Welcome! My name is Steve Jaqvaar, and I'm a singer/songwriter currently living in Kos, Greece. I know it said Dresden, Germany for years but I maintain this page myself, so don't expect much. Here you can find some more info about me and my music, download my songs or look at my schedule. Just click on a link below.
08/04/11: THE BIG DAY was postponed for another big day, and then another...but hey, I got something cooking!
07/04/11: THE BIG DAY (for more than one reasons). It can be wonderful or horrible, magical or cursed, terrible, terrifying or terrific. It's a day I fear and look forward to. With many hopes and worries, dreams and nightmares. More on 8/4/11
29/12/10: More than a year since the last update, the main reason being that I don't have that much to say. I only realised I haven't been updating this site because a girl told me today that she looked at it. I'd completely forgotten about it myself. Well, my artistic news is that we did a play in the summer (for which I once again wrote the music) and another one in the winter, which went much better, and in which I sang live this time. So basically, I'm doing a lot of theatre work, with 2 more shows coming up in 2011. One is a secret, but generally my work will have more to do with incedental music and sound effects and less with songs. Which I find to be an interesting challenge.
Oh, and our school staged "Scrooge" (my own, shortened version with video-interactive dreams). Lots of fun, lots of work, and the result was not what I was hoping for. But the idea is sound, so I might improve on it next year. Also thinking of translating the whole thing into Greek, too. Speaking of translating, I'm sitting for my DipTrans in January, so I guess I'll be doing more professional translation work in the future. And maybe get to finish off that children's book I was writing.
4/11/09: Been ages since the last update, and as you can guess, the news wasn't that good. I do not feel comfortable discussing my private life and that of my daughter on the site, and after all, the media has been doing enough of that already. After all, this page was supposed to be about my music, not my daughter.
I have recently met a singer with a beautiful voice, whom I'd hope to see more of in the near future. And maybe drive around with ;)
And I played in a parody of the Trojan War last summer, for which I also wrote the music. It was good fun, so I decided to do it again. We have two new plays coming up, one is the comedy "Father War" for next summer, and the other a drama by a local writer here on Kos. His name is Makis Manias and we actually stayed together in Coventry for a while.
16/06/09:The trial is over, but we don't have the verdict yet. Candy is not well, hoping she can hang in there a little longer.
16/01/09:After 5 months, Steve and Candy are both back in Greece. Not together at the moment, but this will be sorted out soon ;)
01/08/08: Last public appearance by Steve at a restaurant in Kos
02/05/08: Things are still rough, but hey, the movie just came out! It's a 10-minute short film about a weirdo (played by yours truly) who goes and buys all the canned tomatoes from the super-market. It is aptly called "Tomatoes!" and is quite funny actually. At least we laughed when we watched it a couple of days ago. It was directed by Sotiris Palaskas and is just a small amateur production we did last summer here on Kos.
17/04/08: There's lots happening in my personal life right now, and I'm very frustrated and worried about Candy. But I owed you this link, so here it is:
A video of my recent concert at "Epi Skinis". It was held on the 11th of April and it went really well, even though my throat is still sore after 5 hours of screaming. I'd like to thank everyone who came and played, as well as those who came and watched. We recorded the whole thing on CD so I'll try and synchronise that sound with the video for better quality. Expect an update later this month.
28/01/08: Nothing really new, just added some info on the albums page.
26/11/07: Due to popular demand, changed the featured song to Diamonds Of Rust. You never know which songs end up being the most successful in an album, and this is a typical example. It's an old political song, talking about the 1991 Gulf War. Never thought it would turn into a hit 16 years later. But I guess not much has changed in politics in 16 years, right?
26/11/07: A new place has opened here on Kos and I will be singing there on Wednesdays. I was supposed to start this Wednesday (28/11) but we're not ready yet. Probably before Christmas though. It's going to be good this time (for a change). Lots of good musicians and a full band playing with me.
19/7/07: Been that long, has it? I don't sing professionally anymore, but appear regularly at a local bar called "Redhouse" if anyone's here on holidays. It's fun and keeps me fit. Nice people and some great musicians come in there and jam everynight. Check it out!
5/7/06: Personal news, but this is a personal page after all. I just got divorced, and have joint custody of Candy with my ex. We both get to see her everyday for certain hours each. Let's hope it's what's best for Candy. Musically, this means I'm stuck on this island until she grows up.
24/8/05: Nothing new except a download. This is the FULL version of the song "Crusade To The Castle of The Bay"
16/7/05: Wow...it's been two years, hasn't it? Gosh I even forgot how to HTML since I last came here. Well, lots of news in the past 2+ years. Firstly, I quit smoking in March 2004. Now for those of you who don't know me that's no big deal, but those of you who do, well...you remember how much I used to smoke, right? It took me about a week to quit and it was extremely easy! If anybody wants to know the trick, just e-mail me and I'll tell you my secret.
The second biggest news is that I finally got married (in June 2004) and settled down in Kos, where I still do the odd gig or so, but no real tours like once upon a time in Germany. My wife doesn't want to leave the island, so I'm sort of stuck here indefinitely, especially since we now have a baby. Which of course is the third big piece of news in my life and the main reason for my internet absence.
June 2004 Subways Music published a very good biography on their site. It was written by my former manager and close personal friend, who probably knows more about me that I do myself. Unfortunately it's in Greek, but I'll try and have a translation here one of these days. We also signed a contract for the album which was recorded in 2003 (and some lucky journalists got for free during the FEJS meeting in Sarajevo that year). No release date has been planned, but since the album is not topical, this doesn't matter much. It's something to look forward to when I'm old... (ie don't expect it out this decade).
There will be no downloads of songs from this for now, but I'll upload the cover so you can see it and also a song list (there are 13 of my songs written between 1988-2001 plus 3 traditional ones).
5/11/01: Er...yes, the rumours are true: I'm in love. Which is part of the reason I haven't been spending much time online. But there's a new CD coming up soon. It's basically ready but needs a bit of editing still and I have not decided on the artwork yet. I do not plan to upload songs from that one anywhere, you'll have to buy it, sorry. But I will have more free mp3 files here soon.
28/5/01: due to the recent developments at mp3.com, I've been making copies of all my songs here just in case Vivendi decides to pull down the site (or deform it beyond recognition, like Disney did with Infoseek). With everyone attacking the internet like that, no wonder the place is a mess!
Also today (I've been pretty busy) I added some of my own drawings. They don't have any particular aesthetic or scientific value, I was just playing around with the scanner and a pencil (they are those things you used to hold in your hand to write before computers were invented, a pretty successful gadget from the last century). Now, where are they...oh, here!
February 2001: If you want more info about my career, you can see a short biography, as it appears on my mp3 page. (auch auf Deutsch)
I have also uploaded a few more (black & white) pictures from the good old days with "No Connection Necessary". They were all taken in Coventry in the winter of 1994-95 or so. They're on the art page now.
December 2000: An interview with Steve Jaqvaar by 3DO Community member Siuan
Now about the song - George Katsanos plays the piano, I sing. And yes, it's about the Gulf War. The first one...same shit, different day.
Candy was born on 27th March 2005 and has already decided to follow my career. She eats all of her food in an effort to grow fast and was in such a hurry to be a big girl that she was born a month too early. She's a very healthy and happy child and of course gives us both immense joy. That's all for now, will be back when I have any more news....oh I almost forgot, I do have a new album called "Meanwhile, far away" but it's not out yet what with the baby and all...
12/2/03: Happy Birthday to my first album! Recorded exactly 9 years ago...well, that's not really why I'm here, I just wanted to tell you I'm still alive and this whole site will soon be moved to www.subwaysmusic.com, a place where you can find free demos of my own songs, as well as other artists who are making albums with
30/6/02: I have been asked to reduce the webspace used here. As a result, all of the mp3 songs that used to be featured in the downloads section have been removed. Hope whoever was interested got a free copy, if not, either download them from one of the two pay-sites featuring them or send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do. (for those of you wondering less than 1% of my music income comes from CD sales and the total web income over the past 4 years of being featured on the web has been 0.06 Euros, meaning it doesn't make much of a difference to me financially. Besides I'm not in it for the money. And this goes for most musicians worldwide.) Hopefully, I'll be able to have at least one song at a time for free download here in the future.
28/3/02: ...and again another 2 months. As you may or may not have noticed, this page is now pretty obsolete. I am no longer in Germany, and all of my appearances for 2002 have been cancelled. The "Kneipenfest" concerts will be done by Jimmy Bozeman, he's a member of the "Band Of Jakeys" (we were on tour together the past 2 years) and a very good friend of mine. He's much better than I am in this type of music, so if you were planning on going to the concerts, do so. Jimmy is well worth checking out. Say "hi" from me :)
I have no plans for the future, I'll tell you when I make some up
27/1/02: God, it's been 2 whole months since the last update! The truth is there's not much to say musicwise, though there's plenty of developments in my personal life. I will do 3-4 more concerts in Germany and then move to Greece for the rest of the year. Watch this space for any possible comeback. Sorry, for now I need some time off. Oh yes, if you happen to go to Kos on holidays or something, ask around for possible appearances there.
27/11/01: The CD has been out for a while now, I just haven't been around to update the page. It's the first part of the live concert at Cafe Boulevard, Heiligenstadt on 3/11/01. It's appropriately called "Cafe Boulevard" and you can order it by calling +49-351-4111531 (for Germany) or +30-945-372999 (for the rest of the world). The price is 10 Euros
12/9/01: Added one more mp3 file, this one is a traditional song called "The House Of The Rising Sun" (you probably know it from the Bob Dylan or Animals versions).
25/7/01: Just got back from a trip to Denmark, where (among other things generally involving a lot of laziness) I managed to actually get some work done: my first album (originally only in vinyl) is now also available in CD format. You can order
it for now, or soon download it.
4/7/01: I just signed up for a new downloadable music service at Players Server. I hope the link works now
30/6/01: Another live recording for free download. This one is a traditional Irish song called "Molly Malone".
26/6/01: A song from the Live CD has been uploaded here. You can download it completely free of course, the quality is not that good though. It's called "Three Years" and it's as fresh as they get. I wrote it less than a month ago :)
24/6/01:Finally! Yes, the new CD is out. Actually it's two CDs, not one. Well, four (two for each day of the Elbhangfest). But only two are for sale, and the first one (the unedited version of the concert on the 23rd) is almost sold out already, so now I'm making the compilation of the best songs from both days. I can already tell you the songs on the list (all but one are previously unpublished) and yes, this is a live album, so don't expect too much in terms of sound quality. As I said, this is not the "Not the Boy From Madagascar" album which will be recorded in a studio as soon as I find enough good musicians to play the songs.
Some of the songs are the same though, and of course a live album is always interesting for those of you who have been there. Oh, the CD will not be sold in shops at least for now, but I will add the songs here in lo-fi mp3 format for you, or you can order the real thing online.
21/6/01: Added a poster that you can download and print. Please note that this is meant for A3 size paper, without margins. The margin at the bottom is meant for time/date/venue information.
10/6/01: Just came back from a very wet open air concert in Dresden. There's nothing really new on the site, but I have started making some recordings of the tour which should be complete as a CD by the end of June. This is not the "Not The Boy From Madagascar" project, which is still -as always- on hold. It's more of an amateurish "Steve Jaqvaar Live" album which I plan to make available at the actual performances to replace that crappy "Sent To Coventry" CD I've been selling. The songs will also be uploaded here in mp3 format as they become available.
30/5/01: Well, two days later I actually got a message from MP3 (ie Vivendi) telling me that they were "updrading" their services blah blah blah. In other words they now want ME to pay THEM in order to allow my songs to be freely available for downloading from the internet. I obviously won't do that as a matter of principle. You can still download my songs for free at least from here, and this is something that will never change for as long as I still hold the copyrights (something which I plan to do forever). Keep music free!
...for those of you wondering what's going on, all these legal battles in the name of musicians are crap. Songwriters typically get less than 3% of a song's retail price, whereas what used to be mp3.com gave us 50%. What the music industry (ie Vivendi) is doing right now is killing the goose that lay the golden egg, which means we will see even less diversity in internet music as the time goes on
ok, enough propaganda, you can basically download all of my songs included in "Sent To Coventry" from the downloads section. Please note that the original CD back in 1994 had another 7 tracks, but since I do not own the full copyrights for those, the only way you can get them is to buy the CD from a retailer.
27/5/01: You can now download the cover and label for "Sent To Coventry" from the Art section. I will soon add the mp3 files too, so that you can burn a copy of that CD yourself at home if you want. It's all free, don't worry. For now, the mp3 files can be found at my mp3 site. If you have an A3 size printer, remember to place the paper for the cover horizontally, or else rotate the jpg file by 90 degrees (I could not upload the bmp, sorry).
21/3/01:I changed the button above. I know it's ugly, will figure something out soon though.
4/3/01: Updated the tour page with the 2001 summer schedule.
17/2/01: I added a map of Germany and where you can find me...well, normally you can find me behind my computer in Dresden, but I mean other than that ;)
15/2/01: I added a couple of new old pictures. New in that I just added them, old in that they date back to 1994 or so, when I was singing in Coventry. They are with some fellow musicians, most of which were featured in my second and third albums (Graeme, the one sitting in the pictures, also played in the first one).
(page updated 02/05/08)
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