The Tibetan music of Jamyang Yeshi – July 18

The Tibetan music of Jamyang Yeshi part of the 2009 Vancouver Folk Music Festival July 17-19 at Jericho Beach Park Information and tickets: www.thefestival.bc.ca 604-602-9798

The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is thrilled to include Jamyang Yeshi and his music in the 2009 festival. Born into a musical nomadic family in the Amdo region of Tibet, Jamyang Yeshi learned to play the five-string dhamyin while tending the family’s animals in Tibet’s mountain pastures. He escaped the Chinese occupied region by crossing the Himalayas in 1998, making a new home in Dharamsala, India. Jamyang made a Canadian connection came through meeting a woman named Karen McDiarmid from Banff, who was doing volunteer work in India. House concerts and impromptu recording sessions followed. Karen vowed to produce a CD of Jamyang’s recordings when she returned home, calling her promise the Tara Café Project after the restaurant where they had met. In 2005 Jamyang and a fellow musician were invited to the Banff Centre to perform at their “Cultures at Risk” Conference. It was there they produced “The Karma of Snowland” CD. In 2006, Karen and fellow traveler Mark Unrau visited Tibet and connected with Jamyang’s family at their winter camp. Armed with a laptop loaded with tracks laid down by Jamyang at the Centre, they made recordings of the family singing and playing along with their lost son. These sessions were released as the CD “Shining Spirit: A Tibetan Family’s Reunion through Music”. It’s a testament to a family’s connection, to the spirit of friendship and to the talent of this marvelous musician. Jamyang now makes his home on Vancouver Island, and performs at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival for the first time this year.

Jamyang Yeshi joins over 60 artists and groups from over 14 countries performing at the festival this year.

For tickets and info, including Saturday and Sunday Day Stages, Evening Concerts and the new Stage 5 at Twilight, go to www.thefestival.bc.ca. Call 604-602-9798 for tickets. Advance discounts available until July 16 at 3pm. Tickets available at the Gate starting Friday July 17th at 4pm. Purchase a copy of the 2009 Vancouver Folk Music Festival Program Book at 415 Dunsmuir Street starting on July 14th.