums, cymbals and some kind of plate from which dangled a
multitude of spoons, one of many instruments he puts in the category of ‘Found Sound’ (which, by coincidence, is very suitable for our Jan 3rd event which he will be playing at, because its featured poet, John Tyndall, focusses to some degree on ‘found poetry’). Mr. McMaster is not only a full-time musician (percussion, 'Lacota flute, guitar), but is also an activist, having “seen more and more changes around me that are not good for the Earth or it's Peoples." In the past, he has been a photographer and body/enery worker (Kripalu massage).

A favourite quote: "Think outside of the box... but try not to fall off of the shelf." (I said that - Robert McMaster).

White and McMaster perform original music in concerts, music festivals, corporate events etc. They have one CD out ‘Jennifer White - Clarsach the Celtic harp’. A second CD is in production. A vocal track of a traditional song and three of Ms White’s original instrumentals have been featured on a number of world release compilation CDs.

Jennifer White’s website: www.Knockgrafton.com  Samples of White/McMaster music here: http://www.knockgrafton.com/contents.html