Jazz/Blues musicians Paul Mowbray and Tracy Mills are putting their music where their hearts are--in an effort to raise awareness (and funds) for a Women's Grassroots economic initiative in Ghana.

Victoria performers and songwriters Paul Mowbray (guitar) and Tracy Mills (violin) deliver compelling original acoustic music. Drawing from lyric-based folk, timeless blues, Pac-Rim funk, and classical sensibilities - their music moves and changes. Loving the stage, Mowbray and Mills perform Friday with their Circle of Friends Band (Kelby MacNayr, drums and Stephen Ogden, bass). Together since 2006 - they’ve played regularly in the Victoria area, taught hundreds of lessons, and lead dozens of workshops.

In October 2009, they launched the Victoria Regional Writers Group for the Songwriters Association of Canada.

Mowbray and Mills songs have been featured on: CBC Victoria and Vancouver (North by Northwest, On the Coast, BC Almanac), Village 900, CFUV Victoria, CKLX Planete Jazz Du Montreal, Radio Paradise and others.)

Joining them Friday is the lovely and amazing Victoria singer/songwriter - Strawberry Vale.

Together they play Tunes for Takpo to help the women, members of the Widows Shea Butter collective in Takpo Village, NW Ghana, who have been hard at work producing shea butter that many of us in the Cowichan Valley have come to know and love through Gifty Serbeh Dunn and Sheabuttermarket, her company.

The Cowichan Valley connection to this remote African Village is Gifty Serbeh-Dunn, who was instrumental in assisting the widows by purchasing raw unrefined sheabutter from their collective. The widows had their collective in place which made them an attractive group to work with.

Partners for Properity a local charity that does community development, has worked with Gifty to expand the support base the widows have requested by developing the Globla Connections program that partners the widow and her family with an individual in the Cowichan Valley Through this program many Valley residents have come to learn more about subsistence living, grassroots empowerment and how global partnerships are often difficult to build as communication is not frequent but proves to be very enriching and educational over the long run

Partners has a mission to bring people and organizations together to build partnerships, to share best practices and resources both material and spiritual, and to build the capacity of organizations to move to collective action both locally and globally

In consultation with the Village council Partners has determined that the Takpo Widows Widows Assocaition needs right now is some training in developing more efficient and diverse social and economic enterprises This is where the Badi Foundation comes in--an international non-profit development agency that has trained participants and initiated grass-roots projects in China and Africa. Trainers are ready to go to Ghana: a Liberian, a Kenyan and possibly even one person from the Valley, make up the team and are on board to deliver the training to these remarkable women.

If you'd like to listen to some great jazz and find out about and help a truly grass-roots enterprise, then come to Tunes for Takpo on Friday evening, March 5th, 2010 at Sylvan United Church in Mill Bay.

Concert starts at 7:30.pm and will include a slide show of the Takpo Widows Association and information on the type of training that will be delivered in Takpo Village this Spring. Coffee(decaf and regular)news@ provided by Level Ground Trading

For further information contact Susan Yager at 250-746-6940, Barb Kruger at 250-743-1222 or Gifty Serbeh Dunn at 250-743-4669