Notes
'The bottom line to our music is to let people travel with the songs while staying in their own homes.' --Keith Johnston, Janah Janah has found equal success with audiences, whether playing to jam band fans at neo-hippie festivals, to slick hipsters in Atlanta's Virginia Highlands or to world music aficionados at a music conference. That serves as testament to the universal appeal of Janah's eclectic mix of rock'n'roll, world music and positive spirituality. Although comparisons to a young U2--to Peter Gabriel--to Enya--to Afro Celt Sound System might seem to reek of hyperbole, the discriminating listener will find them to be apt. The genesis of Janah's music derives from the travels of lead vocalist/guitarist Keith Johnston, who spent a year searching the Mediterranean for the spiritual as well as for the worldly. Johnston spent much of 1994 and 1995 working, first on a kibbutz near the Sea of Galilee, then on Ein Yahov Moshav, in a desolate stretch of desert near the Dead Sea. While on the kibbutz, he lived with 25 volunteers from all over the world. The exposure to differing cultures was eye opening. 'You see things differently from how you see them growing up,' says Johnston. 'There weren't many Westerners [on the moshav]; that's where I started writing lots of songs. We listened to lots of Israeli and Arab music on the radio while we worked.' After his sojourn in Israel, Johnston toured Egypt and Greece. Egypt had a particular impact. 'Everything there had a wild rawness to it that was just beautiful. I tried to translate the feels and colors and smells into music.' When Johnston returned home to Atlanta, he continued to explore the music of other cultures, while writing songs that married his new cultural experiences to his rock sensibilities. When it came time to perform these new songs, Johnston was able to find some very special musicians. Bassist/vocalist Steve Atwell and drummer/vocalist Ron Cochran had played in bands with Johnston - but never in a band remotely like Janah. Atwell's bass style serves to anchor Janah's sound, but it is his showmanship that a first-time audience notices. Drummer Cochran doesn't play the traditional trap kit found in virtually all rock bands. He contributes fills from a variety of African drums (he uses a djembe instead of a snare, for instance); his vocal work adds immeasurably to Janah's distinctive multiple part harmonies and precision call-and-response singing style. Percussionist/vocalist Rick Shoemaker is fascinating to watch as he combines his split-second timing on congas, timbales, concert bass drum, dumbek and a variety of other instruments with that of Cochran. This rhythm section is unlike any other in the rock world. Multi-instrumentalist Bill Douglass is as much a front man for Janah as Johnston. He projects a commanding appearance on stage, sings most of the baritone parts of Janah's complex vocal arrangements and plays an impressive array of exotic instruments. Tablas, sitar, bamboo flutes, bodhran, penny whistle and mizmar, along with the exotic Australian wind instrument, the didgerido all come into play when Douglass is on stage. Midi guitarist/vocalist Michael Martin, the newest member of Janah, trained extensively in classical guitar, as well as in rock, jazz and Spanish folk styles. He is slowly adding some of those elements to Janah's sound, along with tasteful midi effects. Janah holds it's own on stage when opening for any other band. They look good; they sound better. Exotic instruments, exotic costumes, candles and incense all contribute to the image. Beautiful melody, exciting on-stage interaction and a uniquely positive attitude complete the scene.
