About JaNa KYoMooN

JaNa KYoMooN is a Second Life Musician who occasionally ventures into RL as Jan Pulsford.

She performs as a solo artist mixing electronica with ambient improvisations and rhythmic reflections in what has been described as "a gallery of soundscapes and audio paintings." Her pictures are sketched with reflective piano and synths tinged with echoes of world jazz and triphop"

JaNa KYoMooN calls herself a Sound escapist and Musician for Peace. She occasionally draws from her RL electronica project "aTHeNa BLue" to mix drum and bass with her evocative meditative music.

But JaNa is abowe all an awesome person, she's always kind and it's very easy to talk to her.

These are her answers to some questions about SL:

How did you discover SL?

I got into Second life about three years ago in Feb 2006.

My friend the SL musician Cypress Rosewood suggested it.

After a few attempts I finally "got it" and became JaNa KYoMooN creating the Music ALL Music Peace Park and started performing as part of the Peace Park Trio with Cypress and Trefies Kaufman.

The mixture of electronica with dulcimer and Native American Flute was extremely successful. We played many gigs.

Then about a year ago I started performing as a solo artist - At first I was performing hard hitting electronica music from my RL aTHeNa BLue project but then as time went on it seemed the more down-tempo, meditative ambient music was getting the biggest reaction.

When I realized the positive aspect of performing this kind of music for spiritual and physical well being I decided to dedicate most of my performances in SL to this end.

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Do you think SL can be a valid showcase for your RL works?

Absolutely. I think it goes hand in hand and for me

creatively it provides a weekly outlet for new music and ideas.

It is a perfect parallel to the real world in terms of seeing yourself reflected in the virtual world.

you can learn from your mistakes and your successes

and you can get immediate feedback

For new musicians it's invaluable for planning a business model

i mean if no one comes to a show why is that?

so they can learn the importance of promotion, talking to people,stage presence etc etc

just like the real world

I host the "Goodbye Weekend Show" on Sunday night's at the music ALL music Peace Park and have seen it grow from nothing to a packed SIM. It has helped me record three albums and develop Radio Jana

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Which are the sources of your inspiration?

I believe music is all around us and we as composers learn to tap into that

we get our inspiration from a variety of stimuli depending where we are in our lives.

For the past few years my inspiration has been where I live and the fields and nature that surround me.

From the sound of the water babbling to the birds, the smell of honeysuckle and the beauty of the trees and flowers. The sight of the full moon to the sound of thunder.

I capture these musical moments into my computer.

I might come back from a long walk, take a deep breath and play and programme the music I found.

i like to think of it as painting and sketches with music. I use reflective piano and ambient synths tinged with echoes of world jazz and triphop

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Do you want to use your RL name?

I think people enjoy the anonimity of SL - I have found they don't seem to be all that interested in who you are or what you do in RL which i quite like

I don't mind if people know my name which is jan pulsford

they can google me very easily and find out who i am and who i have worked with

my favourite projects in RL have been with Cyndi Lauper, Chico Freeman, aTHeNa BLue and DJ Julian Marsh

it's no great secret

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Do you use other kind of digital promotions?

I think we are living in the most exciting times for the internet and digital revolution

http://www.twitter.com/janakyomoon

i tweet and blip music every day

http://www.janakyomoon.com/

i blog when i have time

http://www.cdbaby.com/janakyomoon

i sell my music in CDs and mp3 downloads

Streaming

This is a really magic word in Second Life...
Actually many are the sources where you can find solution in order to stream your music inworld, if you are interested to this matter you can contact me inworld.
But Second Life is not only the place where you can stream your music...in a wider sense every kind of arts can be displayed on the virtual stages, such as visual arts, photography and paintings.
In a Second Life venue you can find both good music and art:vernissages and art exhibits inworld are as cool as in Real Life, but much more easier to attend.
Art buyers can look up to all kind of art works and pick the ones they like most.Furthermore it's very easy to contact the artists for every questions.
A good live music performance will give to the event an awesome soundtrack:the contamination of every kind of arts is actually the undiscovered strength of Second Life.

Swina Allen

Who is the man behind the avatar?
Swina is an IT manager whose life has always gone with the music.
When he was 14 he bought his first Eko guitar and he started playing and writing his own music. He loves also playing keyboard and piano:he has an awesome 1920 's Hofman-Khune piano on whose ivory keyboard he took his first jazz piano lessons...but the guitar was always on his way.When electronic music was accessible to his pocket he bought his first Roland hardware sequencer and a Roland synth and arranger. Soon after he got a Yamaha like strato electric guitar with a 100 W Montarbo valve ampli. What a deal !

One year ago he discovered the virtual stages in Second Life, where he has packed all the inworld venues where he performs. His love of the jazz/blues genre comes through in his melodic verses and smooth rhythms.

He only performs original tunes Sbut sometimes he sings in his own way some greatest tunes:Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Sergio Endrigo's "Io che ho amo solo te" among his favourites.

Most of the original songs are licensed under Creative Commons License and are free to download (some right reserved).

Swina also believes that music contamination is the most interesting thing for a musician: a way to meet musicians all over the world, to develop a new sound and to feel new emotions.
He is also used to play guitar in jamming sessions with SL artists like UKD Project (live), Ezcape Hax (using ninjam), Ridha Cooljoke (live). He has also recorded guitar and piano tracks for Jax Streeter, Ezcape Hax and UKD Project songs.


http://www.swinaallen.com/

...musicians

Why it's worth to try to start an SL career?
First of all musicians can earn some money:as a matter of fact even if Facebook seems to be so popular the truth is that it does not have yet any type of economy as SL has.
Inworld both venue owners and audience pay the musicians and this is a real not virtual money!
Of course an SL musician can also use the virtual stages to promote both his music and his RL performances:it's frequent to be invited to an RL concert during a virtual gig and many artists sell their CD inworld. This second reason too is a strictly an economic one.
Last but not the least, SL allows many forms of contaminations and musical testings among musicians located in different parts of the world.Well business is inside this motivation too undoubtedly it's much less expensive meet the artists inworld than in RL.
SL outflanks Facebook 3-0!

Owners...

Who is a venue owner in Second Life? Basically he's a dreamer, even if he pretends to run a business.
Don't trust them when they say that they need "traffic" to rent homes or to please their sponsors.
Running a live music venue does not represent at all a source of revenue first of all because so far in SL all the gigs are totally available for free.
It looks so unfair to me that for the avatars it's worth to spend their linden dollars to buy hair,dresses or weapons but not to buy a ticket for a live music gig!
By the way this is a matter of fact and we all have to be grateful to them:they are the ones who allow the magic daily live show in Second Life.
Any by-end beside, just the wish to share good vibrations and the fun to see people enjoying the show, behind their pixels.