Spiritfest 2011 is coming April 16th! Find out more!

We are excited to announced that Spiritfest: Celebrating Creativity -- a wonderful one-day intentional community of artists, musics and creatives -- will be taking on a third incarnation in Sharon, Ontario.

Join us April 16th for an all-day free festival, ending with an evening CD launch concert of Dave Rankine's Healing Space CD.

More details coming -- watch this space!

Spiritfest II -- the experiment continues

Hey Folks,

Spiritfest II was our second attempt at activating the manifesto that Art feeds mind, body and soul -- and that being our creative selves allows us to build community and overcome social obstacles that would overwhelm us in isolation.

Starting from the idea that nobody can be creative when their basic subsistence needs are not met, we once again joined forces with the great people at the York Region Food Network. The message is: creativity is the ultimate renewable resource, and together we can make sure nobody gets left behind or left without adequate food, shelter and right to human dignity. So yes, we had a giant party to celebrate art, music, performance, healing practices and whatever creative acts our participants wanted to bring -- but we tried hard to focus on raising awareness and funds to help people who experience hunger and food security issues in our community.

In York Region, Canada, which is our home base, the median income hovers around $90K per year; at the same time, we have been hard hit by layoffs and whole sectors of industry closing shop. Food banks are seeing a 30% increase in user rates -- and donations have dropped as people who once gave to charity are finding they need it themselves. It is a well-known fact that the average Canadian lives only two paycheques away from homelessness -- yet people feel shame and isolation and are stigmatized when they reach out for help. With York Region rents being very high and rental housing very scarce, many people find themselves paying over 50% of their income on rent -- making food sort of a luxury item. We wanted to use our event to highlight those facts, and be a platform to build a community for a day, focussed on sharing our gifts.


We were very happy that the York Region Food Network's Executive Director, Joan Stonehocker, spoke to us about the campaign to "Do The Math" -- looking at the numbers that low-income people and social assistance recipients have to juggle in order to survive. For more information about this campaign, please visit http://dothemath.thestop.org/

The York Region Food Network shows great creativity in their advocacy work: looking at the systemic causes of food insecurity on one level, and finding grassroots-level options to bring healthy fresh food to people who are relying on food banks. They help operate food banks; they offer school backpacks full of school supplies to families whose last dollar is not enough for their food bills; they offer community gardens to people who want to grow their own food in urban areas, and who send their extra produce to the food bank. They provide opportunity spaces for people to use human ingenuity to solve problems locally. That is why we love to support their work and spread the word about their organization.

More about Spiritfest coming soon!

July 29! Catch the next underground Dulcimerhead gig with NEW lineup!

Newsflash: here is a chance to catch Dulcimerhead performing awesome new material, now with the addition of the vocals and lyrics of newest member, chant poet Daniela Godina.

Since their amazing collaboration on the Western Voyage, Eastern Shore CD (available now at www.davidrankineart.com), all three Dulcimerhead members are eager to play their experimental material onstage at Theatre on Main, Newmarket, on July 29, 2009. Tickets are $20 each, or $30 a pair if you want to bring a friend!

Audiences at the June 13 & 14 Windfall Ecology Festival in Newmarket were astounded to hear what sounded like a contemporary Jefferson Airplane take the stage with the triumphant anthem "Cup of Plenty." Since then, Godina has used her poetry to bring the right words to the haunting melodies and mystical rhythms of bandmates David Rankine and Fernando Villalobos.

Godina has also done solo gigs in the area and collaborated on creativity workshops with Rankine and Villalobos. She is consciously aware of her use of music, sound, word and voice as healing modality and intuitive process. Her drum circles are legendary events for community music and myth-making.

Her words about working with Dulcimerhead:

"Thoughts on songwriting …performance…Dulcimerhead

The wise sleep with open eyes-
enhancing the creative void…

Songwriting began with an insomnia driven quest at times
connecting with other imaginative surrealistic souls here…
to maintain a flow of the psychic juices
or just staring at the wall till something happened-
and heard the words that struck an internal cord

The words resonate on an abstract soul level
then thankfully get traced back to automatic writing

A process which saves me"


This band is constantly extending itself creatively and taking its listeners through a portal, into a space where they can access authentic meaning. Don't take my word for it though. Visit this gig July 29th and experience it for yourself!


View Dulcimerhead's EPK

Awesome Opera House gig -- see the video!

View Dulcimerhead's EPK

March 18, 2009 -- a showcase at the Opera House in Toronto -- an unprecedented opportunity to see Dulcimerhead and Skorched on the same stage. Dulcimerhead was sounding heavy that night! Quite a different venue for the band, but they filled the old vaudeville hall with a wall of big sound as pink and green smoke swirled around their heads. Fernando played a full drum kit for 3 of the 4 tunes -- including Dark Mandala, the title track from their new CD. He returned to the djembe for Circles, for a truly awesome solo that has been captured on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjGU3VNTFVk&feature=related

Although Dave's dulcimer remained melodic, it never sounded badder than it did this evening, powerchords pounding out of the huge stacks. Smashing through Persian Trance, Axis of Love -- gentle crowd favourites reworked into super-velocitized progressive rock tracks. Hard to believe this band got started in coffeehouses! Definitely ready for the concert stage, armed with a CD full of fresh new material, Dulcimerhead is launching their Dark Mandala CD with a huge party and concert at the Old Town Hall in Newmarket, April 11th. Tickets are $20 and include a copy of Dark Mandala! They are also featuring some exciting special guests: poet percussionist Daniela Godina and Jason Pfeiffer. This is going to be an extremely intense concert where certain portals are sure to be opened... Not To Be Missed.

What can I say about Skorched? They took the stage. No, I mean they TOOK it. Like when you say "The Huns took Asia." There is some video evidence, but their sheer power completely overloaded the camera mike and left the YouTube videos just a pale vestige, basically only raw white noise left. And that is why I bought the demo, folks. Because they can really play! You should check out their tunes at www.myspace.com/skorchedmetal

Today's message: OBTAIN TICKETS TO THE DULCIMERHEAD CD LAUNCH PARTY AND CONCERT APRIL 11TH, 2009 AT 7:30PM!
AND .... BE PREPARED TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING AMAZING!!!

If you are in a groovy creative mood and want to see a rich pageant of artists, healers, activists and performers, be sure to take in the Spiritfest: Celebrating Creativity event earlier the same day, same place. This is Dulcimerhead's salute to Cultural Creatives, in support of the York Region Food Network. It's an all-day free festival. For details, please visit www.davidrankineart.com/Events.htm