Jamming in the universal language

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It started out as a backyard jam to remember a departed friend, but quickly grew into a tour of the US, and now, Taiwan.

The Friends of Daniel Pearl Festival group, or FODfest, celebrates the life of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in 2002 by extremists while on assignment in Pakistan.

Pearl was an avid musician who played violin and mandolin in several bands.

Invited by Taipei-based journalist Sean Scanlan, who has organized Daniel Pearl World Music Days in Taiwan since 2002, and the American Institute in Taiwan, the group appears in Taipei tonight at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914) for the local edition of the annual global event started by Pearl’s parents seven years ago.

FODfest is a crew of six musicians and multimedia producers who perform and organize open jam sessions for local musicians, with the goal of “strengthening community through music.”

This aspiration was an important part of Pearl’s life, says close friend and former bandmate, FODfest founder and singer-songwriter Todd Mack.

“This was a guy, no matter where he was, he would just go find music,” he said. “He’d go find jam sessions, he’d go find people to play with, and you know, that’s what we’ve created and I think he would be an active participant.”

FODfest started five years ago as a remembrance party in Mack’s backyard in western Massachusetts. It was a reunion of old friends, and they did what anyone would do to honor a musician friend: they got their instruments out and jammed.

“I could tell there was something magical going on,” Mack said. “It wasn’t about me or any of the individual people that were involved, but it was just about the collective whole.”

Mack felt compelled to see if this “vibe,” inspired by Pearl’s love for connecting with people through music, would “translate” in bars, clubs and at festivals.

FODfest hit the road for the first time three years ago with an eight-show tour of the US east coast. The tour exceeded expectations, said Mack. Word quickly spread and FODfest’s tour dates doubled the following year and expanded to the west coast.

FODfest shows are based on an “open jam” format. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to perform. The FODfest crew performs as a band as needed, but they put the spotlight on local musicians wherever they go.

Mack says FODfest shows tend to foster new friendships and working partnerships among musicians who often meet for the first time on stage.

Pretty much anything goes in terms of musical styles and genres.

Pearl “was one of the most eclectic players I’ve ever played with,” said Mack, who first met him in Atlanta, where they played in several rock bands together. “He loved Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt [French jazz violinist and guitarist] and he loved [Led] Zeppelin and AC/DC and the [Grateful] Dead and he was a huge bluegrass fan — he was really all over the map.”

“And the fact that he was wielding a violin or a fiddle didn’t ever stop him from getting up and playing with anybody – even a headbanger rock band. Nothing scared him off. It was very cool.”

Tonight’s Daniel Pearl World Music Day event features a lineup of Taipei-based musicians, including Blues Vibrations, Nathan Javens, El Hefe, Scott Prairie and Mia Hsieh (謝韻雅) from A Moving Sound, and my group, the Muddy Basin Ramblers.