Join Namaya the Jazz Poet for a summer of stories, music, and songs that celebrate life, uplift the human spirit, and connect us across cultures and communities.

Namaya is an internationally renowned troubadour, poet, and storyteller who has performed on five continents. An Irish-American artist based in Girona, he is a member of Storytellers of Ireland and the Federation of European Storytellers (FEST). He brings stories and music from his book Celebrate Life: Viva la Vida, drawn from his travels in more than one hundred countries.

The Aquarian called him “the high-wire performance poet of the spoken word.” He has shared the stage with legends of the Beat Generation at St. Mark’s, with David Amram and Bob Dorough at Jazz Word festivals, and with Sheila Jordan in his play The Beatnik Café. He has brought his Jazz Stories to motorcycle clubs on the Lower East Side, the red-light district of Amsterdam, the Nuyorican Poets Café, and the Bowery Poetry Club, and has toured London and Europe both solo and with his ensemble.

His stories are told in the spirit of Mark Twain, full of humor and delight. Anything can happen when Namaya takes the stage. Each performance grows out of the audience in the spirit of improvisation, so no two shows are ever alike.

“Ultimately, it is about love. In my craft and artistry, I bring the love of story, performance, and engagement. It is in this alchemy with an audience that I find my greatest joy.”
— Namaya

Comments on previous performances:

“A latter-day Thoreau, man in search of peace in a world gone mad.” ~ Seven Days Magazine

“It was a packed house! And the audience loved his improvisation and stories drawn from his travels around the world. Pure enchantment!” ~ San Miguel Theater in Mexico

“Great fun we loved it. Come back!”~ Australia Theater in Sydney

“I LOVED your Celebrate Life Stories!!!!  Wow, I loved the irony and humor of the “World Peace”  I’m going to ask for world peace every time someone asks me “for anything else”.   I Loved the Viva Viagra story.  Bravo to you!”~ Jack Fry – Playwright.

Key Performance Credits

Bowery Poetry Club, NYC, NY.
Café Badcuyp, Amsterdam, Holland
Café Teatret, Copenhagen, Denmark
Colony Café, Woodstock, NY
Keene State College Café, NH
Marlboro College, Vt
PACE, Mass.
Rutgers University, NJ – Stand Against Racism
Hartford Jazz Series: Pork Pie Hat Series: Ct.
New England Youth Theater: Vt
Northampton Center for the Arts: MA.
Sanctuary Cella, Brighton, England
School for International Training, Vt
Vermont Celebrates Hayden Carruth. Vermont
Vermont Jazz Center, Vermont
Simons Rock College, Mass.
Winston, Amsterdam, Holland