ONDARA TO EMBARK ON NORTH AMERICAN “REBIRTH” TOUR
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ondara will launch his first tour in support of his critically acclaimed new album, Spanish Villager No. 3, on May 23rd in Milwaukee, WI. The tour will be a stripped down affair with Ondara performing solo every evening. For this run of dates, Ondara aims to present the album in smaller rooms for a more intimate evening for himself and the audiences.
ONDARA – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
5/23 - Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall
5/25 - Minneapolis, MN – The Cedar Cultural Center
5/27 – Omaha, NE - Slowdown
5/30 - Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
5/31 - Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
6/2 - Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
6/3 - Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
6/5 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
6/7 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
6/8 - Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
6/10 - Austin, TX - 3TEN Austin City Limits Live
6/11 - Dallas, TX – House Of Blues Cambridge Room
6/13 - St. Louis, MO – City Winery
6/14 - Madison, WI – Orpheum Theater^
6/16 - Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre^
6/17 - Detroit, MI – Aretha Franklin Amphitheater^
6/19 - Nashville, TN – The Ryman^
6/20 - Atlanta, GA – Symphony Hall^
6/22 - Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre^
6/23 - Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater^
6/24 - Washington D.C. – 9:30 Club^
6/27 - Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre^
6/28 - Kennet Square, PA – Longwood Gardens^
6/29 - Medford, MA – Chevalier Theater^
6/30 - Woodstock, NY - Levon Helm Studios
7/1 - Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Music Hall
7/3 - Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
^ - With Rodridgo Y Gabriela
“After the release of my debut album ‘Tales of America’ in 2019, I embarked on my first headline tour playing intimate venues across America,” Ondara remarked. “ I've played many shows since, but those shows still stand out as some of my favorite and most meaningful. It was a feeling akin to that of the onset of a romance, when there is a dance between uncertainty and potential, between hesitation and anticipation, when the novelty creates an electric collision of lips, of skin, of tales, of cultures, of worlds. When each moment is so real, you could smell it in the air; and it smells like a flower, but not just any flower, a very particular, bespoke flower conjured by the universe to celebrate the communion of the lovers' unique spirits.
The second leg of that tour occurred in the fall of the same year, at which point I was playing bigger venues that were a bit less intimate. I remember lamenting the ascent of my career at the time. I was grateful, but a part of me was sad that I might never experience the intimacy and the thrill of those first shows again.
Now as I return to the road after the pandemic-induced hiatus, as I reintroduce myself to you in this new chapter of my life, it feels like a perfect opportunity to deliberately revisit that feeling, to go back to the beginning, and connect with you again in those same intimate spaces where we met for the first time. This is the intention behind the rebirth tour. To recreate and revisit that feeling we both had when we first met, but to approach it with more intention this time, to be fully present and cherish every moment.”
Tickets for the “Rebirth” tour go on sale this Friday March 3rd. As previously announced, Ondara will also serve as direct support to Rodrigo Y Gabriela for a run of dates in June on the east coast and midwest.
Spanish Villager No: 3, was predominantly produced by Ondara and Mike Viola (Jenny Lewis, Dan Wilson) with contributions from Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes, Sebastian Steinberg, Tim Kuhl and Jeremy Stacey. The new collection of songs features a much more full, electric sound.
Of the album, Ondara states, “This collection of work and the work that lies ahead in presenting it to the world, is a metaphor for my spiritual path. There is death and resurrection in it, a peeling of layers, a pursuit of the truest form of the self in the universe. Ironically, the adaptation of the Spanish Villager character has made me more acquainted with myself. By creating an obvious demarcation between the art and the artist, I have charted two paths of maturation. One path is the maturation of the Spanish Villager as a work of art, as a character in a narrative, as a commodity partaking in the mandatory sport of capitalism; The other is my own personal maturation into a spiritual, integrated, and useful member of society.”
The namesake behind the new album is The Spanish Villager: a mysterious man with a potent message who has proven to be a versatile guy: he’s the subject of a short story Ondara wrote and turned into a graphic novel, and now a new album.
Spanish Villager No: 3 follows his 2020 sophomore album, Folk N’ Roll Vol 1: Tales of Isolation, and his 2019 debut album, Tales of America, which received a nomination for Best Americana Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Ondara also received a nod for Best Emerging Act at the 2019 Americana Awards.
Ondara grew up in Nairobi, Kenya listening to American alt-rock and making up his own songs for as long as he can remember. At an early age he fell in love with the music of Bob Dylan and was granted a visa through the immigration lottery system. He chose Minneapolis as his home to pursue a career as a singer and songwriter with Dylan in mind. He began making his way in the local music scene, continually writing songs about what he saw, felt and experienced in a place far different from home.