dear friends,


this has been an incredible emotion filled week. for ten days many of us here in new york were graced by the presence of six girls, ages 8 to 13, from the agape orphanage which is located in kwa-zulu natal land of 1000 hills, south africa.

in january of this year there was a fire which destroyed the
orphanage. it had housed 50 aids orphans in an area thought to have the highest infection rates in the world - 38%. it's estimated that africa alone has 12 million aids orphans.



i found out about the orphanage from my friend leigh blake who runs an
organization called keep a child alive which provides antiretroviral treatment for children and families with aids across africa. to learn more about this amazing front lines organization click here.

leigh gave me a cd of traditional zulu songs called thina simunye which was recorded in 2004 by the children of the agape orphanage and released earlier this year. it's some of the most beautiful and intensely moving music that i've ever heard. to call it the cd of the year would be an enormous understatement. to buy the cd click here.

the children of agape came to new york thanks to the efforts of leigh and a youth philanthropy group called love hallie. for more about this great group of young people click here.

a few days after their arrival, nasi, slindile, siwapiwe, peaceful, snethemba, and mbali sang outdoors at the tribeca film festival. i can't begin to describe the power of that performance. everywhere i looked people were  weeping. i've never been in a situation like that where so many were so visibly moved. by the end of the day thousands of dollars had been raised to help rebuild the orphanage.


after seeing the performance at the film festival we decided to have a musical fundraising party at our house later in the week to help raise more money if possible. the party featured an unforgettable backyard performance by nasi, slindile, siwapiwe, peaceful, snethemba, and mbali who were joined at the end by angelique kidjo, simon kirke, colin brooks, and myself for a version of angelique's rousing song afirika. people were very generous and i feel very lucky to live in a community where friends and neighbors will gather together so quickly to show their support. the new york times  ran a great article about this backyard fundraising party. to see photos and read the article click here.

to make a donation to the agape orphanage please go to the keep a child alive website

on another note entirely, we are tuning up for two sold out hometown shows this weekend. saturday may 18 we?ll be having 2 brooklyn ballyhoo performances at our beloved brooklyn academy of music with special guests joan osborne, the rubi theater company, wunmi, anna?s french horn class, and haitian master drummer, bonga. sunday may 15 in montclair is also sold out. i am sorry if you missed getting a ticket. the good news is that a sold out show means we will be welcomed back.

i?m feeling glad to be in this musical world...

love,
dan


spring/summer 2005 tour
dan zanes and friends spring 2005 tour is sponsored by bright horizons family solutions

saturday, may 18th sold out!
dan zanes & friends
where: harvey theater , brooklyn academy of music
brooklyn, ny 
when:11am(sold out!) and 2pm
phone: (718) 618-4130
link: http://www.bam.org/education/bamfamily.aspx
details: tickets: $12 (general admission)

sunday, may 15th sold out!
dan zanes & friends
where: alexander kasser theater, montclair state university
montclair, nj
when: 2pm
phone: (973) 655-5112
link: http://www.Montclair.edu/kasser/zanes.html
details: tickets: $10 and $15

saturday, june 4th
dan zanes & friends
where: ordway center for the performing arts, 345 washington st
st. paul, mn
when: 11:30am and 2pm
phone: (651) 218-4222
link: http://www.ordway.org/season/festival/about_performers.html
details: tickets: adults $17, $15, $11 and children $8.50, $7.50 and $5.50.

saturday, june 11th
dan zanes & friends
where: steps of court house
spencer, ia
when:3pm
phone: tbd
link: tbd
details: tbd

sunday, june 12th
dan zanes & friends
where: perry elementary school
perry, ia
when: 2pm
phone: (516)465-2518
link: tbd
details: free!

saturday, june 18th
dan zanes & friends
where: marshalltown community college, conrad dejardin hall
marshalltown, ia
when: 7pm
phone: (651) 218-4222
link: tbd
details: $2.00

sunday, june 19th
dan zanes & friends
where: hancher auditorium
iowa city, ia
when: 2pm
phone: (800) HANCHER
link: tbd
details: tickets: adults $22.00-$25.00; UI students $15.00-$25.00; and children $11.00-$12.50

saturday, june 25th
dan zanes & friends
where: the eric carle museum of picture book art
amherst, ma
when: 11am and 3pm
phone: (413) 658-1100
link: www.picturebookart.org
details: tbd