Beehive

For Toumani (single)

Cantar La Guitarra (single)

New Zealand songsmith, bandleader and life-learnt ecologist Jono Heyes has
brought together a group of international musicians for a globe-trotting album
and video project entitled Beehive, recorded in Jono's self-made Beehive structure in the Czech countryside.

Beehive is a collection of original songs, all recorded in one take, over 8 days of
immersion in the Beehive studio, deep in the Czech countryside. With seven
international musicians in tow and sung in Spanish, English, French and Sanskrit,
the album rhythmically flies through the Balkans, the Caribbean, Latin America,
West Africa and even to the steppes of Mongolia. It features fiddles, contrabass,
piano, percussion, trumpet and various homemade instruments such as the
Moroccan-styled guembri and was conceived by Jono Heyes, and is his fourth
album proper. A sonic safari across the world, woven throughout the album is a
humanist thread with a borderless ambition to transcend cultural identity and
inspire peace and wonder in listeners. To dive deeper into the Beehive universe,
the album has also been brought to page with the storybook 'Nectar of the Gods', penned by Jono himself from his isolated blue Gipsy Wagon in the depths of the Czech Republic. In the book, we are invited to discover the magical stories and reflections behind each song.


“Come with me, we will ride boats on endless seas, to see the skies that
have always been".


A modern-day beatnik, after reading Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' at eighteen,
Jono flew across the world with a backpack and guitar. On one hitch between Spain and Lyon in France, guitar in hand, he found himself in a park where Jeanne Louise Calment, the oldest documented human had once lived. There he was mesmerised by the magic of a flamenco guitarist and a dancing yellow spider. There is a glorious laid-back energy to the song which suddenly flares up into a flamenco passage, which pays homage to the spider in the tale, followed by the poignant piano passage of Trevor Coleman, evocative of Rubén González, clearly touched by the original Buena Vista Social Club aesthetic - and not surprising since the Beehive project was presided over, engineered and mastered by Grammy award-winning Jerry Boys who has worked on the Buena Vista Social Club. In Beehive, we witness the beauty of the live element, capturing the pulse of an oscillating musical heart. There is an irresistible alchemy of the Beehive structure and the cross-pollination of global musical influences. Space, tone and Jono's raw energy are crucial dynamics to the recording, with fellow countryman Trevor Coleman’s soaring trumpet and lyrical piano solos adding a colourful and jazzful dimension. The violin of Anna Štěpánová illuminates the spiritual path with songs like Holyman and Satya (Truth) both fine examples. In the track Mani’s Eyes, Jono’s vocals veer to a near-throat singing style with Eastern Europe clearly close by. At times, like an orchestra, the full seven-piece Beehive band overflows with rich melodic motifs, and full acapella vocal choruses as can be heard in the piece Greenstone. In the Malian-inspired piece For Toumani, we are treated to textured grooves, providing a bed for passionate vocals and a soaring build-up.

“I have taken my little canoe onto the old river that goes into the dark caves of the soul to seek out many of the infinite voices that make my spine tingle” - Jono Heyes

world music, jazz, Czech Republic, Folk, Gypsy

Jono Heyes

New Zealand Artist Jono Heyes, lives in a Gipsy Wagon on the edge of the Czech Bohemian Forest. He loves Bees and believes Music has a role to inspire audiences to relate to each other and the Earth differently. So he built a Beehive Studio,like a sonic temple, to record an innovative album that cross-pollinates influences from the whole planet. In the intimacy and wonder of the magical space, they spent seven days together recording and filming live with seven daring musicians from New Zealand, the Czech Republic, France and Sweden. Exquisitely captured by Grammy Award Winning engineer, Jerry Boys, and filmed artfully by award-winning Paxart Studios CZ. The result is acoustic poetry

New Zealand songsmith, bandleader and life-learnt ecologist Jono Heyes has
brought together a group of international musicians for a globe-trotting album
and video project entitled Beehive, recorded in Jono's self-made Beehive structure in the Czech countryside

Global songsmith, bandleader and life-learnt ecologist Jono Heyes has brought together a group of international musicians, led by studio engineer Jerry Boys for a new album and video project entitled

sung in French, has a delicate hand percussion Afro groove, a gorgeous trumpet line and is dedicated to the West African guitarist Toumani Diabate whose name Jono behest his first son

Here a musician travels through the world with an open heart and a mystical sense”

Jono Heyes Global Sounds (CH)

Ein Weltmusikalbum im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Der neuseeländische Musiker, der im Böhmerwald lebt, hat sich auf seinem sechsten Album auf eine musikalische Reise begeben, die vom Balkan in die Karibik, nach Südamerika, Westafrika und zurück nach Europa führt. Das internationale Ensemble, das in vier Sprachen singt, musiziert neben Gitarre, Fiddle, Piano, Trompete und Percussion auch auf selbst gebauten Instrumenten wie einer afrikanischen Gimbri. Vom ersten Ton an möchte man die Koffer packen und singend auf Reisen gehen.

Jono Folker

"I absolutely loved the story, it sounded slightly mad, but somehow it comes together in a kind of brilliance you don't find too often"
- Sarah Ward

Jono Heyes Jazz FM

"A real surprise that I struggle to communicate out of modesty, such is the sweetness and the originality that exudes from every single note and word. Be few, but good." - Stefano I. Bianchi

Jono Italy

“‘Beehive’ is true and warm harmony, exciting acoustic grace”

Jono Heyes Blog Foolk (IT)

"Beehive" is another cosmic vision; the new album by Jono Heyes, a humanitarian New Zealand multi-instrumentalist, projects the image of a hive of acoustic bees that pollinate the environment in all its extent and intensity - Kiko Helguera, Los Ultrosonicos

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Jono Heyes

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