Live rehearsal jam clip.  Summer 2014.  
Instrumental version of Elinos Canados.
(there's lyrics too).
Cant wait to record this pro !


Elino Canados (live Jam clip - 2014)

Song from the Universe - folk world song
with flute added.
Will be recording this in studio.

Song From The Universe  (live jam with flute)

Folk-Pop-World song live demo with flute.
This will be re-recorded in studio.


Kimisi, Greece (live jam with flute)

Acoustic folk-world instrumental with flute  tabla  guitar. 

Featuring
Marie-Véronique Bourque   (flute)
Nadeem Naz 	 		   (tablas / percussion)
John Hatzitolios 		   (guitars/co-producer)  

Co-Producer / Engineer Mark Schmidt - Northern Town Music.  and special guest on rhythm guitar.

Song From The Universe   (instrumental -flute /tabla/guitar)

Upbeat, folk world Mediterranean song with flute, acoustic guitars, drums, bass, tabla & hand percussion.

This is named after my Dad's hometown in northern Greece.   Wrote on a couple epic trips there back when and finally now recorded and performed it with these fantasic players and a great producer / engineer.


Kimisi, Ellatha (Greece)

-Acoustic guitars, violin, vocals building to bass and drums in.
www.facebook.com/folksanctuarymusic
www.folksanctuary.com
- For me the tune was the feeling of peace I had when for a few months friends and family were all in place, right in our neighbourhood.  And playing tunes with Morgan and friends.    
-Morgan had this 6/8 chord progression that just so brilliantly circular and classic to play and jam to and it evolved from playing around the living room, campfire and gigs.
However as some know, then it all went sideways for me and the family with so much loss and tragedies in just a few months, when so much happiness was right in front of us. 
The finished vocal was done at 2 am as i was moving out of my studio  and the captures the dual yearning of what i just had and was losing and so much change in my entire life.
Carmelle's violin really captures it too.

Many more tunes in the works.  it's so fun to record and mix!
John H.   May 10, 2017

Love Has Found Me

Life is Fine - Vocals, acoustic guitar, violin, piano, bass.   
Very proud and creatively happy to finally release 
'Life is Fine' (and its companion 'Love Has Found Me'). 
The most relaxed song I’ve ever  recorded.  Good for this holiday Monday.    
Started writing this many years ago, a love song, but finished recording during a time of loss and tragedies. 
It's for anyone you love.  
But for me, it's dedicated to my Mom. 
(Love this 1962 pic of my folks :).  Dad said it was ok to use).  
Vocals were recorded at 2 am in March 26, 2016  just before moving out of my Regina studio  in the hangar, (love that place) east across the country.  When everything was ending, instead of the new beginning planned.      
Written and all instruments by 
John Hatzitolios,  except Violin - Carmelle Pretzlaw.
Piano recorded Jan '17 Los Angeles.
Violin Feb '17 at P Studio, Regina.   Hope you enjoy both this and Love Has Found Me.   

Piano recorded Jan '17 Los Angeles.
Violin Feb '17 at P Studio, Regina.   Hope you enjoy both this and Love Has Found Me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrBf3I84Ios
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/life-is-fine-single/id1265531180

Life Is Fine (Instrumental Mix)

Life is Fine - Vocals, acoustic guitar, violin, piano, bass.   
Very proud and creatively happy to finally release 
'Life is Fine' (and its companion 'Love Has Found Me'). 
The most relaxed song I’ve ever  recorded.  
www.facebook.com/folksanctuarymusic
www.folksanctuary.com

Started writing this many years ago, a love song, but finished recording during a time of loss and tragedies. 
It's for anyone you love.  
But for me, it's dedicated to my Mom. 
(Love this 1962 pic of my folks :).  Dad said it was ok to use).  
Vocals were recorded at 2 am in March 26, 2016  just before moving out of my Regina studio  in the hangar, (love that place) east across the country.  When everything was ending, instead of the new beginning planned.      
Written and all instruments by 
John Hatzitolios,  except Violin - Carmelle Pretzlaw.
Piano recorded Jan '17 Los Angeles.
Violin Feb '17 at P Studio, Regina.   Hope you enjoy both this and Love Has Found Me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrBf3I84Ios&feature=youtu.be
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/life-is-fine-single/id1265531180

Life Is Fine

Langadas, Greece (Λαγκαδάς, Ελλάδa)

Saskatchewan! by The Saskies is a fun new song, celebrating the land, people and province of Saskatchewan.   The track is a catchy, lively tune with natural crowd participation parts and a sing-a-long chorus.  

Chorus Lyric  		
Where Are We From?           Saskatchewan!    (Hey!)
That's the Land We Love!   Saskatchewan!    (Hey!)

'Saskatchewan!' is influenced by classic Canadian artists such as Spirit of the West, Great Big Sea and Captain Tractor. 

Saskatchewan! by The Saskies was written and recorded by singer-songwriter and DJ,  John Hatzitolios (a.k.a. Johnny Hatch).   John was born and raised in Regina.  

Saskatchewan! is an epic feel good track to boost the spirits of, and bring a smile to the faces of the Sask people during this challenging time, and in years to come!  
A challenge was which artist name to release the song under.  Then inspiration hit to call it Saskatchewan! by The Saskies.
This will give the song and project even more cachet and entertaining promotional avenues.   (The Saskies, who's that?  Cool!)   Hatch enlisted talented Sask musical friends to contribute to the song and be part of the 'super-group' The Saskies.   Credits below.  A music video is planned, plus special future performances and song re-mixes.    The Saskies are looking for people to be part of the video (distanced outdoors) in early October.

Though a relatively simple tune, 'Saskatchewan!'  has been years in the writing and recording process to craft and lay down the right heartfelt version.  One goal for the song was to keep the vibe and energy as authentic as possible, mindful to not wander into contrived or cheesy territory.   Plus to be lyrically thoughtful to be inclusive of all Sask people.  A musical inspiration for the song was Captain Tractor's, 'Last Saskatchewan Pirate', an enduring hit people in Sask continue to sing and dance to, and throw their hands in the air for the "Hey's!".  As a popular party DJ, Hatch experienced lots of Sask folks dancing to the Captain Tractor tune and wanted to write a Sask song for those times, and for Rider games and more.   Driving home one night after DJ'ing a rural town dance party, the core of the song came to him.  He had the main parts of the songs for years but kept trying to tweak it just right.

Notably Johnny Hatch has three other geographical songs, the dance-rock hit 'In LA', (with a young Megan Nash on harmony vocals) plus two instrumental songs named for each of his Greece to Regina immigrant parents original hometowns.  The latter songs are released under his folk-world project, Folk Sanctuary.    So it was def time to finish this song for his home province, and by extension hometown of Regina.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan! by The Saskies

Folk Sanctuary
Folk-Pop-World
Melodic, Blissful,Catchy.

John Hatz 	               (guitar/vocals)
Western Canada Players: 
Morgan Hughes 		(guitar)
Marie-Véronique Bourque   (flute)
Nadeem Naz  		(tablas)

Folk Sanctuary  folk-pop-world music group with creative, blissful songwriting and veteran musicianship.   
Leader John Hatzitolios is from Regina, Sask and is currently mainly based in the Toronto area.
Shows
Folk Sanctuary performed for the Jazzfest,  the Sask Multi-cultural Conference (at FNUC), O’Hanlon’s and 2 house concerts.  Being acoustic act, Folk Sanctuary is able to play from a duo to full five piece to suite the show and venue.   The group also feature the incredible tabla percussion playing of Nadeem Naz. 
The Vertigo performance will feature 2 guitars, and flute with both instrumental and vocal songs.  The music group will open the show, followed by literary reading and then more music in the middle.

Recording
Folk Sanctuary will be going into the studio soon to record a song collection, working with talented producer Mark Schmidt.  In the meantime some live rehearsal recordings can be heard on Soundcloud.

The Group & Story
After amazing experiences recording and performing his last album in Canada, the US and Greece,  Johnny decided to separate his more acoustic music from the electric music.   This journey led him to the musical friendship of this terrific group of players, bringing together their influences to create an engaging funstyle.     A true Prairie mélange, Folk Sanctuary’s players have heritage from, Saskatchewan, Greece, Quebec, Pakistan, Ireland and the west coast.   With Saskatchewan as the unifying link, it makes for an amazing musical journey.