Participants in June Concert and Awareness Tour

Performers

Peter Yarrow songwriter, singer; member “Peter, Paul and Mary”, preeminent folk music group deeply engaged with the civil rights and peace movements; founder and president of Operation Respect; regularly featured on Public Broadcast System television www.peterpaulandmary.com/people/f-py.htm www.operationrespect.org

Thoms (Rufus) Cappodocia Canadian born cellist; multi-lingual musician, performer, composer and recording artist ranging from Middle Eastern, West African and pan-European folk forms to blues, rock and jazz; adding elements of American roots, Mediterranean textures, and Caribbean percussion http://www.rufusmusic.com/

Gaston (Bonga) Jean-Baptiste Haitian born master of traditional drum, dance and song; one of few craftsmen outside of Haiti who continues to build traditional drums using centuries-old techniques; worldwide performances with his band The Vodou Drums of Haiti www.bongamusic.com

Sheila Anozier Haitian born and inspired free-style dancer using movements from Africa and its Diaspora, modern, and any style of dance that inspires her to freedom; performances in venues and festivals across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia

Michael (Mick) Moloney Irish born professor of music and Irish studies at New York University; musician and musicologist; made and produced over sixty CD's of Irish and American music; published extensively on folk and traditional music; board member, Mercy Center, Bangkok www.mickmoloney.com

John Murphy Irish uilleann piper, flute and whistle player; performed in Europe and Asia for the past thirty years; has lived in South East Asia for over ten years. working in Bangkok as a management consultant; regularly records with singers and groups from GMM Grammy.

Friends and supporters

John McAuliff founder and executive director of Fund for Reconciliation and Development; decades of experience in civil rights, peace and Irish freedom movements; Peace Corps volunteer in Peru; Democratic party and Barack Obama activist; advocate of normal US relations with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Cuba www.ffrd.org

Mary Rower artist, philanthropist, activist, singer; central trustee of legacy of her father, renowned sculptor Alexander Calder, through Calder Foundation, an archive and arts-related non-profit; Board member, Threshold Foundation; founded The Infinity Food Co., one of the first health food companies in the US www.calder.org

Gryphon Rower-Upjohn 19 year old grandson of Mary; student of music at Bard College; songwriter and recording artist with interests in meditation, Buddhism, and sleight-of-hand magic

Susan Bardfield retired Social Worker who specialized in Child Protection Work at Inpatient and Outpatient Pediatrics Department of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York; serves on grants committee of Threshold Foundation with particular interest in grant making for internationally based projects

Gabrielle Bardfield Peruvian born 15 year old daughter of Susan; attended the United Nations International School in New York through ninth grade; entering junior year at Yarmouth High School in Maine

Eugene Kirkham civil rights attorney, pro-bono practice focused on reform of US prison system and rights of indigenous peoples in New Zealand and US; a founder of the Napa Folk Festival; conscientious objector during Vietnam War; co-owner of Casa Nuestra winery in St Helena, California;. http://www.casanuestra.com/

Demond Mullins Sociology PhD Fellow, City University of New York Graduate Center; served as an infantryman in Iraq (2004 – 2005); active in Iraq Veterans Against the War; featured in documentary "The Ground Truth."; was a Special Projects Consultant on Veterans Issues in the Senatorial Office of Barack Obama in 2007.

Peter McAuliff retired psychiatric social worker, chief of Mental Health Treatment Services in hospitals of New York Office of Mental Health; former US Army officer based at Cam Rahn Bay in Vietnam, 1967-68

Patrick Lavaud founder and director “Nuits Atypiques de Langon” festival in southern France with musicians from around the world, the constructive opposite of the “clash of civilizations”; Artistic Director of the CD Nuits Atypiques music record company “daqui”; anti-globalization activist www.nuitsatypiques.org www.daqui.org

Lizon Lavaud 15 year old daughter of Patrick, cousin of a French-Vietnamese boy of 11; student at the “Lycée Condorcet” in Bordeaux, France.

Doan Hoang (Hoàng Niên Thuc-Doan) producer, director, and writer of films, heads production company, Nuoc Pictures; born in Nha Trang, raised in Kentucky; ‘Oh, Saigon’, award-winning documentary about reconciliation of war divided family, shown on public television with 150 air dates in May www.ohsaigon.com

Invitation to Peter Yarrow concerts

Dear members of the international NGO, foundation, press and business communities,

Peter Yarrow will make his third concert tour of Vietnam from 23 June to 1 July, this time with an international cast. The concerts embody the sharing of cultural traditions and raise awareness and funds for the benefit of suspected victims of dioxin contamination from the defoliant Agent Orange.

Yarrow is a member of the famed American folk music group "Peter, Paul and Mary". He will be joined on stage by regular collaborators Rufus Cappadocia, a cellist originally from Canada, drummer Gaston "Bonga" Jean-Baptiste , and dancer Sheila Anozier, both born in Haiti. First time partners are Irish traditional musician and musicologist Mick Moloney and flute, whistle and uilleann pipe player John Murphy. Murphy lives in Bangkok. The others are based in New York.

Popular Vietnamese singers will be featured at all three concerts.

Their first concert on 25 June in Ho Chi Minh City at the White Palace Convention Center will be broadcast live on VTV4 and HTV9. A second informal concert will take place in Hoi An on 27 June. Their final concert on 29 June at the Ha Noi Opera House will also be televised.

Tickets are available for all three concerts at a suggested donation to assist Agent Orange victims of 500,000 dong. Please contact Ms. Quynh Phan at Vietnam-USA Society to arrange for the donation and delivery of tickets.

INGOs, foundations or businesses wishing to become sponsors of the TV broadcasts should contact Mr. Bach Ngoc Chien, Managing Director, Vietnam Television International (VTV 4)

As during his previous visits, Yarrow will interact with Vietnamese and international NGOs that address the physical legacies of war such as Agent Orange, land mines and unexploded ordnance. This trip will also engage with the longer term psychological legacies of war when foreign military intervention runs amok such as the actions of the Tiger Force unit in Tam Ky, Duc Pho and the Song Ve Valley area in 1967 that were not reported until 2003 by the Toledo Blade and the notorious events forty years ago in My Lai.

The tour is coordinated by VTV4, the Vietnam-USA Society of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a US NGO that has been active with Vietnam since 1985. The program has been made possible by the support of the Threshold Foundation and Vietnamese business and individual sponsors.

International press and other’s wishing general information about the tour’s cultural exchange and war legacy program should contact Mr. John McAuliff, Executive Director, Fund for Reconciliation and Development .

Hope to see you soon at one of the concerts,

John McAuliff

Executive Director