Wednesday, July 11, 2012


Are you ready to do it again?  
The Underground Gypsy Cabaret at Bar Deluxe happens on Friday the 13th of July, 2012
and this time Juana Ghani is celebrating the release of our brand new full length CD


and Brian Bonell's first ever novella


Doors open at 9pm.  Cover is $7.  Must be 21+ to attend.



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

"Shall We Live Forever" official release date!

We are thrilled to announce that our first full-length CD "Shall We Live Forever" will be officially released tomorrow, June 20th.  We hope you'll join us at the CD release party on July 13th at the Underground Gypsy Cabaret at Bar Deluxe in Salt Lake City.

http://juanaghani.com/music.htm






















And to go along with the CD, there's a book!  That's right.  Brian wrote a book called "Kasojeni Bay" that is the perfect companion to this CD.  It ties many of the songs together into a beautiful tale of self-discovery and passion and features several beautiful works by some of our favorite artists and photographers.




Thursday, May 10, 2012


JUANA GHANI has the extreme honor and privilege of opening for FIREWATER on September 26th at Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City!  This is a dream come true, a fantasy realized!  Opa!

Newsletter from April 2012

Newsletter: Originally emailed on April 9, 2012

**************************************

Happy spring!


Daffodils are blooming, crocus sprinkle the lawn, the trees are
leafing, and the seasonal birds are beginning to return.  Such a
beautiful time of year!  Everything is new!
And the new doesn’t stop with Nature.  Juana Ghani has all sorts of new
news to share!

NEW DATES!!!
  * Friday, April 13 - Underground Gypsy Cabaret at Bar Deluxe, located
    at 666 South State Street in Salt Lake City.  This is going to be
    another amazing night of Gypsy celebration and mayhem as we are
    joined by the Middle Eastern drum ensemble Tabla Arabia and the
    Gypsy fusion band Rakatanga.  Of course, the amazing dancers and
    aerialists and magician will be back, as well, spinning their
    seductive sorcery amongst the masses.  There will even be a henna
    artist on hand to decorate the bodies of those who wish to be
    decorated.
  * Saturday, April 28 – Earth Jam, celebrated at Liberty Park in Salt
    Lake City.  This is a free event for the whole family.
  * Saturday, May 5 – The Woodshed, located at 60 East 800 South in
    Salt Lake City.  Cinco de Mayo Gypsy style!
  * Saturday, May 19 – Mojo’s, located at 2210 Washington in Ogden.
    We’ll be joining forces with one of our favorite bands, Hectic
    Hobo, for an all ages night of Gypsy mayhem.
  * Sunday, June 3 – Utah Pride Festival.  This is always such a fun
    time and we are so happy to be back on the International Stage!
  * Saturday, June 23 – Utah Arts Festival.  We are so pleased to be
    returning to the Utah Arts Festival in Salt Lake City.  This is
    always such a fun event!  Great music, amazing dance and fabulous
    art!


NEW STUFF!!!
To go along with our fantastically fun – and LARGE – Juana Ghani shot
glasses, you will now be able to pick up t-shirts, patches, bracelets
and stickers at any of our shows.  Take some Juana Ghani home with you!

NEW IN THE WORKS!!!
The biggest new news of all:  We have been busy in the studio over the
last several months working on our new full length CD.  Yes, indeedy!
New music!   No exact release date has been set as of yet, but we are
shooting for a late spring release.  Be ready for it!

And to accompany this CD, Brian has been busily writing away like a mad
man.  No, not just music.  He’s written a beautiful short novel that
tells the tale of Kasojeni Bay and Sonia’s incredible sadness.  This
book will feature art and photos by some truly amazing artists.  This,
too, should be available late spring.

Hooray and wonderful spring adventures!  We look forward to see you
soon!

Much love,

Juana Ghani

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Bring On the Holidays with Juana Ghani!


Sastipe!

The early tentative breaths of winter are whispering sotto voce along the Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains.  The dramatic monochrome of early morning snows glisten against the storm gray skies, tempting us to remain inside by the fire, wrapped in a warm blanket and sipping hot cocoa as we look ahead to all the wonderfully exciting happenings to come in the near future.

We have begun recording our debut CD for a hopeful spring/summer release.  The percussion on this is, as Tony says, “epic!”  We are really very excited to share it with you all!  

We also have some very exciting shows coming up over the next couple months, everything from dive bar mayhem to supporting high class Grammy award winners to an international music festival.  Pull out your calendars and take note!

December 3  --  We’ll be playing at The Woodshed (60 East 800 South) in Salt Lake City along with good friends Tabla Arabia and new friends FOLK HOGAN.  The scuttlebutt around town is that this show is going to be the one people will be talking about for quite some time … once the hangovers are gone.  


December 12  --  We are incredibly excited to be opening for the Grammy award winning band The Klezmatics at the State Room (638 S. State St.) in Salt Lake City.  Klezmer and underground Gypsy edge!  This is going to be an amazingly fun night!

December 18  --  It’s a private party.  We’d love to tell you about it, but we’re sworn to secrecy.

January 13  --  The Underground Gypsy Cabaret is returning to Bar Deluxe (666 S. State St.) in Salt Lake City!  The night will feature Juana Ghani, underground jazz band Haywire Outfit and the Gypsy vagabond Americana of Hectic Hobo along with a wild assortment of dancers, aerialists, and macabre magicians.  It’s a perfect way to celebrate Friday the 13th.  And it’s Leisl’s birthday to boot!

January 15  --  Juana Ghani has been invited to play at the Orion Independent Music Festival!  We will be playing with David Hayes at Molly Bloom’s (1680 Ute Blvd.) in Park City.  We are so very honored be a part of this prestigious international festival.

In other news, the song “In My Thoughts You Were Mine” (lyrics by Jason Crannell, music by Brian and Leisl Bonell, performed by Brian and Leisl Bonell of Juana Ghani) is featured at the end of the independent film, Christina’s Kiss.  

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving here on Thursday.  There’s a bit of controversy over this holiday (there seems to be controversy over every holiday these days) as people polarize and politicize the events that lie behind its creation.  We won’t get into any of that here, as we choose to focus instead on celebrating any opportunity to gather together with friends and family and to give thanks for all the wonderfulness that fills our lives.  With that in mind, here are a few of the things we are thankful for:

Nick  -  I am thankful for unusual instruments, the key of 'C', and my families, both my band family and my actual family, for their love and support.
Leisl  -  I’m so thankful for my family, my friends, my band, my music … and coffee.  And a good wooden spoon.  And cannoli.   I LOVE cannoli! 
Bryan  -  I'm thankful for music, for a job that keeps me off the street, for friends who put up with me in spite of my astounding stupidity.  Thank you.
Byron  -  I am thankful for friends, family and MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! :)
Tony  -  Thankful for love and the accordion.
Brian  -  I am thankful for boomy drums and A minor, ‘cause it doesn't hurt my thumb. Mostly all my wonderful friends who make such wonderful music together!
Jason  -  I'm thankful for my really fast right foot, and thankful for the friends who think of me when they don't have room in their house for really cool gear. :)

Happy holidays and much love to you all!

Budmo!

Juana Ghani

Thursday, September 8, 2011

September 2011 - Newsletter


Hello, wonderful people!

What a busy summer this has been for us!  And so much fun, too.  We’ve played some fabulous shows and exciting festivals and have met some truly wonderful people along the way.  And through it all, we’ve experienced the camaraderie of friendship and family as we’ve gone through a few changes in our line-up. 

We’ve had to say farewell to Naiya this summer as she and her husband have taken jobs and moved to southern Utah.  Being the band-family that we are, however, she will never truly be gone from us and may very well join us on occasion in the future whenever she returns north to visit … or we head south.  Until then, we wish them both the very best of happiness in their new life adventures!

We are thrilled to welcome into the family double-bass player Allen Mautner, drummer Jason Deamer, violinist Jean Mautner, saw and percussionist Byron Owens (of La Decollatage) and Allison Martin (of Bellrave and The Last Look) on flute, percussion and vocals.  That’s what I call a growth spurt!  We are so incredibly happy to have each and every one of them in our midst!

Now that the season is winding down, we have some very exciting things in mind as we begin to focus on a completely new stage show, writing new music and heading into the studio to begin work on a full length CD.  We will still be playing a few shows during this time, but the bulk of our energy will be focused on creating a new and wonderful creature that I am sure will take your breath away!  We are very excited to begin on this next leg of our journey.  A small taste of this direction can be experienced in the Underground Gypsy Cabaret, next appearing at Bar Deluxe in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 23rd. 


Until then – and as always – here are a few of the things we love:
 
          Cucina Vanina - http://www.cucinavanina.com - We do love authentic Italian cuisine!

          Honig Sauvignon Blanc - http://www.honigwine.com - Mmmmmmmm!

          Katzenjammer - http://www.katzenjammer.no - Hot Norwegian band with a new CD on the way!

Much love to you all!
Juana Ghani

P.S. – We have new shot glasses!  These are frosted glass 2 fl.oz. beauties tinted with a hint of purple.  $5 each.  Make sure you get some at our next show! 

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer with Juana Ghani - newsletter

Hello everybody!
Maybe it's the extended spring and all the rain we've been receiving here in our part of the world, but the creative seeds we planted less than a year ago have all begun to take root and are growing and blossoming with excitement.  We have grown from a solid core group of 4 to an amazing kumpania of 11 fabulously talented musicians and have a stunning array of beautiful dancers and fire artists that accompany us to most of our shows, much to the delight of our audiences.  We've played dives, cabarets, festivals and private parties.  And the summer continues to be filled with these wonderful experiences!

Tuesday, July 5 we will be at Burt's Tiki Lounge located at 726 S. State Street in Salt Lake City opening up for The Inheritance, an amazing eastern European influenced band out of Austin, Texas.  Tickets are $6 at the door.  Must be 21 years or older to attend. 


July 9th will find us playing at a private party.  If you're on that guest list, you're lucky.  There will be fire and belly dancing and all sorts of Juana Ghani fun!

Saturday, July 16th we are heading back to The Sugar Space (616 Wilmington in SLC) for another Night at the Casbah!  This one is an all ages event, so bring the family for a bellydancing extravaganza ... and Juana Ghani, of course.  Tickets are $10 in advance ( http://thesugarspace.com ) or $12 at the door.

Wrapping up the month of July is the Acoustic All-Stars Music Festival, held at The Downstairs in Park City the weekend of July 29-31.  This is a 3-day music festival featuring some the best acoustic musicians and bands from around the country.  And, yes, Juana Ghani is proud and honored to be a part of it.  We will be playing Saturday, July 30th, but really do encourage everybody to enjoy all 3 days of this event.  Again, it's for the over 21 crowd.  Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 for a 1-day pass or $20 for a 3-day pass.  You can also get your tickets from any member of the band or order them online from our blog (for a discount) at http://juanaghani.blogspot.com/p/2011-acoustic-all-stars-music-festival.html


 
Other exciting events include The Brown Bag Concert Series - Juana Ghani will be playing August 17 from 12:15-1:00pm at City Creek Park - and a couple fundraisers in September.  There's even another Underground Cabaret in the works for this fall! 

Yes, all in all it's been a very exciting spring and summer is looking to be just as much fun! 

 
Budmo!

Juana Ghani

P.S.   Check the July 7th issue of City Weekly for a nice little JG surprise!