Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.2007, Side 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. desember 2007 • 5
David Jón Fuller
Singer and voiceover artist Janyse Jaud has released two independent albums
just in time for the holidays:
The Magic of Christmas and
a children’s album called The
Magic of Think: Finding Cour-
age, Friendship and Happi-
ness.
Janyse, who spends her
time in Vancouver and Kelow-
na (where she grew up), is the
daughter of June Laxdal and
Dan Jaud. She started in music
and ballet lessons at the age of
five and found it very liberat-
ing — “I was extremely shy,”
she says. She began writing
music at age nine, and contin-
ued in acting, singing and danc-
ing throughout high school and
university.
She trained professionally
in Vancouver, Los Angeles,
New York and Montreal, and
after performing in musical
theatre, television and film, de-
cided to focus on voiceovers,
singing and songwriting.
Today she works as a voice
actor and is the voice of Pinkie
Pie in My Little Pony, Sarah &
Lee Kanker in Ed, Edd n’ Eddy,
and Melissa Duck in Baby Loo-
ney Tunes, among other roles.
She has worked on her two
new albums for the last two
years, which included writing
all the music and lyrics and
singing all of the songs.
Of The Magic of Christ-
mas, a frothy, fun jazz album,
she says, “I really wanted to
create something unique... For
the Christmas album I wanted a
humorous, sassy album to make
people smile. It was fun to look
at all the different angles. For
example, what does Mrs. Claus
experience? How do military
wives feel? How does a person
feel after spending so much
money at Christmas? I didn’t
want to approach the songs
with sadness. I wanted to add
a humorous, mischievous spin
and also a feeling of gratitude.”
Her other album, The Mag-
ic of Think, is inspired in part
by stories she heard from her
grandparents Johanna Hako-
nardottir Gudmundsson and
Thordur Eggert Laxdal, who
emigrated from Iceland. In
The Magic of Think, original
songs sung by cartoon charac-
ters (Asian panda bear Coochi
Coo, Icelandic fairy Aldis and
Latino/African American Little
Red) entertain and teach chil-
dren about friendship and self-
confidence. The album is set as
a concert in the fictional Think,
Iceland.
Aldis is also Janyse’s mid-
dle name; as a child, she says,
“My grandma always left food
out for the little people and she
told me that my middle name
‘Aldis’ was very special because
the meaning was ‘fairy.’ So Ice-
land became very magical and
mystical to me. It became the
perfect place to create a virtual
world for my children’s album
— Think, Iceland — and the
perfect place for my animated
band to originate from.”
The children’s album is a
project close to her heart. She
was motivated to write and per-
form it following an experience
with the Make-A-Wish Foun-
dation, which grants wishes for
children with life-threatening
illnesses.
“I had the opportunity to
meet [a child named] Ben
through the Make-A-Wish
Foundation,” she says. “Ben
had one wish and it was to
meet all of us in the cast of
the animated series Ed, Edd
n’ Eddy so the Make-A-Wish
Foundation flew him from
New York to our Vancouver
studio. This encounter made
me realize what an enormous,
positive influence cartoon
characters could have on a
child’s life. Three more chil-
dren have since made it their
‘one wish’ to meet all of us on
this animated show.
“My goal is to create songs,
led by cartoon characters, that
help children think positively
and achieve increased levels of
confidence, health and happi-
ness.”
For more information, visit
www.themagicofthink.com or
www.magicalvoice.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGICAL VOICE PRODUCTIONS
Janyse Aldis Jaud is an actor, singer, music writer and lyricist.
The Magic of Christmas
Janyse
Magical Voice Productions
www.janyse.com
INTERVIEW
The Magic of Think
Janyse
Magical Voice Productions
www.TheMagicOfThink.com
Janyse Jaud debuts
two new albums
Dear Editor:
I’m enclosing a story that
may be of interest for your won-
derful newspaper. My wife Lue
Danielson Foster and I grew up
in Lundar, MB; we are both of
Icelandic descent. We live in
Olds, AB and naturally, we sub-
scribe to the L-H newspaper.
Five years ago, the Friday
20 September 2002 issue of L-H
arrived. On page six was a pho-
to with the caption “Icelanders
Looking for Relatives in North
America.” Lue immediately
recognized the photo — it was
a photo that was taken in the
1930s. She knew everyone in
the photo except the one lady.
Þuriður Guðjónsdóttir (the
lady who sent the article to
L-H) knew only the one lady
(her great-grandmother) and
knew only that she emigrated
to Canada. All traces of her
great-grandmother were lost.
Þuriður’s photo gave no indica-
tion of where her great-grand-
mother lived.
Lue made a few telephone
calls and confirmed the lady’s
name — and then contacted
Þuriður in Iceland... the rest is
history.
In August 2007, Lue and I
made a trip to Iceland. We met
Þuriður and her husband Páll
Ólafsson. And as all Icelanders
do — we met for coffee!
So: thank you Lögberg-
Heimskringla for making this
wonderful meeting possible.
Also, as you can imagine, your
newspaper made a wonderful
lady in Iceland very happy to
learn about her great-grand-
mother’s life and whereabouts.
Keep up the great work with
L-H. We love it.
Cheers,
Lorne Foster
Olds, AB
* * *
Dear Editor:
I strongly recommend that
you make known to your read-
ers (the majority of whom, I be-
lieve, live in the drainage area
of Lake Winnipeg) the article
“Forgotten Lake,” which ap-
peared in the November/De-
cember 2006 issue of Canadian
Geographic magazine (Vol.
126, Issue 6, pp 62 – 78).
To illustrate my interest,
and my belief that the article
would be of interest to many
(perhaps most) of your readers,
let me tell you something of my
background.
I grew up on Hecla Island.
I can clearly remember, during
my preteen years (ie. in the mid-
20s), wading into the lake until
the water was up to my chest,
and still being able to see my
toes. I can also remember, even
more clearly, visiting Hecla Is-
land shortly after World War
II, and being astonished and
perturbed at not being able to
clearly see my fingertips when
my hand was dipped in the lake
up to my wrist.
Yours truly,
Ed Eggertson
Burlington, ON
An excerpt from the article
Ed mentions, on the pervasive
algae problems in Lake Winni-
peg, can also be found online at
www.canadiangeographic.ca/
magazine/nd06/feature_lake_
winnipeg.asp.
— Ed.
ARGYLE
Transfer Ltd.
Specializing
in livestock transportation
Wally & Linda Finnbogason
Stonewall, MB
Wally 467-8822 Mobile 981-1666
Daryl 322-5743 Mobile 981-5460
A COMMUNITY-FOCUSED
CREDIT UNION
COMMITTED TO CREATING
VALUE FOR OUR MEMBERSHIP
34 Centre Street, Gimli 642-6450
23 Stitt Street, Winnipeg Beach 389-2550
In Iceland, August 2007. From left: Þuriður Guðjónsdóttir,
Lue (Danielson) Foster, Páll Ólafsson, Lorne Foster.