The growing House Concert movement brings live music back into our homes by connecting performers with listeners in a friendly, respectful setting. It’s a concert just like you would find in a club or theater, but held in a friend’s living room or back yard.
House Concerts occur because everyone pitches in. Someone offers their home as a venue; guests make a donation at the door; the performers bring their music. It’s a very simple formula, but it often leads to magical moments that are hard to forget.
These days, house concerts are becoming a very popular way for music lovers to hear their favorite artists up close and personal and to introduce their friends to them as well.
House concerts are also an excellent way to support the artists you love by providing a venue for them to perform (we all need more live music, don’t we?) and by giving them the tangible support require to continue making their music. But unlike a private party where you hire the band to play and pay for it out of your own pocket, a house concert is organized around the principle that everyone who comes to hear the music chips in. (And we all know that sharing is good, right?)
How the Artists Get Paid
The most common way of paying for a house concert is to have everyone who comes make a donation at the door. This doesn’t have to be complicated: it can be as simple as putting a box on a table by the door with a sign and letting people make their donation when they come in. We accept cash, checks made out to “Maria Volonte” and even credit cards.
We often play for groups of 30 to 40 people (we need a minimum of 20 people), but sometimes the groups have been as large as 100 people. The suggested donation for these intimate, private concerts is $25 per person. It’s good to let people know this ahead of time when you invite them to your house concert, so there’s no confusion and to let them know that this is not a fee you are charging but rather a voluntary donation to support the artists on tour.
[Occasionally, the organizer of a house concert chooses to pay for the concert out of their own pocket. If you are in condition to do this and prefer this approach, we can just set a fee for the concert based on how many people come. Again, we need a minimum of 20 people.]
However, a house concert made possible because everyone chips in is a wonderful thing and helps to build community. It’s amazing the things that are possible when we all work together.
Organizing a house concert is easy and fun:
1) Book the artist & set the date
2) Tell your friends (Ask them to RSVP, so you know what to expect).
3) People often prepare some food for their friends… but it can also be potluck
4) Get ready to have fun!
*To avoid any hassles with local regulations, it’s important to make clear that this is 1) a private event, 2) that guests must RSVP and 3) that all proceeds go to the artists.
Spreading the word: The Invitation
Here are some ideas you may find useful when putting your invitation together:
We would like to invite you to join us for an intimate house concert with Argentine Latin Grammy nominee María Volonté and Kevin Carrel Footer at our home.
{DATE and TIME here}
hosted by {Your name here!}
{Your address here}
Donation: $25 per person at the door (all proceeds go to the artists)
RSVP: {your email or telephone here}
About the show:
The Blue Tango Tour — a collaboration between the celebrated Argentine tango singer María Volonté and California harmonica player Kevin Carrel Footer — is a ground-breaking musical project exploring the emotional and musical crossroads where tango and the blues embrace.
This globe-trotting duo celebrates the deep spiritual bond that joins tango and the blues, as two musical genres born in desire and marginality, many times censored yet always resurgent and speaking directly to our hungry souls. When they play together, Maria’s voice and guitar fill the stage with echoes of tango’s forbidden pleasures while Kevin’s harmonica whines with the lament of the solitary blues soul.
About María Volonté:
Celebrated Argentine singer and songwriter María Volonté is a powerful creative force whose “entrancing creative expression” (International Review of Music) has fascinated critics and audiences around the world. Called “the best-kept secret of Argentinian Tango” (Songlines Magazine), Volonté has gathered a fervent international following which keeps her touring constantly.
A Latin Grammy nominee, Gardel Prize Winner (Argentina’s Grammy) and member of the Tango Hall of Fame, Volonté has emerged as one of the most admired and passionate voices in Argentine music. A singer who combines the “earthiness of Edith Piaf with the sassiness of Eartha Kitt” (Jazz Perspectives), Volonté is also a restless musical innovator who “plays impressive acoustic guitar and is willing to experiment” (The Guardian).
Dubbed “Tango’s shimmering star!” (Global Rhythm), Volonté conquered the world of tango with numerous award-winning CDs. Her current projects explore the fusion of Argentine music with other Latin American rhythms, jazz and the blues.
She has shared the stage with Astor Piazzolla’s legendary last quintet, recorded duets with trumpter Arturo Sandoval and counts among her many fans Paquito D’Rivera (“her music is a parade of good taste”) and Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby) who included María in the list of artists he was proudest to have released while founding the seminal online music distributor. NPR Music called Volonté’s art a “potent brew” – and advised listeners to “consume responsibly.”
About Kevin Carrel Footer:
Kevin Carrel Footer learned to play harmonica while hitchhiking across the United States during his own pilgrimage to the delta of the Mississippi, birthplace of the blues. Later, following the perfume of tango to Argentina, he lost himself in the milongas and cafes of Buenos Aires. Together with Argentine singer-songwriter María Volonté he created the Blue Tango Tour project to explore the fusion of tango and the blues through original compositions and unique versions of classic tango songs.
Get to know the artists:
Visit the Maria Volonte website: www.mariavolonte.com
Watch the “Beso Azul” video clip: http://vimeo.com/intrepidpatrol/beso-azul-music-video
Watch María Volonté’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert: http://www.npr.org/event/music/144150225/maria-volonte-tiny-desk-concert