"Takin' New Orleans To The Rest Of The World"
May 2010
On Tuesday, May 25, Joyful Gospel, USA, backed by the Joyful Gospel Choir, was called upon to perform the memorial service for the 11 families that lost loved ones in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010. The service was held in Jackson, Mississippi at the Downtown Civic Center. It was a breath taking service, and a great opportunity for Joyful Gospel to bring a message of hope to the heartbroken families, friends and others who were present.
The event was sponsored by Transocean; endorsed by President Obama as well as the Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
We are incredibly honored to be chosen for this event. Special thanks go out to everyone who worked hard to make it an event of Rememberance and Honor.
To view the memorial service click her to visit Deepwater Horizon Memorial
This year's tour to Germany was to the lower Saxony region in Northwest Germany very close the border at The Netherlands. We performed to sold out audiences at the Civic Center in Verden, at the Phaeno in volfsburg, Theatre Meppen a church in Vreden and at the JazzFest Gronau where we performed with Europe's Ambassador to New Orleans Music, Ms. Lillian Boutte.
We are so grateful to live out our dream of
TAKIN' NEW ORLEANS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD!
Many thanks to our friends Elmar Hoff and Thomas Gerdiken, we look forward to working with you again, soon.
January 2010
Jamalar Agency and Rampart Street Music announce the release of a couple CD Projects that will soon be available for sale via CD Baby.com by early February 2010.
The first new release is a compilation CD called The Spirit Of New Orleans Volume One. The Spirit Of New Orleans Gospel Choir is a conglomeration of the artists who have already recorded with Rampart Street Music and who come together to form one large choir we call The Spirit of New Orleans and features music from JOYFUL, The Joyful Gospel Singers, Friendly Travelers, N*Harmone' and Sjuwana Byers & The Children of God.
The first release from, new artist, Danielle Wilson & The Truth, titled, "Reflections Of Mahalia" is a collection of traditional gospel and Negro spirituals. Recorded with piano and background singers, this record exemplifies the vibrant and powerful range of Danielle's voice.
The Spirit of New Orleans is booked to participate in the Nancy Jazz Pulsations annual music event October 2009
While in Germany for JazzFest Gronau's Annual gospeltrain Konzert, we are very pleased to announce that JOYFUL Gospel a.k.a NEW ORLEANS 9TH WARD GOSPEL CONNECTION is booked for four additional concert programs called IN THE SPIRIT OF NEW ORLEANS.
New Orleans 9th Ward gospel Connection (New Orleans/USA), Father Jerome LeDoux (New Orleans/USA), Old Merry Tale Jazz Band (Hamburg/BRD), Tina Tandler (Berlin/BRD), Mary Thompson (Jackson, MS/USA), Thomas Gerdiken, the Prince Of New Orleans Piano (BRD), New Orleans Marrero gospel Friends (Marrero, LA/USA), Lillian Boutte And Her Music Friends (USA/BRD)
IN THE SPIRIT OF NEW ORLEANS 2010 is a tribute to LOUIS ARMSTRONG, MAHALILA JACKSON and FATS DOMINO, the icons of New Orleans music. Since its inception in 2008, this tribute program is conducted by German musician Thomas Gerdiken with the purpose to support the MUSICIANS in New Orleans and the NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS CLINIC. Most parts of the City of New Orleans are still destroyed after storm Katrina. The unique musical culture of the City of New Orleans blusters to disappear.
With IN THE SPIRIT OF NEW ORLEANS, as musicians, we try to keep the New Orleans Music alive with Gospel, Blues, Dixieland, Cajun, Zydeco and Mardi Gras Indians. In this concert, we try to show the whole New Orleans musical gumbo to the audience. Altogether, more than 150 musicians will take part. Nearly 20 musicians from New Orleans along with Father Jerome LeDoux (from St. Augustine's Church in the New Orleans Treme neighborhood) known for the film "SHAKE THE DEVIL OFF," will travel to Germany for these concerts.
From Germany, the Germain protagonists of Dixieland, the OLD MERRY TALE JAZZBAND from Hamburg, the FATS DOMINO REVIVAL BAND with musicians from the bands of Jan Delay, roger Cicero and Hellmut Zerlett from the three most famous bands in Germany, the saxophonist TINA TANDLER from Berlin known from many TV productions and THOMAS GERDIKEN, THE PRINCE OF NEW ORLEANS PIANO, will take part.
With this touring, we try to support our musician friends from New Orleans and the NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS CLINIC (www.neworleansmusiciansclinic.org). Also we try, with this touring, to call attention for the continuing bad situation in New Orleans after Katrina.
For more detailed information, please visit www.thomas-gerdiken.de.
(this text was transcribed and edited from the producer's translation)
For more news about our relationship with our friends in Germany, scroll down this page, there are several entries..
For the concert dates and locations, go to Jamalar On Tour
JOYFUL Gospel is booked for JazzFest Gronau's Annual Gospeltrain Konzert on May 2, 2010 and will be listed as NEW ORLEANS 9TH WARD GOSPEL CONNECTION.
November 2009
Jamalar/Rampart Street Music signs a recording and international booking agreement with new artist Danielle Wilson.
October 2009
The Spirit of New Orleans Choir has been selected to participate
in the Christmas New Orleans Style Cathedral Concert Series.
The group will present their program on Wednesday,
December 2, 2009, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
September 2009
Tour dates are now being booked for Friendly Travelers,
Danielle Wilson & The Truth, Heavenly Melodies, Joyful Gospel
and The Spirit of New Orleans Gospel Choir in ITALY for
December 2009 to January 2010
The Jamalar Agency will host their annual Artist Showcase on September 29, 2009 at the Blue Nile for their partner promoters from Italy, Spain, Sardinia and the Canary Islands. Artists selected from this showcase for 2010 summer tours will be announced after the first of the new year.
The Spirit of New Orleans Choir,
a conglomeration of members from JOYFUL, The Friendly Travelers, Sjuwana Byers & The Children of God, Joyful Gospel Singers and N*Harmone, are booked for a tour in Spain for 16 July, 2009 until 31 July, 2009. The tour includes visits to 5 regions in Spain, EXTREMADURA, PAIS VASCO, CANTABRIA, GALICIA AND ASTURIAS.
Check out the JAMALAR ON TOUR page for more detailed information.
May 2009
The Spirit of New Orleans Gospel Choiris booked to perform at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations annual music event October 2
Jamalar/Rampart Street Music is proud to announce the new cd "Alive In Cincinnati" by Sjuwana Byers & The Children Of God. This project is appropriately subtitled "After The Storm" as both the artist and this label have endured life altering challenges on each side of the spectrum, challenges that threatened the release of this work.
We can now shout the praise and the release of this anointed family offering. We believe this to be a turning point for this stellar artist. Sjuwana has been bountifully blessed with a whole family of world class singers, and musicians who love spreading the gospel. You will hear and feel their passion on this disc.
Thomas Gerdiken visits Rampart Street Studios and records some Fats Domino songs with members of Joyful and the Joyful Gospel Singers. Thomas is known all over Germany as the "Prince of New Orleans Piano"
Thomas Gerdiken and Elmar Hoff travel to New Orleans to present donations to The New Orleans Musicians Clinic and other non-profits who are helping musicians artists recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Jamalar Artists booked for
2009 French Quarter Festival
The Spirit of New Orleans Choir
will perform at the 2009 French Quarter Festival
on Saturday, April 18 @ 11:00 am on the Big Stage
The Friendly Travelers
will perform at The French Quarter Festival
on Sunday, April 19 @ 11:00 am on the Gazebo Stage
2008 Winter Tour New Brief ~ from the desk of Alfred Caston 
Hello Everybody. The Jamalar crew (Joyful, N'Harmone, Children of God, Bridgette Bazille and the First Revolution Gospel Singers are finally home from a long, hard and sometimes grueling bunch of tour dates in Italy, Sardegna, Croatia and Spain.
N'Harmone started their tour in Sondrio Italy. The quarter had the longest stint in this Christmas season. Their tour was from the 7th of December 2008 to the 7th of January 2009.
JOYFUL followed with more than 3 weeks in the cold and snow in Northern Italy. The Pasta, People and the Pizza of Italy made us forget about the bitter cold.
One of the more interesting concerts was sponsored by Croce Rossa Italiana of Loreto (Italy's version of the Red Cross). It was a blast! Members of the unit jumped, shouted and danced during the second line to "When The Saints Go Marching In."
Gianluca Di Maggio of the Trasimeno Blues festival pitched a wang-dang-doodle all night long on New Years Eve in the town of Castiflione del Lago. A dynamite Brass group called P-Funking Band (from Perugia-Umbra) opened for JOYFUL! These dudes were swinging. If you close your eyes you could very easily imagine that you were in New Orleans. They had the funk!
After the show, the JOYFUL! band was privileged enough to go to a jam session to hear these super dudes lay down some more tunes! They had the steps and the swagger of the New Orleans horn cats and the show lasted longer than we could stand up; we stayed until we could not see anymore! WOW! What a way to ring in a new year! ASC
HOMEGROWN NIGHT 4/9/09 FEATURES...
THE JAMALAR AGENCY
@ 8:00 PM
A NIGHT OF URBAN MUSIC
J.C. & COMPANY
TRADITIONAL QUARTET-STYLE GOSPEL
THE FRIENDLY TRAVELERS
ACAPELLA GOSPEL
CRYSTAL TUCKER
CONTEMPORARY BLUES
JOYFUL!
URBAN/R&B/GOSPEL
