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Songs of Santiago: Contemplative Songwriting Retreat in Northern Spain,
October 12-21, 2023
contact kristinajacobsen@gmail.com for more information
October 12-21, 2023
contact kristinajacobsen@gmail.com for more information
All songs happen somewhere: Come write songs along the historic Camino de Santiago, walking through vineyards and mountain towns during the day, sleeping in small albergues and writing songs on farms, in alpine villages and in the wine country of "el Bierzo," each afternoon and evening. Daily guided mindfulness meditation and songwriting prompts and mentoring offered, each day.
This is a nine-day songwriting workshop in northern Spain that focuses on mindfulness, songwriting and their intertwining. Beginning in the small city of Astorga (León, Castilla y León), along the historic “Camino Francés” (also called the Camino de Santiago), and ending in the small village of Trabadelo (El Bierzo, Castilla y León), we will walk, together, each morning, along this historic road, in the company of one another and other pilgrim ‘peregrinos,’ and write songs together (‘cowrites), each afternoon and evening. We will walk through one of the most beautiful sections of the Camino, through ancient towns, through the vineyards of “el Bierzo,” through a region known worldwide for its cuisine, wine and Celtic cultural traditions.
Each day, songs and song prompts will focus on a different sense, allowing us to slowly arrive in the new places we are walking through. On the final night, we will perform our songs in a final concert for other pilgrims, also in Trabadelo. Option to continue walking on your own to Santiago de Compostela to receive your “Compostela” after the workshop’s close. Spanish language skills are tremendously useful but are not required for successful completion of the workshop. Workshop capped at 10 participants to ensure a low student-facilitator ratio, relationships with our Spanish hosts, and successful community building, throughout.
We will walk approximately 6 miles (10 km), each day, from roughly 7-11 a.m., totaling 52 miles (84 kilometers) over nine days. We will stay in a different hostel or “albergue,” most nights. An instrument transport service will be provided, each day, and backpack transport service is available for an extra fee ($5/day). Songwriters wishing to participate but unable to walk are still welcome to register; affordable alternative modes of transportation (bus, taxi or train, depending on location) are available at roughly $20/day. Sleeping accommodations are in shared, mixed-gender rooms and are simple, comfortable and clean; each albergue where we will stay has been personally vetted by the facilitator.
How to Apply:
To be considered for this retreat, please send a brief email to facilitator Kristina Jacobsen detailing a) your instrument and songwriting experience, if any b) your experience with mindfulness or contemplative practice, if any c) why you want to participate in this workshop, specifically c) what you are hoping to get out of the experience as an artist, songwriter, human being d) your interest in Spanish culture, specifically (basic Spanish language skills a plus to deepen your own experience in Spain, but are not required for workshop participation) to: kristinajacobsen@gmail.com. Workshop is open to songwriters, writers, musicians and mindfulness practitioners.
After this, an interview over Zoom will be scheduled. Following acceptance into the workshop, all participants must pay a $500 deposit to secure their spot in the workshop. Participants will be asked to sign an international waiver of liability form. Any additional questions and queries are always welcome.
In a field of sunflowers outside of Ponferrada, Spain.
About the facilitator:
Kristina Jacobsen, PhD, is a singer, songwriter, ethnographer and ‘peregrina’ who leads the Songwriting Major at the University of New Mexico. In July 2022, she completed the Camino Francés and received her “Compostela” (certification of completion) when she walked from Burgos, Spain to Santiago de Compostela, Spain (498 kilometers). A Fulbright Artist and Scholar (Italy 2019-2020), Kristina has been nominated for three New Mexico Music Awards. Her oeuvre is informed by a world of global music—all deeply considered and then seemingly wrapped up quietly but with profound sentimentality in her spacious and intimate songs—includes sonic touches of American honky tonk and folk music. She delivers her songs in a yodeling alto that can warm your heart, bite off a searing denunciation, or celebrate good times with equal fervor. Her travels, from the American southwest and Scandinavia to Sardinia, resound in every note in a rich melting pot of culture and human connection.
A long-time practitioner of mindfulness, Jacobsen completed her introductory MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) training at Duke University’s Center for Integrative Medicine and graduated with a Certificate in Mindful Leadership (with Mark Lesser and Nikki Mirghafori) from Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center in 2021. She enjoys bringing mindfulness into the songwriting process in beautiful places around the world. Kristina speaks Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and some Navajo.
Kristina is the author of the award-winning book, The Sound of Navajo Country: Music, Language and Diné Belonging (2017), and the co-author of The Creative Ethnographer’s Notebook: Exercises for Writing, Visualizing, Sounding and
Performing Data, with poet Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor (forthcoming, Routledge 2024). A gifted teacher, she is a huge believer in the power of walking and contemplative practice to deepen our songwriting craft and our sense of connection to nature, to ourselves and to one another.
www.kristinajacobsenmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/HonkyTonkAmericana/
@jacobsen.kristina (Instagram)
Song links:
~‘House on Swallow Street’ (2021; Talk About Records [Italy])
~'Shelter' (2019; Three Roses Music, US)
~‘Three Roses’ (2016; Three Roses Music, US)
Kristina Jacobsen, PhD, is a singer, songwriter, ethnographer and ‘peregrina’ who leads the Songwriting Major at the University of New Mexico. In July 2022, she completed the Camino Francés and received her “Compostela” (certification of completion) when she walked from Burgos, Spain to Santiago de Compostela, Spain (498 kilometers). A Fulbright Artist and Scholar (Italy 2019-2020), Kristina has been nominated for three New Mexico Music Awards. Her oeuvre is informed by a world of global music—all deeply considered and then seemingly wrapped up quietly but with profound sentimentality in her spacious and intimate songs—includes sonic touches of American honky tonk and folk music. She delivers her songs in a yodeling alto that can warm your heart, bite off a searing denunciation, or celebrate good times with equal fervor. Her travels, from the American southwest and Scandinavia to Sardinia, resound in every note in a rich melting pot of culture and human connection.
A long-time practitioner of mindfulness, Jacobsen completed her introductory MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) training at Duke University’s Center for Integrative Medicine and graduated with a Certificate in Mindful Leadership (with Mark Lesser and Nikki Mirghafori) from Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center in 2021. She enjoys bringing mindfulness into the songwriting process in beautiful places around the world. Kristina speaks Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and some Navajo.
Kristina is the author of the award-winning book, The Sound of Navajo Country: Music, Language and Diné Belonging (2017), and the co-author of The Creative Ethnographer’s Notebook: Exercises for Writing, Visualizing, Sounding and
Performing Data, with poet Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor (forthcoming, Routledge 2024). A gifted teacher, she is a huge believer in the power of walking and contemplative practice to deepen our songwriting craft and our sense of connection to nature, to ourselves and to one another.
www.kristinajacobsenmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/HonkyTonkAmericana/
@jacobsen.kristina (Instagram)
Song links:
~‘House on Swallow Street’ (2021; Talk About Records [Italy])
~'Shelter' (2019; Three Roses Music, US)
~‘Three Roses’ (2016; Three Roses Music, US)
Covered:
Lodging (10 nights)
All instruction
Pilgrim dinners (3 course meal w/ wine or water; vegetarian options available)
Final concert in Trabadelo, Spain: organization, promotion, sound
On Your Own:
Breakfast, Lunch
Transportation to/from retreat (arrive in Astorga on 11th, leave Pedrafita do Cebreiro on
morning of 22nd
Transport service (taxi) in the event you don’t want to walk
Bag transport service (if desired): 5 EU/day/bag (from one hostel to another)
Cost/person, Fall 2023:
$1600, due July 1st, 2023; $1500 if paid by May 1st, 2023
(payments may be made via Paypal to: @songwritingretreat)
Lodging (10 nights)
All instruction
Pilgrim dinners (3 course meal w/ wine or water; vegetarian options available)
Final concert in Trabadelo, Spain: organization, promotion, sound
On Your Own:
Breakfast, Lunch
Transportation to/from retreat (arrive in Astorga on 11th, leave Pedrafita do Cebreiro on
morning of 22nd
Transport service (taxi) in the event you don’t want to walk
Bag transport service (if desired): 5 EU/day/bag (from one hostel to another)
Cost/person, Fall 2023:
$1600, due July 1st, 2023; $1500 if paid by May 1st, 2023
(payments may be made via Paypal to: @songwritingretreat)
Route Traveled, Astorga-Trabadelo, close up
Route Traveled, Larger Picture
Places currently on itinerary where we will sleep (subject to change):
Night 1: Astorga
Night 2: Santa Catalina
Night 3: Rabanal del Camino
Night 4: El Acebo
Night 5: Molina Seca:
Night 6: REST DAY in Molina Seca
Night 7: Ponferrada
Night 8: Camponarya
Night 9: Valtuille de Arriba
Night 10: Trabadelo
Night 11: REST DAY in Trabadelo and
final concert, Trabadelo
Night 1: Astorga
Night 2: Santa Catalina
Night 3: Rabanal del Camino
Night 4: El Acebo
Night 5: Molina Seca:
Night 6: REST DAY in Molina Seca
Night 7: Ponferrada
Night 8: Camponarya
Night 9: Valtuille de Arriba
Night 10: Trabadelo
Night 11: REST DAY in Trabadelo and
final concert, Trabadelo
