The European Citizen Science Association was born around ten years ago to group experts from all around the continent on the topic of citizen science. The association has various working groups, and since 2019 Jack O’Malley from the Jug Band Colline Metallifere is part of the one on “empowerment, inclusiveness and equality”, under the name of Andrea Giacomelli (who, has actually been working on citizen science projects since 2008). In fact, the JBCM is one of the working group’s sub-projects, and in September 2020 it also provided musical facilitation for one of the workshops in the ECSA general conference.

Tuesday, March 29, at 4PM (CET), in the monthly teleconference of the “EIE” working group, Andrea Giacomelli will be presenting the JBCM’s activities for 2022 and will explain how it is possible to collaborate with it, especially in relation to the European tour currently in preparation for the end of June (see our March 7 article), as well as other project currently in the process of being launched in Italy.

The Zoom link to follow the presentation is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86784309233?pwd=L3pudUJDOFBJQ0owMjdKb1I0d20zZz09.

As an introduction, if you have not seen it already, we invite you to follow the interview/concert which was streamed in December from Deejay Fox Radio in Milano (see full video below. The video is in Italian but an English translation of all the show is available from this link). For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or whatsapp +393317539228

After the fortunate “Lavorare con lentezza” T-shirt series, inspired by then Enzo del Re song which the JBCM is performing in its new set (e.g. see this Dec. 17, 2021 performance), two Sundays ago we sat down and thought of a new T-shirt for our Spring-Summer collections. With a little brainstorming, considering the activities and tours which we are planning, the topics of wine and feelings emerged as key points. Wolfgang then translated these into “red” and “non-filtered white” versions which you can see in the header image for this blog post.

Should you be interested in this second limited-edition T-shirt, please write to jugbandcm@pibinko.org indicating the size (S, M, L, XL), the number of T-shirts per size and per colour of the wine. You will be re-contacted to confirm payment and delivery options.

Wolfgang, our one-string bass player and official printer (with his own jingle ), together with his assistants will proceed to print the T-shirt. After one week of drying, these will be ready for delivery.

The cost of a T-shirt (with “Fruit of the Loom” or equivalent fabric quality) is 25 Euro (as Wolfgang says: „Handmade by adulti Maremmani“!).

Shipping costs need to be added to this amount…but we are more than glad of reducing the shipping if you happen to be along the route of one of the pibinko.org network “couriers”. Based on current plans, between April 8 and 9 we will be in Northern Italy, between Trento and Bologna, and at the end of June we are planning a European tour, which you can find explained in this article).

For more information and booking: jugbandcm@pibinko.org o whatsapp 3317539228

After the seriese of Zoom interviews held between February and the first week-end of March on culture, environment, open innovation, and music, here is a new proposal from the international and inter-generational collective bringing you “concerPTs” since 2018, with a base camp in the Tuscan Metalliferous Hills and activities here and there.

In past years we did have occasional gigs or jam sessions on the street. However, with the beginning of the warm season in 2021, with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (and many others) we decided to organize a bit more our street presence. In Italy this implies requesting a permit from the local city administration (Comune), to be combined with national-level permits depending on the type of performance. In addition to this, since Italy is renown and loved because of the diverisity of its territory, the local permits tend to vary from one Comune to the other.

This year we were about to start laying out the plans for another season “on the street”, but we spent a little time considering how to improve the process we followed last year. And how to help a sector which has been strongly impacted in 2020-2021, where the energies available now should be dedicated more to perform and to create, than to spend time on institutional web sites, trying to find the right form to download.

To this end, we have assembled a small but determined editorial board, currently composed by the core members of the JBCM collective (Dario Canal, Simone Sandrucci, Wolfgang Scheibe e Jack O’Malley alias pibinko), together with Peter Barbers in Bologna and Andy Rocchi in Grosseto. In the coming weeks we will be extending the information which we collected last year in relation to Southern Tuscany, and we will be sharing it. You may consult the list/atlas of locations from this page: http://www.pibinko.org/jugbandcollinemetallifere/more-street-for-all/, and you may find the instructions to participate and support the project on this page.

At the time of writing the atlas is more like a short list, but as soon as we reach the critical mass required to create a useful map, with will publish it in a few clicks (thanks to pibinko’s mapping tricks).

For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org

A few days ago we were notified of the acceptance of an abstract which we submitted for one of our “concerPTs” to be held at the ninth “Living Knowledge” conference. The conference is part of the activities run by the Living Knowledge Network, focused on subjects conducting or supporting research developed with and for communities. Considering the spirit of the JBCM project, and the track record of this collective, we are at home in this context.

Now that we had a “GO” from the organizers, we enter a preparation phase which is compounded by the international event, but which needs to be maintained.

We can start by sharing with you the abstract which we submitted a few months ago. In the next days we will be publishing more news and indications on how to support the tour (for more information in the meantime: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or whatsapp +393317539228)

The Jug Band dalle Colline Metallifere, aka JBCM (or Metalliferous Hills Jug Band, in English) is an international and inter-generational collective proposing a combination of music and environmental practice, where melody, rhythm, storytelling and outreach are merged in the same space, often (but not always) with limited monetary funding sources. The JBCM is based in one of the lesser known parts of Tuscany, spanning across the provinces of Grosseto, Pisa, Livorno and Siena, and where the typical “Tuscan postcard” themes are mixed with the legacy of one of the largest mining areas in Europe, and a geothermal energy district, thus combining rural and industrial issues and perspectives. The JBCM was launched 2018, after three years of preparation, merging expertise by professionals with multiple years of research experience on environmental, territorial, rural, and musical issues.

In particular, the JBCM has combined the guitar and vocal capabilities of two Tuscan rock boys, with three albums and hundreds of concerts around Italy, the 50+ years of activity of a supposedly retired German street musician, who also happens to be a certified biodynamic agriculture advisor and a hand-made print master, all aggregated by a German-born British-raised Tuscan-blood PhD who decided to do something for his parents’ homeland, starting in 2007 by bringing a team of 20 players of an ancient hand ball game (a version of what in the Netherlands is known as kaats) from the Metalliferous Hills to be part of the Summer Calendar of the Chicago, Illinois, Department of Culture, and triggering multiple interidisciplinary engagement projects thereon.
The combination of these paths has led in less than three years, with circa 50 events and an initiative launched in March 2020 in full lockdown mode (see Participatory Lithology in Falling Walls Engage 2020), to evolve from a proof-of-concept phase, to an operating non-formal education platform, using live music as its primary, but not exclusive, vehicle.
The Groningen gig on June 30 will be the flagship event of our 2022 non-formal education tour, calling at* Cecina, Milano, Brenner Pass, München Berlin, Hamburg, Groningen, Gent, Köln, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Milan, and Genova.
One month before the tour, a list of songs and topics which will be used as the basis for a jam session during the presentation will be published, with the goal of auditioning new members for the project, to be invited for future projects.

The JBCMS’ non-formal education tour 2022 will be documented via our social media (tending to 20000 people and with intercontinental visibility), and will be part of a docu-fiction we are producing about our work, to be distributed in early 2023. The activity is proposed in the context of one of the sub-groups of the ECSA “Empowerment, Inclusiveness, and Equity” working group (Andrea Giacomelli proposed the JBCM format as a sub-group
in 2019 …please see when this happened http://www.pibinko.org/pibinko-org-in-brussels-april-2019-eiewg-and-ditos-final-event/ ), although is it currently not funded by any ECSA-related project

(*) These locations where indicated in early January. The actual locations of the tour will be verified over the coming weeks.