In celebration of Beltane and the coming of Summer, DragonSong will be participating at these 3 wonderful festivals:

Fertile Ground Gathering (May 7^th-10^th)

            Hosted by our friends at ShadowGrove

Prince William Forest Park, Mawavi Camp (#2)

18100 Park Headquarters Road

(Bermuda) Triangle, VA 22171

Join us as we celebrate Beltane by sharing music at ShadowGrove’s Annual Fertile Ground Festival. Thursday night, we will revisit the Fires of Our Ancestors by sharing Our Art through the ages old ritual of the Bardic Circle. Bring a joke, song, poem, story, or instrumental piece to share. All are welcome.

On Friday, we will begin our day by hosting a workshop at 3:30pm entitled the Magick of Music. We will focus on World Rhythms and their relationship to the primitive needs in all of us. Our main performance will be during the Feast on Friday evening at 6:30pm, followed by a Drum & Dance Circle late into the night. Bring your drums, voices, melody instruments, and dancing shoes and help us welcome in the May! 

Pre-registration ($20-75) for this event is required and ends on May 2^nd. www.fertilegroundgathering.com

Blue Ridge Beltane Festival (May 8^th-10^th)

            Heavenly Acres Campground

          2010 Madison Road

          Standardsville, VA 22973

Central Virginians, come and celebrate Beltane with us in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! We will be sharing an afternoon of music on Saturday with Kokopelli, Lauren Kendall, and Cassandra Syndrome. Our set will begin at 4:30pm.  Attend workshops, enjoy the great outdoors, and dance the Balefire well into the night as we gather to honor the coming of Summer.

On Sunday, please join us in celebrating the Handfasting of two of our dear friends, Moshe and Sadira. As is Tradition at this event, they will be woven into the Maypole during the annual Maypole dance at noon. Immediately following, Moshe and Sadira will participate in the ancient ceremony of Handfasting, where they will wed one another in the "year and a day" tradition. Dance the Maypole and rejoice with us as we celebrate this most momentous event!

The Blue Ridge Beltane Festival is a non-profit religious educational organization dedicated to providing a spiritual space for Pagan community members to rekindle their fires. Pre-registration ($30-75) for this event is required and ends on April 25^th.  Check out www.blueridgebeltane.org for more details including vendors, brewing competition, camping, workshops, and entertainment.

Maryland Faerie Festival (May 16^th-17^th)

            Patuxent 4H Center

          18405 Queen Anne Road

          Upper Marlboro, MD 20774

This year marks the first year that the Maryland Faerie Festival will introduce a theme to the event... Dragons! There will be many vendors, artists, and performances surrounding the theme of dragons, including the local musical talents of DragonSong! We will be opening the festival at 10:30am on Saturday at the Honeysuckle Stage.  We are planning a grand collaborative arts performance including Nina Amaya & Belly Dance Delight (www.ninaamaya.com).  At noon and 4pm, we will be providing musical accompaniment for the Faerie Courts Maypole Dances. As a special treat, Sadira will be bringing some of her beautiful faerie paintings for perusal and purchase (www.visualintoxication.com).

The Maryland Faerie Festival (www.marylandfaeriefestival.org) celebrates the Faeries by providing an atmosphere and entertainment inspired by Faerie folklore and literature, and, of course, by the Faeries themselves. Yes, we believe in Faeries! Through the Faerie heritage, we encourage love, cooperation, peace, harmony, and respect for all beings, along with a pinch of mischief! The Maryland Faerie Festival provides educational and outreach opportunities for groups promoting diligent stewardship of Nature, and sponsors artists, merchants and entertainers inspired by the Faerie tradition. $10 at the door ($1 off for dressing in costume).

Yuletide is a time of year when we gather together and fill our houses with warmth and light to ward off the long, cold winter nights.  Originating as an ancient Germanic folk tradition, Yuletide began the evening of the Winter Solstice (the longest night of the year) and continued through the first New Moon.  In modern times, it encompasses a great variety of cultural and religious celebrations from all over the world such as Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanza. 

During this time of hibernation and reflection, we give thanks for this year's many blessings.  In the spirit of the season, we have been meditating on the exciting year we've had, including our very first tour!  We are grateful for all of the magnificent experiences and amazing people with which we have been blessed to share our time and our art. Special thanks to all of you who have been exceptionally supportive this year.  You know who you are, but if you're not sure… we've saved the list for the end    

We recently added our newest Live Performance Video of "Barefoot in Muntenia" to our websites.  Check it out if you haven't had the chance.  It was taken by our good friend Liz Staples during a charity gala event at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville, VA.  We have also added the mp3 to our websites for your listening pleasure and free download. 

We have been very busy adding new pictures to our photo galleries.  We were happy to discover that one of the Pennsic pics, taken by Marie Halloran, has been published as part of a news story and slideshow.  Check it out at www.nowpublic.com/nu-medievalists-do-battle-pennsylvania.  Thanks to everyone who sent photos our way. 

As we begin to look forward upon the gaining of Light, and meditate on our personal enrichment and evolution, we share these mementos in hopes of filling the air with warmth and cheer, inspiring us All to focus on our growth in the coming year.  Resting through the Winter as tiny seeds sleep beneath the Earth, we reflect on the past and gaze forth into the future, preparing for the coming of the new born Sun.   

Wass Bael!

www.myspace.com/dragonsongband

www.youtube.com/dragonsongband

www.tribe.net/dragonsong

Special thanks to Min el-Jbal el-Zarr'a, Sage, Ishtar, Carmine Guida, Daveed Korup, Waz the Wizard, Sigre, The CeltHix, Silver Channel, Bideska Gury, Dawgz, ShadowGrove, Gretchen McMahon, Casa Bardicci, Lord Caddell du Blaaid, Jeremy of Clan O'Choda, Casey Bond, Nevik, Denys, Jesse Bacon, Jeff Webb, Chalkman's Pub, Diefledermaus, SheVaCon, Ecumenicon, Buzzy & Heidi, Touch the Earth, and all the folks at Spirithaven Farm. 

The Summer Solstice marks the longest day of the year, where the sun reaches it's zenith, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is during this time that we find ourselves reflecting on the long, hot days that we have been enjoying.  It has been over a month now and we have truly been Amuck!  We've visited a lot of unique places and met many really amazing people in the last few months. 
 
We have had magickal times in the Blue Ridge mountains.  We shared some intense musical moments with Gretchen McMahon, Willow, Crow, and many other great folks at the Blue Ridge Beltane Festival.  We felt very lucky to have our Charlottesville friends of Min el-Jbal el-Zarr'a join us for our set, including Wayne, Karolyn, Chip, Saahira Nashita, Sadira, Kristen and Liz.  The energy that we shared was truly awesome!

More recently, we made our very first Pilgrimage to SpiritHaven Farm for the celebration of Darbukastani Independence Days.  The caliber of creativity, dance, and overall musicianship was certainly one of the highest we have seen in any artistic community so far.  The warmth and generosity of the Darbukastani citizens was overwhelming and, needless to say, it was with great difficulty that we pulled ourselves away from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains to run Amuck once more.  We would like to thank: Scott & Kay, for going above and well beyond all they could to keep us healthy, happy, and comfy the entire time we spent on the farm;  Waz, for all the little things...guitar pics, bandaids, and teaching us the fish call jam;  Chris, for the life saving G string;)  Nevik, Chip, Tim, Casey, Scott, and all the wonderful musicians who shared their talents with us throughout the weekend; and Gram, for her loving hospitality, wonderful Russian chicken dish, and the brownies for the road!  They were delicious.

This past weekend we traveled back to our more regular stomping grounds to share music with our friends at PerryPalooza in Clarksville, Maryland.  We had a fantastic set and had the wonderful opportunity to play some tunes with the Dawgz during our set and theirs.  Complete with moonbounce, all the food and merriment made for a great time...and the venison BBQ was off the hook!  Thanks to Russ, Deb, Scott, Darryl, LT and all the other musicians and organizers for making this a great success despite the rain.

Don't miss our next performance on July 5th at the New Deal Cafe with Ishtar, Pittsburg's Classic Bellyrock Band.  This is sure to be a fantastic show packed with some of our favorite musicians and dancers including Daveed Korup, Carmine Guida, and Shahrazad.  Check out http://www.newdealcafe.com/events/event.php?idEvent=399  for more information. 
 
Stay tuned for details on our Pennsic War Tour 2008.  Many shows have already been posted on:
www.myspace.com/dragonsongband