The Band

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Kiva Members and Guests

Ariana Lightningstorm -- band leader, lead vocals, percussion, songwriter, manager Diana Sunday -- vocals, guitar, percussion, drums David Landis -- Native American flutes, whistles, drums, vocals Diana McFadden -- cello, mandolin, guitar Jim Brewster -- guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, drums, flute, whistles, vocals Tim Sauerwein -- didgeridoo, percussion, vocals Tigre Cruz -- drums, percussion, vocals    Satellite Members Amikaeyla Gaston -- vocals, drums, percussion, songwriter (not pictured) Eve Jones -- drums, percussion, silver flute (not pictured) Jaqui MacMillan -- drums (not pictured)

http://kivasong.com/the_band/people_main.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Ariana Lightningstorm

Ariana is a lead singer, songwriter, and manager of KIVA. She grew up in a musical family which includes a band directing mother (Frances Fox) and a famous operatic aunt in Italy (Barbara Demaio). Ariana has taken her classical training in music into the creative realm of mythology and spiritual traditions from around the world. This is an article she wrote for Heartsong Review about her background and thoughts about being a musician -- Notes On My Magical Musical Path.
She was nominated for the DC Wammie! Award in 1996 and 1998 as "Best New Age Female Vocalist". Her greatest musical inspiration is Peter Gabriel. She also is a practitioner of palmistry and tarot reading as well as being a body worker, Rebirther Breathworker in training, and healer. Here is a link to her palmistry/tarot Web site, and a line to her healing work Web site.

Ariana is a distributor of Himalayan Goji Juice for Anti-Aging and all sorts of healing benefits. Check out her page at http://www.ariana.freelife.com/.
To find out more about Himalayan Goji juice, or more information about the band or her healing work call her at 301-430-0388 or e-mail her at [e-mail]

http://kivasong.com/the_band/ariana.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Diana Sunday

After earning her music degree and working as a classical musician, Diana fell in love with folk rock, trading in the concert stage for dark, smoky bars. She was a folksinger in the `60s, a rocker in the `70s, then turned to computer publishing in the `80s so she could buy a farm. Coming out of "retirement" to join KIVA in 1994 has been "...one of the most gratifying experiences in this ol' gal's life. Even if my music affects only a few people each performance, I'll feel like I've done some good toward teaching them to appreciate, love, and respect Nature." Diana is singer, guitarist, percussionist, and songwriter for KIVA. Diana has appeared with such performers as the celtic-psychedelic band Green Crown, the folk band Folk Nouveau, and Owain Phyfe of the New World Renaissance Band.
http://kivasong.com/the_band/diana_s.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

David Landis

David plays Native American flutes, pennywhistles, and percussion for KIVA. He has been playing hand drums for many years. He started playing Native American flutes in 1993 (self-taught) and joined KIVA in 1995. David has been musically inspired by such diverse artists as R. Carlos Nakai (master Native American flute player who often works with Peter Kater) and the Grateful Dead. David has appeared with such performers as the celtic-psychedelic band Green Crown, the folk band Folk Nouveau, and Owain Phyfe of the New World Renaissance Band.
David has recently joined the ranks of "songwriters" by writing his first song ever, "Once More" (click on the name to hear the song in MP3). You can find the new song on the KIVA CD "Out of the Corner of the Eye".
David's Native American flutes are made by Dusty Moore of Tsunami Flutes, Annapolis MD. They sound great, look beautiful, and are affordable as well.
http://kivasong.com/the_band/david.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Diana McFadden

Diana has been playing with KIVA since the very beginning. She was even with Alaina and Ariana in Pomegranate. A classically trained cellist, Diana is also self-taught in guitar, mandolin, cittern, and various other string instruments. Her playing has been shaped by an interest in progressive rock, blues, jazz, eastern and Indian music, as well as medieval and various traditional musics.
Diana has performed with the celtic folk band Iona, the celtic-psychedelic band Green Crown, and other bands such as Pomegranate and Longhouse. She has recorded with many of the local DC area traditional folk bands. Diana also performs with the folk band Folk Nouveau, and with Owain Phyfe of the New World Renaissance Band.

http://kivasong.com/the_band/diana_m.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Jim Brewster

Jim Brewster has been playing with KIVA since 1997. After formal training on the trumpet, he started his ongoing exploration of the guitar, which over the last 20-plus years has brought him through many musical styles, from rock to folk to jazz. Along the way, he has picked up other instruments, including mandolin, banjo, fiddle, pennywhistle, recorder, electric bass, hand drums, and silver flute. Jim also performs with the semi-mystical Bardic Bardo Brothers (as "Jim Barleycorn Bardo") and was a member of the celtic-psychedelic band Green Crown. He has appeared with such artists as Brahm Stuart of Shaman, Imani Buchanan of Circle, Skin, and Bone, Sarah Stockwell Arthen, and Owain Phyfe of the New World Renaissance Band.

http://kivasong.com/the_band/jim.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Tim Sauerwein

Tim plays didgeridoo, percussion, and sings with KIVA. He joined the band in 2001. Tim started singing in the chorus and playing the tuba in the band in high school. He added the didgeridoo in 1999. Tim has been greatly influenced by Graham Wiggins, didg player for the groups Dr. Didg and Outback, and by Ash Dargan, the Australian master didg player.

http://kivasong.com/the_band/tim.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Tigre Cruz

Tigre is a rhythmancer (a drum mage), a drum instructor and a drum circle facilitator. In his 35th year of drumming, studying, training, and/or instructing classical and modern percussion, he has acquired a wealth of experience in band, orchestra, marching band and competitive drum corps. He is immersed in traditional West African Djembe drumming and technique. He studies drumming and drum circle facilitation with Jaqui MacMillan. He has performed with and learned from Daveed Korup, Aesa Grayson, and Jim Donovan of Rusted Root. Tigre facilitates groups to shape intentions and drum circles for a variety of reasons: ritual, meditation, inspiration, trance, healing and enjoyment. Tigre has co-created formal and informal ceremonies, and taught classes for various organizations such as The Mid-Atlantic Men's Gathering and the Sacred Space Conference. He joined Kiva in 2005 and resides in Baltimore, MD.
http://kivasong.com/the_band/tigre.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Amikaeyla Gaston

Amikaeyla Proudfoot Gaston has been guest performing with KIVA for many years and she went to England with us. Ami's musical career began at age four, studying classical piano, flute and vocals for over 20 years. As a trained vocalist, her musical techniques include classical choral opera, a cappella madrigals, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and international styles from West Africa and South India. She has performed at the Kennedy Center and with the Lisner Symphony; Yasmeen from Sweet Honey in the Rock; the Gaston Jazz Quartet; Dahjay West African Pop Band; Imani A Cappella; Bottomland; Bloodroot A Cappella Duo; Fire & Earth Folk and American Folklore troupe; Caravan, South Indian Healing Music Ensemble; Mama Muti Healing Drums and Music; and Rhythm Alive Dance and Drum Assembly. Other performances include off-Broadway productions of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene, and Lady Sings the Blues as Billie Holliday.
Amikaeyla is the lead singer and one of the co-founders of Bottomland, a jazz/blues/worldbeat band, and the group she can most often be seen performing with.

News: Amikaeyla was the winner of 5 Wammy Awards for 2004 -- best jazz vocalist, best urban contemporary vocalist, best jazz recording, best world music recording, & best debut album for "Mosaic"!

http://kivasong.com/the_band/others.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Eve Jones

Eve has recently moved to NYC to pursue her happiness and has become a satellite member of KIVA. Eve grew up in a musical family -- she started taking piano lessons when she was 7 years old and flute when she was 10 while also taking ballet and drama. When it became clear that she was a mesomorph and wouldn't have the classical ballet body she moved into the modern dance style. In her early 20's Eve started taking drum lessons with Glenn Weber in the Latin/Caribbean styles of percussion as well as every drum workshop she could get into which added African percussion styles to her repertoire. As you can hear on the albums with KIVA she has done very well with those lessons.
http://kivasong.com/the_band/others.html

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Jaqui MacMillan

Jaqui MacMillan found her passion for African drumming in the early 1980’s. She has since studied with many Masters, including Babatunde Olatunji, Mamady Keita, Sam Turner and at the Tam Tam Mandingue School in Washington, DC. Having performed and recorded with some of the top names in the business, she began sharing her joy of drumming with others by teaching classes and facilitating community drum circles. Jaqui has taught privately and given workshops around the country for over fifteen years through her program, “Drum For Joy!”. In 1999 and 2001, she attended the Drum Circle Facilitators Playshop and the Drum Facilitators Mentor Training in Hawaii with Arthur Hull. Jaqui has facilitated drum circles for corporate team building events, conferences, elementary and high schools, hospitals, programs for “at risk” children, juvenile detention centers and programs for homeless and battered women. She is a founding board member of the Drum Circle Facilitators Guild (DCFG), a non-profit organization dedicated to professionalism in the field of drum circle facilitation. The Washington Area Music Association, (WAMA), awarded Jaqui the “World Music Instrumentalist Award” every year from 1995 through 2002 and she was featured in the Women Drummers 2000 issue of DRUM! Magazine. As an endorsee of Mountain Rythym Percussion, Jaqui represented the company as a guest facilitator at the 2004 Summer NAMM in Nashville, TN and at the 2005 Percussive Arts Society International Conference, (PASIC), in Ohio. She is currently working on a book about women drummers and is creating a drum program for children, which includes her own line of drums and percussion instruments.

http://users.erols.com/jaqui/jaquibio.html