Producers of the 5th Annual FODfest have announce more dates for this year's 32 day, international tour which honors the life of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002 at the age of 38. FODfest has been invited to perform in Taiwan from October 14 to 20 for the first time ever and returns to the U.S on October 21for eight more dates across six states. Acclaimed singer-songwriter Michael Smith and bluesman Corky Siegel have registered to play on Wednesday, October 28 at the Village Players Performing Arts Center in Oak Park, Illinois and more musicians of all genres register daily for the last performance dates. Interested musicians are invited to go to www.fodfest.org to register to perform in a venue on the last leg of the 2009 tour.
Traveling internationally for the first time this year, FODfest has been invited to perform in Taiwan and will appear at several locations there during their week long stay. Musicians Todd Mack, Sharon Klein, Chris Merenda, Will Curtiss, Jordan Loder, and others will open the Taiwan performances in an acoustic set on October 14 for the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club. Friday, Oct 16th musician and Taipei Times journalist David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers along with Todd Mack, Sharon Klein, Chris Merenda, Will Curtiss, Jordan Loder, and more, will perform outdoors at the Huashan Culture Center and on October 17 the group will perform on the main stage of the Taichung Jazz Festival for an audience of over 80,000. They will also perform in the towns of Tainin and Taitung, returning to the United States on October 21 for eight more concerts. For more information about the Taichung Jazz Festival go to www.jazzfestival.com.tw/2009. Interested musicians are invited to go to www.fodfest.org for more information about performing in these venues.
FODfest is a featured event of Daniel Pearl World Music Days organized by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, and to date has toured to 20 cities with more than 350 participating musicians from across the country and the globe. In addition to being a journalist, Daniel Pearl was a talented musician who believed in the power of music to bring people together regardless of the differences between them. FODfest celebrates this ideal in a unique performance experience that is part concert, part song-swap, and part jam session. Musicians of all ages, backgrounds, and musical genres join together at FODfest concerts, often meeting for the first time on stage. The tour is organized by musician, songwriter, and producer Todd Mack, a former band mate and close friend of Pearl's, to honor his friend with a legacy that reflects the ideals by which he lived rather than the tragic way in which he died. The concerts focus on building and strengthening communities through the universal language of music and are free and open to the public.
Now in its fifth year, FODfest has grown considerably from its beginnings as an informal backyard jam session to a multi-city, cross-country affair. The concerts are all unique and feature musicians who knew Pearl personally, many playing music with him while he was alive, and others who never knew him, but who connect with his story and share Pearl's belief in music as a universal language of peace and tolerance. Prior year's concerts have included such diverse artists as Chip Taylor ("Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning"), teenage violinist Sam Weiser (2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial
Violins recipient), SONIA of Disappear Fear, Malcolm Holcomb, Paula Larke, Joe Crookston, Hyim, and Caroline Aiken to name a few. See clips of past performances with these artists and others at www.fodfest.org/video.html. Interested musicians are invited to go to www.fodfest.org for information about performing on the 2009 tour.
A classically trained violinist and avid fiddler & mandolin player, music was Daniel Pearl's way of connecting with people. Wherever he lived, he was actively involved in the local music scene, and wherever he traveled he sought out local jam sessions as a way to learn about the local culture and community. FODfest's unique performance format is modeled around Pearl's love of these informal jam sessions. FODfest, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and strengthen community through the universal language of music by producing publicly accessible live music events and multi-media projects.
