Producers and Musicians
DR. TOM VENDETTI
Dr. Tom Vendetti, Emmy® award-winning filmmaker, combines his work as a psychologist with over 30 years working in the mental health field with his passion as a filmmaker to direct and produce documentary features that have been viewed around the world.
He began making documentaries over 20 years ago pointing his camera at different peoples, places and cultures in order to gain a deeper understanding, appreciation and celebration of their lives, customs and beliefs through the medium of digital cinema. His primary focus has been committed to producing documentary programs that preserve the environment/culture and promoting happiness.
Tom directed, produced (with Robert C. Stone), the feature documentary "When the Mountain Calls: Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan" (2011). The film explores the director/producer’s personal experiences and reflections from over 30 years of traveling through the Himalayas – a journey discovering the meaning and sources of happiness in unexpected places, and the changes over the decades to the people, the land, climate culture. Featured in the film are appearances by the Dalai Lama, Lama Tenzin, Paul Horn, Tenzing Norgay, Sir Edmond Hillary, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Dorjee Sherpa and Green Peace China.
Prior to this, Dr. Vendetti directed and produced the award-winning documentary feature "Bhutan: Taking the Middle Path To Happiness” (2007) which earned him an Emmy® Award for Historic/Cultural Program - Feature/Segment, and also Christopher Hedge for Musical Composition/Arrangement. The film aired on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and is still showing today, and has been screened at film festivals around the world. Tom Vendetti's filmmaking interests began in 1986 with the documentary "Therapy on the River," a program which he directed and produced, on the positive effects of a five-day river trip in Southern Utah with mentally ill clients.
This soon was followed by his second venture into the world of documentary filmmaking with "Recovery Trek" (1991), a video be filmed and directed which documented a group of individuals suffering with alcoholism and drug addiction, and their trek in the Grand Canyon an other Northern Arizona locations in an effort to kick their habit. Since then, he directed and produced numerous award-winning documentary films including: o "Sacred Tibet: The Path to Mount Kailash" (2006) which he also co-edited. o "Recovered Dignity" (2005) which currently is being used around the country to promote the rights of the mentally ill.
"Years of Darkness: A Spiritual Journey to Recovery" (2003) which aired on PBS nationwide.
"Fiji Firewalkers" (2002) which aired nationally on PBS.
The award-winning "Mount Kailash: Return to Tibet" (2001) which aired on PBS.
"Journey Inside Tibet" (1999) screened at film festival around the world and which aired on PBS. o
"No Means No: Date Rape" (1999), a video made for the State of Hawai'i to be used to educate young adults about the facts and protective measures to take to avoid date rape.
"House of the Sun" (1998) featuring Haleakala National Park on Maui. The video continues to be sold by the Haleakala National Park Service.
"Canyon Sanctuary" (1997) which aired nationally on Oasis TV
"Africa: Earth Energy" (1996) which was filmed in Zimbabwe and aired nationally on Oasis TV.
"Paradise Blue: Hawaiian Tranquility" (1995) which was selected by QVC in 1998 as one of Hawaii's best products and sold on the channel. It also aired nationally in Oasis TV and also was used in psychiatric facilities to promote patient relaxation.
"Maui Meditation" (1994), distributed by Hawaii's Booklines and aired nationally on Oasis TV. It also was used in psychiatric hospitals around the country to promote relaxation.
"Hopi Rehabilitation Awareness" (1992), a video he edited and used on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona to introduce rehabilitation services for head injury victims.
Music is an integral component of all Tom Vendetti's films. Emmy® Award winning composer Christopher Hedge, with whom he has worked with on most of his recent documentaries, brings the sounds, voices and instrumentation of far away and exotic cultures and the effects are both intriguing and mesmerizing. His scores are a perfect complement to the inspiration aspects of Tom's work.
KEOLA BEAMER
www.kbeamer.com/ Keola Beamer“Keola Beamer’s [slack key] style is the best there is on the planet”, says Willie Nelson. Keola Beamer has breathed new life into slack key guitar music yet stays true to its deep Hawaiian roots. He is a Hawaiian legend: singer-songwriter, composer, guitar master, with an impeccable, gorgeous style that is featured on The Descendants soundtrack and his 17 CDs. Keola was one of the first to use Hawaiian slack key techniques to create contemporary music that is also at home on jazz or classical stages. His wife Moanalani Beamer joins Keola in performances with her beautiful hula and the exquisite sounds of traditional Hawaiian instruments.
Keola Beamerʻs well of talent springs from five generations of Hawaiʻi's most illustrious and beloved musical families. Keola's mother was revered Hawaiian cultural treasure, Aunty Nona Beamer. His great-grandmother was one of Hawaiʻi's most illustrious composers, Helen Desha Beamer. The Beamers trace their roots to royal families of the 14th century and have been cultural practitioners through generations.
Keola established himself early as a leader of the wave of contemporary Hawaiian music when he wrote the classic Honolulu City Lights - which is still one of the absolute all-time best selling recordings in the history of Hawaiian Music. Keola was also the author of the very first written instruction book for the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, published in 1972.
Keola is a world-renowned Native Hawaiian Musician, Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, Multiple Grammy Award Nominee, Multiple Na Hoku Na Hanohano Award Winner (Hawaiian Grammys) Native Arts and Culture Foundation Fellow. He is an Award Winning Author and Artistic Director of The Mohala Hou Foundation, which presents Aloha Music Camp. In January of 2018 Keola was appointed Board Chair of Aloha Kuamoʻo ʻĀina, a 501c3 non-profit formed for the protection and preservation of the Kuamoʻo Battlefield and Burial Grounds in Kona, Hawaii.
You will find information here on all of Keola's releases, his Aloha Music Camp, online lessons, tablature, instructional books & DVDs, humor, bio, family history, and much more.
Aloha Music Camp is presented every year.
www.kbeamer.com/
PAUL HORN
Hailed as a founding father of new age music, Paul Horn is a versatile and widely popular recording artist with a number of albums to his credit, including Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), which has sold more than three-quarters of a million copies. Flutist Paul Horn's story is an inspiring odyssey of world travel, expansive musical creativity, psychological evolution, and spiritual transformation. For over three decades, Horn has maintained a high public profile, increasing his audience even as he has changed creative directions - classical music, jazz, fusion, pop, new age music, world music. Horn has journeyed around the world several times, often playing for thousands of people in concert halls, recording these albums in their famous locations—Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), in India, Inside the Great Pyramid (12060), in Egypt, and Inside the Cathedral (11075), in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1987, he made a recording that was nominated for the Best New Age Grammy; no wonder he entitled that album Traveler (11086). Born in New York, raised in Washington D.C., Horn began his study of classical piano and clarinet as a child. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and earned his Masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music. After a stint in the Army, he briefly played in the Sauter–Finegan big band, then joined the famous Chico Hamilton Quintet.
Living in Hollywood, Horn quickly established himself as a jazz star on flute, clarinet, and saxophone. These were the glory years—touring and recording with Chico Hamilton; friends with Miles Davis, Tony Curtis, Tony Bennett; leader of his own quartet and quintet groups; celebrated in the Downbeat, Playboy and Metronome jazz polls; selected as the subject for David Wolper's TV documentary The Story of a Jazz Musician; freelance studio musician and guest soloist on dozens of albums; member of the NBC Staff Orchestra; on screen as an actor in The Sweet Smell of Success and The Rat Race. For all of his professional success in the 50s and early 60s, Horn nevertheless felt profoundly dissatisfied. His first marriage was on the rocks. In December, 1966, Horn packed his bags and flew to India, where he stayed for four months and became a teacher of meditation, guided by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Meditation opened the doors to the inner world. Horn's life was transformed.
In 1968, Horn returned to India as the producer of a film on Maharishi and meditation. The Beatles, Donovan, Shirley MacLaine, and other celebrities had discovered Maharishi. The ashram was overrun with media people; the film production proved disastrous. However, on this trip Horn recorded Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), a major forerunner of today's New Age music and still a best–seller.
Fed up with Hollywood studio life, Horn toured with pop star Donovan, earning enough money to move to Victoria, B.C., in 1970. He resumed family life with his two sons and a new wife, Tryntje. He built a new house and launched and independent career.
Horn lectured on creativity and the higher spiritual values of music; he taught meditation to students. He traveled to Egypt, China, Scotland, and elsewhere, recording in each location. He founded his own label, Golden Flute Records, and learned the business of music. He hosted his own eighteen-week Canadian network TV series; helped cure Haida, an ailing killer whale by playing soothing music; was guest soloist with various symphony orchestras; formed a new quintet; scored music for films, and recorded another best selling new age classic, Inside the Taj Mahal II (11085). He also traveled to Russia four times, met the people face–to–face, played concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, and elsewhere, recorded three albums, gained invaluable insights into the problems that exist between Russia and America—and offered possible solutions.
In his book Inside Paul Horn (HarperCollins), Horn summarized his life as follows, "We are journeying externally from country to country, instrumentally reflecting the merging of many diverse world cultures. We are traveling in historical time, from the present to the distant past. We are traveling inwardly as well, through the music of meditation."
Hailed as a founding father of new age music, Paul Horn is a versatile and widely popular recording artist with a number of albums to his credit, including Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), which has sold more than three-quarters of a million copies. Flutist Paul Horn's story is an inspiring odyssey of world travel, expansive musical creativity, psychological evolution, and spiritual transformation. For over three decades, Horn has maintained a high public profile, increasing his audience even as he has changed creative directions - classical music, jazz, fusion, pop, new age music, world music. Horn has journeyed around the world several times, often playing for thousands of people in concert halls, recording these albums in their famous locations—Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), in India, Inside the Great Pyramid (12060), in Egypt, and Inside the Cathedral (11075), in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1987, he made a recording that was nominated for the Best New Age Grammy; no wonder he entitled that album Traveler (11086). Born in New York, raised in Washington D.C., Horn began his study of classical piano and clarinet as a child. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and earned his Masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music. After a stint in the Army, he briefly played in the Sauter–Finegan big band, then joined the famous Chico Hamilton Quintet.
Living in Hollywood, Horn quickly established himself as a jazz star on flute, clarinet, and saxophone. These were the glory years—touring and recording with Chico Hamilton; friends with Miles Davis, Tony Curtis, Tony Bennett; leader of his own quartet and quintet groups; celebrated in the Downbeat, Playboy and Metronome jazz polls; selected as the subject for David Wolper's TV documentary The Story of a Jazz Musician; freelance studio musician and guest soloist on dozens of albums; member of the NBC Staff Orchestra; on screen as an actor in The Sweet Smell of Success and The Rat Race. For all of his professional success in the 50s and early 60s, Horn nevertheless felt profoundly dissatisfied. His first marriage was on the rocks. In December, 1966, Horn packed his bags and flew to India, where he stayed for four months and became a teacher of meditation, guided by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Meditation opened the doors to the inner world. Horn's life was transformed.
In 1968, Horn returned to India as the producer of a film on Maharishi and meditation. The Beatles, Donovan, Shirley MacLaine, and other celebrities had discovered Maharishi. The ashram was overrun with media people; the film production proved disastrous. However, on this trip Horn recorded Inside the Taj Mahal (11062), a major forerunner of today's New Age music and still a best–seller.
Fed up with Hollywood studio life, Horn toured with pop star Donovan, earning enough money to move to Victoria, B.C., in 1970. He resumed family life with his two sons and a new wife, Tryntje. He built a new house and launched and independent career.
Horn lectured on creativity and the higher spiritual values of music; he taught meditation to students. He traveled to Egypt, China, Scotland, and elsewhere, recording in each location. He founded his own label, Golden Flute Records, and learned the business of music. He hosted his own eighteen-week Canadian network TV series; helped cure Haida, an ailing killer whale by playing soothing music; was guest soloist with various symphony orchestras; formed a new quintet; scored music for films, and recorded another best selling new age classic, Inside the Taj Mahal II (11085). He also traveled to Russia four times, met the people face–to–face, played concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, and elsewhere, recorded three albums, gained invaluable insights into the problems that exist between Russia and America—and offered possible solutions.
In his book Inside Paul Horn (HarperCollins), Horn summarized his life as follows, "We are journeying externally from country to country, instrumentally reflecting the merging of many diverse world cultures. We are traveling in historical time, from the present to the distant past. We are traveling inwardly as well, through the music of meditation."
CHRISTOPHER HEDGE
Christopher Hedge has spent a lifetime immersed in music, gleaning from every source around the globe the elements that together constitute World Music. Through his recording of such luminaries as Chico Freeman and David Grisman, to his collaborations with Congolese master drummer Titos Sompa, legendary flutists Paul Horn and R. Carlos Nakai, the Kronos String Quartet, rocker Neil Young and sessions with numerous unsung virtuosos, Chris Hedge has found his musical expression grow in breadth and depth, incorporating musical forms from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia as effortlessly as he switches from piano to kalimba.
Some of his music may be drawn from the environment (music is always in the air, if you’re listening for it). Take, for example, the percussive sound of a motorbike passing by on a dirt road in Nepal, or the sounds of birds singing along with the children in an open-air classroom on Beqa Island near Fiji. He characterizes these natural sounds as audio photographs, not “sound effects” or “samples;” as they are a part of the moment and the place that together create the music.
Hedge’s compositional career began modestly enough with soundtracks for the San Francisco State University Planetarium three decades ago. Since then he has composed more than 1,000 works, numerous albums and soundtracks. His first album with Paul Horn was nominated for a Grammy. He has performed all over the world, from an opera house in Italy, to a performance for the birthday celebration for the King in Bhutan.
He created a multi-national performance for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. Gathering musicians from all around the world, he asked them to record with a simple template of tempo’s and keys. Their music and video was collected through the web and combined, live, each night of the games into a true global composition.
From a musical family, Hedge’s formative years saw experimentation with many instruments. While adept at the piano, guitar and kalimba, his most expressive instrument is the recording studio itself. As his long-time collaborator, Paul Horn, put it, “Master your instrument and then you are free.” Hedge has mastered the art of production, making the artifice invisible, letting the music step onto the forestage and speak for itself.
The Magic Shop, which he founded in 1984, is where he lets his creative juices ferment, taking all of his recordings from around the world, adding new music and seamlessly melding them into a coherent whole. If you could liken an album to the aural equivalent of a motion picture, Hedge is the ultimate “indie” artist: producer, director and editor, as well as one of the character actors in the background.
I’ve had the privilege of watching Hedge’s art evolve through a long career of solitary composition and collaborations. The New Heroes is his masterwork, the work of a mature and accomplished artist at the top of his form.
Update: Christopher Hedge was awarded 2 Emmy's for the soundtrack to "Bhutan - Taking the Middle Path to Happiness" which was partially composed on location in Thimpu, Bhutan
http://christopherhedge.com
Some of his music may be drawn from the environment (music is always in the air, if you’re listening for it). Take, for example, the percussive sound of a motorbike passing by on a dirt road in Nepal, or the sounds of birds singing along with the children in an open-air classroom on Beqa Island near Fiji. He characterizes these natural sounds as audio photographs, not “sound effects” or “samples;” as they are a part of the moment and the place that together create the music.
Hedge’s compositional career began modestly enough with soundtracks for the San Francisco State University Planetarium three decades ago. Since then he has composed more than 1,000 works, numerous albums and soundtracks. His first album with Paul Horn was nominated for a Grammy. He has performed all over the world, from an opera house in Italy, to a performance for the birthday celebration for the King in Bhutan.
He created a multi-national performance for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. Gathering musicians from all around the world, he asked them to record with a simple template of tempo’s and keys. Their music and video was collected through the web and combined, live, each night of the games into a true global composition.
From a musical family, Hedge’s formative years saw experimentation with many instruments. While adept at the piano, guitar and kalimba, his most expressive instrument is the recording studio itself. As his long-time collaborator, Paul Horn, put it, “Master your instrument and then you are free.” Hedge has mastered the art of production, making the artifice invisible, letting the music step onto the forestage and speak for itself.
The Magic Shop, which he founded in 1984, is where he lets his creative juices ferment, taking all of his recordings from around the world, adding new music and seamlessly melding them into a coherent whole. If you could liken an album to the aural equivalent of a motion picture, Hedge is the ultimate “indie” artist: producer, director and editor, as well as one of the character actors in the background.
I’ve had the privilege of watching Hedge’s art evolve through a long career of solitary composition and collaborations. The New Heroes is his masterwork, the work of a mature and accomplished artist at the top of his form.
Update: Christopher Hedge was awarded 2 Emmy's for the soundtrack to "Bhutan - Taking the Middle Path to Happiness" which was partially composed on location in Thimpu, Bhutan
http://christopherhedge.com
CINDY PAULOS
Rev. Cindy Paulos is a motivational inspirational speaker, author/poet, lyricist, composer, artist and long time Radio Announcer on multiple stations for KAOI RADIO in Maui, Hawaii, which she co-founded. She has hosted the longest running talk show on Maui for 30 years.
In 1979 she co-launched a chain of new stations across the country and as part owner of and Vice-President of KVRE in Northern California, In l984, Cindy started her own TV show, Tubeworks, where she interviewed many legendary musicians, such as Jerry Garcia. She has interviewed a long list of celebrities over the years, including, Mick Fleetwood, Jackson Browne, Jerry Garcia, David Crosby,Wayne Dwyer, Neal Donald Walsch, Mary Ann Williamson, Anita Moorjani, Ram Dass, Swami Satchadanada, Alan Cohen and thousands of others. .
Rev. Cindy also has a travel show interviewing leaders in the travel industry. She has traveled extensively throughout the world.
In l989, Cindy co-founded KAOI Radio group moved to Maui where she hosted the afternoon drive-time show and has the longest running talk show on Maui.
She began a nonprofit called Metaphysical Media Network, and has a 24/7 new/age spiritual internet radio station, KUOS which you can hear on this site.
Cindy is a voting member of NARAS (Grammys) and HARA.
Five of her CD's have been submitted for Grammy Consideration.
Practicing Aloha won the Hawaii Music Award for in the Inspirational Category and achieved her 5th nomination for a Hoku by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts: Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.
Ave Maria, Queen of Angels was also nominated for a Na Hoku Hano Hano Award and a song from that CD, Greater Purpose, has been nominated for the Hollywood Music and Media Award (HMMA).
Peace, Music and Poems was submitted for Grammy consideration, and noinated for awards by HMMA, HARA, COVR and a Global Music Award.
She has 6 CD’s out:
There is a Forever,
Practicing Aloha,
Angel Blessings
Arise above Abuse,
Ave Maria Queen of Angels,
Peace, Music and Poems
And 6 books,
Put a Little Light in Your Life”
“The Travel Angel Handbook”
Angel Blessings, Messages from Heaven”
Mystical Mother Mary
How to Fly with Less Stress
Audio Book of How to Fly with Less Stress
Prayers, Affirmations and Mediations
She writes meditates and writes everyday.
cindypaulos.com
In 1979 she co-launched a chain of new stations across the country and as part owner of and Vice-President of KVRE in Northern California, In l984, Cindy started her own TV show, Tubeworks, where she interviewed many legendary musicians, such as Jerry Garcia. She has interviewed a long list of celebrities over the years, including, Mick Fleetwood, Jackson Browne, Jerry Garcia, David Crosby,Wayne Dwyer, Neal Donald Walsch, Mary Ann Williamson, Anita Moorjani, Ram Dass, Swami Satchadanada, Alan Cohen and thousands of others. .
Rev. Cindy also has a travel show interviewing leaders in the travel industry. She has traveled extensively throughout the world.
In l989, Cindy co-founded KAOI Radio group moved to Maui where she hosted the afternoon drive-time show and has the longest running talk show on Maui.
She began a nonprofit called Metaphysical Media Network, and has a 24/7 new/age spiritual internet radio station, KUOS which you can hear on this site.
Cindy is a voting member of NARAS (Grammys) and HARA.
Five of her CD's have been submitted for Grammy Consideration.
Practicing Aloha won the Hawaii Music Award for in the Inspirational Category and achieved her 5th nomination for a Hoku by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts: Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.
Ave Maria, Queen of Angels was also nominated for a Na Hoku Hano Hano Award and a song from that CD, Greater Purpose, has been nominated for the Hollywood Music and Media Award (HMMA).
Peace, Music and Poems was submitted for Grammy consideration, and noinated for awards by HMMA, HARA, COVR and a Global Music Award.
She has 6 CD’s out:
There is a Forever,
Practicing Aloha,
Angel Blessings
Arise above Abuse,
Ave Maria Queen of Angels,
Peace, Music and Poems
And 6 books,
Put a Little Light in Your Life”
“The Travel Angel Handbook”
Angel Blessings, Messages from Heaven”
Mystical Mother Mary
How to Fly with Less Stress
Audio Book of How to Fly with Less Stress
Prayers, Affirmations and Mediations
She writes meditates and writes everyday.
cindypaulos.com
SHANNON HORAN
Shan Dan Horan has donned multiple hats over the years, ranging from working for Barack Obama, to running international labels Artery Recordings, Outerloop Records, Century Media Records (to name a few). On top of his work at record labels he is also an accomplished director, most recently finishing a short film documenting the music career of John Mellencamp.
Shan Dan Horan has donned multiple hats over the years, ranging from working for Barack Obama, to running international labels Artery Recordings, Outerloop Records, Century Media Records (to name a few). On top of his work at record labels he is also an accomplished director, most recently finishing a short film documenting the music career of John Mellencamp.
