The Year 2011

This year I have been so blessed to have been very busy in my musical career. I spent most of the time performing in Santa Fe with some out of town gigs as well. Such a change from last year. It seems as though the timing synched up with everything else going on in my life and I'm grateful for believing in myself and for the support I get from friends and family.

In January I continued my relationship with the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians. They are a group promoting positive relations between Americans and people from Eurasia(Turkey and likewise places). Normally just playing for conventions is not the best gig, but I find these to be very important, socially and musically. I took the time to learn a few Turkish songs to play at these events and have had great reactions of appreciation from the Turkish people. They were kind enough to send me to Austin to play for their Friendship Reception there(all expenses paid)and then the next day for the same event here in Santa Fe. Whirlwind of a trip, but lots of fun. I also played for their Inter-Faith Conference in Albuquerque this fall. All important issues that I believe in, concerning people of America and the people from Eurasia and the Middle-East, being tolerant and knowledgeable about all our differences and similiarities.

I was also able to start playing in some of the better places in town. First I was recommended by a friend to play at the Silver Starlight Lounge at Rainbowvision. The lounge was a beautiful place to play with an actual stage and lighting. I enjoyed playing there and grew a nice fanbase with the residents there. I hope to go back once I have some new cds to offer up. Then, on whim, I went looking for gigs downtown and decided at the last minute to stop by the Ore House which overlooks the Santa Fe Plaza. It just so happened that the booking manager was in and was super cool and booked me for a gig right away. I ended up playing there quite a few times and was thrilled to be playing right downtown. Unfortunately a riff between the owner of the building and the owners of the restaurant ended with the closing of the Ore House and along with it my gig there. Oh well, things change and hopefully get better.

Just at the same time I decided to stop playing at Rainbowvision I was offered a chance to start performing at the Hotel St. Francis' restaurant- Tabla de los Santos. I had decided to start working on 2 new albums at this time, but I could not pass up the oppurtunity to play at the Hotel St. Francis. This was the place I had been looking for, right downtown, decent pay and regular gig. This was a great experience and I enjoyed the staff and thank Chef Estevan for hiring me to perform at his restaurant. As of right now, I am not playing there. It is the down time here and they got rid of all the entertainment for the season. I hope to be back in the spring of 2012.

I also got to play at the Plaza Vieja Gazebo in Old Town Albuquerque for Wild Card Wednesdays. A night where any style of music goes. The special part was opening for a group called Baraka Moon. A type of Sufi-infused style trance and overall great sounds. They were playing a warm-up show for their performance at Globalquerque! A world music festival held every year in September in Albuquerque. So along with all these shows I've made some good contacts for private house parties and did a few of those as well.

So there is no misunderstanding, I'm not mentioning all this to brag or anything. I want people to know what happened throughout this year and know I am so thankful to have had the oppurtunity to perform music, my own music, in so many places for so many people.

Over the course of the winter I hope to finish my next album and focus on writing and creating more music for people to enjoy. Also as next year approaches to continue my journey of places to play, music to learn, people to meet, lessons to be learned and peace, patience and presence in my everyday life. Hopefully I will in turn offer all these things through my music and my demeanor. I am so excited for what's to come and hope I can reach the people who are excited by my music and find the message I am trying to make with my music. Thank You.

Summer 2010 Words,Music,& Life

It's July summer of 2010 and lots of things have changed and morphed,worked themselves out and been discovered and rediscovered. I posted a live video of me performing one of my favorite songs "Lie to Me" to let you all see how I perform this music live and I will be posting more in the near future.
The main thing that has transpired is I have ended my project of DaCapo Sol. The main goal of that project was to offer a little bit of a different take on my music and seperating that from the music of Michael Tait Tafoya. This idea seemed good at first but in the end created a sort of confusion within myself and to others. I now am putting out any music I create,no matter it's form or genre as Michael Tait Tafoya. Most of the music from that project will still be played,recorded, or simply take a slightly different angle.
Also this year I have rediscovered my love of writing. Whether it's for lyrics or writing peoms or even as therapuetic offerings into my journal,the power of writng down words has found me again. Along with that I have been playing more hand drums like the dumbek,cajon,bongos and conga,as well as some recently purchased drums;a hoop drum and tablas. The tablas are the greatest challenge and I'm still weary of playing those in public. Many people spend their whole lives mastering those drums and I just like the way the sound.
So far this year I've been mostly performing for private shows,which for me actually offers the best situation for being listened to and appreciated. This is an awesome thing that I sometimes don't get from public performances. I performed DaCapo Sol 3 times this year at a local bar with mixed results leading me to end the project and focus on one name and one way to present my music. I like to pride myself on playing the most appropriate music for any event I'm performing at, and will continue to do so. This means having enough music of slightly varying styles to at least play for 2 hours. I'm working on building my catalouge of music and really enjoy that part of being a musician who writes all his own music.
Thats about it for now.If you'd like to become a fan or friend of me and my music you can look me up at www.reverbnation.com/michaeltaittafoya or on www.myspace.com/michaeltaittafoya and my latest cd "Beyon the Horizon" is available at cdbaby.com/cd/MichaelTaitTafoya the link is on my blogpage.

New Album is out!

My new album "Beyond the Horizon" is now here. I will be posting the link for cdbaby in about a week. This is an all instrumental guitar album. I used a loop pedal and recorded everything on one track in my studio at home. I wanted to capture the essence of playing these songs live while I use the loop pedal, so mixing it was a little harder than normal. I think it came out pretty good though. I recorded evrything in the past 6 weeks and sent it off to discmakers on-line and had the cd back in 4 days! Really quick turnaround!
I had been wanting to record an all instrumental cd for years but I was doing so many other things that it never got done. I've now put out a total of 4 albums, one with my friend Tommy Vigil(The Unborn Soul "Into the Canyons"2007) and 3 solo albums within the past year("En Otras Palabras"2009, "Carmen and Luke" 2010 and "Beyond the Horizon" 2010). I have 2 more albums that I will start working on now. Another solo album with guitar, and vocals this time, and an album of DaCapo Sol songs.
I am going to keep putting out albums for as long as I can. Thankfully I have the means to record at home which makes it all possible. Studios are way too expensive and the one time I recorded in a professional studio I felt rushed and not very creative. The other aspect is being able to upload songs on line and have as many cds as you need printed. When we made The Unborn Soul cd we had to order 1000 at once!I'm keeping the runs small and re-ordering when I run out...hopefully!
I hope you get a chance to hear some of my albums, I'm sure there's something within it all that will reach someone.

Labyrinth Walk Performance

I will be performing in front of the St. Francis Cathedral/Basilica for a Labyrinth Walk on May 1st from 1-3pm. This is to coincide with World Labyrinth Day. The Labyrinth was, and is, still used as a form of medatation throught the globe and truly is, if you're open to it, a very cool way to relax,contemplate, and medatate. The Labyrinth is not associated with any religion and is open to anyone willing to walk it.
I have played several of these in the past 2 years with my friend Tommy, but I will be performing alone this time around. You can expect a very improvised and mellow 2 hours of solo guitar music emphasized on getting you to forget your worries of the day and reconnect with yourself and the divine. It's not as far fetched an idea as some people(or religions) would have you think.
I hope you can make the time to come out, enjoy some new music, walk the Labyrinth, and enjoy the beauty of downtown Santa Fe.

I spent the late hours of last night recording and jamming. It seems I always start off with and idea to do something and get sidetracked,in a good way, into something else. The result was an epic 30 minute song that pushed my boundaries of what I can do live. I feel sometimes that I am too repetitive and wanted to see how much I could stray from that. Now out of 30 minutes the song will eventually go down to 10 or 15 minutes. A lot of good ideas arose. I played the electric guitar,which is an on-and-off-again thing for me, but I'm finding it's place among all my other instruments.
Porcupine Tree is a big influence on the direction I want to go. Not as heavy metal or to rock sounding but the way in which songs are composed, epic feelings, with effects on guitars and voice. Also involved in this song were Tablas, dumbek, conga, bass, electronic beats, acoustic guitar and singing. The goal is to produce something that encompasses all my influences and styles of music I like to play into one conglomorate,fusion, a blend that is totally unique,I feel I am truly on my way now.
I really enjoy playing all these different instruments, but don't want to make it a mess of just trying to play as many things as I can in each song.The songs really do dictate what gets played and where. It should be done in a way that lets each instrument be heard, on it's own but part of the song as well.
As of yet I have very few references to what I'm doing(especially being a solo artist)not that people aren't doing something similar with their own twist. I need some names of artist and bands!
So for now I'm going to keep pushing myself musically, which is really a metaphor for my life and keep putting it out int the universe for you to enjoya s well.

Current News Dec.2009

Happy Holidays everyone, as they are fast approaching. Some quick news about me: I'm no longer perfroming at Vino del Corazon on Fridays, just for the winter months. I'll be back weekly, I hope, starting spring next year. I do encourage everyone to go by and have glass of their delicious wine and help support a local business that specializes in New Mexican Wines and in the care of their customers.
So with that in mind, I am available for Holiday parties,events and functions and for more performancse not necassarily just for the holidays. Please let me know of event that needs some music.