Our Team
Dr. Kristina Jacobsen
Director and facilitator
Kristina Jacobsen, PhD, is a singer, songwriter, ethnographer and ‘peregrina’ who leads the Songwriting Major at the University of New Mexico. In July 2022, she completed the Camino Francés and received her “Compostela” (certification of completion) when she walked from Burgos, Spain to Santiago de Compostela, Spain (498 kilometers). A Fulbright Artist and Scholar (Italy 2019-2020), Kristina has been nominated for four New Mexico Music Awards. Her oeuvre is informed by a world of global music—all deeply considered and then seemingly wrapped up quietly but with profound sentimentality in her spacious and intimate songs—includes sonic touches of American honky tonk and folk music. She delivers her songs in a yodeling alto that can warm your heart, bite off a searing denunciation, or celebrate good times with equal fervor. Her travels, from the American southwest and Scandinavia to Sardinia, resound in every note in a rich melting pot of culture and human connection.
A long-time practitioner of mindfulness, Jacobsen completed her introductory MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) training at Duke University’s Center for Integrative Medicine and graduated with a Certificate in Mindful Leadership (with Mark Lesser and Nikki Mirghafori) from Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center in 2021. She is a community dharma teacher-in-training in the Plum Village tradition (Order of InterBeing Aspirant), and enjoys bringing mindfulness into the songwriting process in beautiful places around the world. Kristina speaks Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and some Sardinian and Navajo.
Kristina is the author of the award-winning books, Sing Me Back Home: Ethnographic Songwriting and Sardinian Language Politics (2024 UTP; 2025 NeoClassica) and The Sound of Navajo Country: Music, Language and Diné Belonging (2017), and the co-author of The Creative Ethnographer’s Notebook with poet Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor (Routledge 2024). A gifted teacher, she is a huge believer in the power of walking and contemplative practice to deepen our songwriting craft and our sense of connection to nature, to ourselves and to one another.
Learn more about Kristina:
Personal website
Ethnographic Songwriting blog
Songs of Sardegna
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Yoga Teacher and Bodywork Practitioner
Ayano is a dedicated yoga teacher with extensive experience in various forms of bodywork. Her background includes tai chi, Pilates, and massage therapy, which she integrates into her holistic and intuitive approach. Ayano prioritizes relaxation, contemplation, and meditative movement in her practice. This approach is also reflected in her book, Meditation and Movement for Self-Healing, where she shares techniques that emphasize the importance of both mental and physical well-being.
Musician and Performer
In addition to her work in wellness, Ayano is an accomplished singer and songwriter. She has further developed her songwriting skills by taking Dr. Kristina Jacobsen’s Songwriting in Community class at the University of New Mexico and participating in Songs of Sardinia 2024. As an active member of the Albuquerque open mic community, Ayano regularly shares her music with others. Her talents also extend to the stage—she played one of the Shirelles in the Albuquerque Little Theatre’s Spring 2025 production of Beautiful: the Carole King Musical. She also enjoys participating in the annual Albuquerque Film and Music Experience.
Artistic Commitment
Ayano remains committed to her artistic growth by continuously creating new songs, honing her performance skills, and seeking ways to share her art with wider audiences. She brings this artistic sensibility into her yoga practice, blending creativity and mindfulness in her teaching and daily life.
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A Guitarist from Sassari, GIANFRANCO COSSU had his first artistic experience in 2001 in Nasodoble, a trio then made up of guitar, flute and violin. In 2006 he released his first personal recording work (Inquiete Rumorose Finzioni) songs entirely written and arranged by the author himself.
In 2013 he recorded a disc of original music with the Ollantaytambo group, a trio composed of Clarinets and Sax (P.Carta Mantiglia) and Double Bass (N.Capettini). The group was invited to participate in the international jazz festival 'Musica sulle Bocche' 2015. His latest CD of songs is 'Coi delfini del cielo', released in 2020 and presented at the Astra theatre in Sassari in February 2023. A single entitled 'Lettera a Marì' was released in December 2021 on a text by Giuseppe Cristaldi.
In 2023, he completed the project, "Fenotoli-Sign & Sing," a series of improvised drawings that were musically interpreted by 20 different musicians. You can listen to these songs via QR code.
Prior to joining "Songs of Sardegna" as Songwriter-in-Residence, Cossu attended "Songs of Sardegna" for two years as a participant.
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Aubrie Powell is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois. She is interested in how participatory collaborative ways of making music, such as song co-writing and band making, link to genre, creative community, and ways of knowing and learning. Her interdisciplinary work engages with the public humanities and Arts-Based Research to see music making as a community resource. Aubrie has a Master of Music Composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Masters with a concentration in musicology from the University of New Mexico.
Aubrie has written over fifty songs and co-written with over twenty songwriters. She is the site coordinator for workshops with Sing Me Back Home Retreats and a facilitator of the Urbana-Champaign Songwriter Meetup. She participates regularly in ensembles at the Community School for the Arts in Urbana where she interned as part of the Summer Bridge Experience supported by Humanities Without Walls. She plays in several pick-up groups and bands in Illinois including the Philo Country Opry, the Tumbleweeds, and the Recliners.
You can listen to Aubrie’s music, here: https://aubriempowell.com/
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Native (Pueblo of Acoma) lyric tenor Bo Shimmin is a 2-time Fulbright grantee that is currently based out of Milan, Italy, where he works as a freelance opera singer and arts administrator. He was a part of
the inaugural Songs of Sardigna and is so excited to be returning to Santu Lussurgiu as a vocal coach! Recent operatic roles include Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos), Telemaco (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria), Fiscal (Juana), Nate (Highway One, USA), Little Bat (Susannah), and Damon (Acis and Galatea).
A champion of art song, Bo has recently presented recitals featuring Spanish, Latin American, African American and Spirituals repertoire. Bo completed graduate voice studies at the University of Michigan and undergraduate studies at DePauw University in 2019
and been featured as a young artist with Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Ad Astra Music Festival and Southern Illinois Music Festival.
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Singer and ethnomusicologist, Luigi ‘Gigi’ Oliva, is a renowned teacher g of traditional Sardinian singing. An ethnomusicologist, he teaches classes and workshops in multipart singing at the University of Cagliari, at the Conservatory Palestrina, also in Cagliari, and in Bosa. He also teaches traditional Sardinian singing workshops for members of the University of New Mexico class, “Singing and Ethnography of the Mediterranean,” a study abroad class to Sardinia, each May. He has presented and taught workshops on multipart singing in Italy, France and Germany; he has facilitated cultural exchanges focused on traditional singing with the program, ERASMUS, in Estonia, LIthuania, Croatia, Georgia, Portugal and France. Known for his creative and effective didactic approaches to teaching both singers and non-singers, Oliva is also the artistic director of the Cultural Association and singing group, “Coro di Bosa.” He also directs the women’s choir, “Stella Splendens” of Belvi, Sardinia.
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Aubrie Powell is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois. She is interested in how participatory collaborative ways of making music, such as song co-writing and band making, link to genre, creative community, and ways of knowing and learning. Her interdisciplinary work engages with the public humanities and Arts-Based Research to see music making as a community resource. Aubrie has a Master of Music Composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Masters with a concentration in musicology from the University of New Mexico.
Aubrie has written over fifty songs and co-written with over twenty songwriters. She is the site coordinator for workshops with Sing Me Back Home Retreats and a facilitator of the Urbana-Champaign Songwriter Meetup. She participates regularly in ensembles at the Community School for the Arts in Urbana where she interned as part of the Summer Bridge Experience supported by Humanities Without Walls. She plays in several pick-up groups and bands in Illinois including the Philo Country Opry, the Tumbleweeds, and the Recliners.
You can listen to Aubrie’s music, here: https://aubriempowell.com/
Songs of Santiago
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Musical Biography (Inglés)
Jean-Claude Benazet (Toulouse, France), has been walking the Camino de Santiago since 1981. In 1989, he composed the song, “Ultreia,” which has gone on to become one of the best-loved and best-known songs now sung along the many Caminos across Europe, including the Camino Francés. In 1993, he composed the music for the poem, Misa de Amor. In addition to “Ultreia,” he has written the songs “Pour Partir Léger” (2013, lyrics by Jacques Strobel), “A Fisterra Llegaré (2014), and “Por qué tan Lejos” (2014). In addition, he has co-authored numerous collaborative songs, including “Mélodia del Bierzo” (w/ Nhu-Mai Nguyen, 2023), “Gracias a las Ruedas” (w/ Kristina Jacobsen, 2023). He has participated in two previous Songs of Santiago Retreats (2023-2024), and is glad to be returning as this year’s spring Camino Songwriter in Residence .
Listen to the cowrite, "Melodia del Bierzo," here
Listen to an interview with Jean-Claude for the podcast "Senderos Jacobeos," here
Biografía Musical (Español)
Jean-Claude Benazet (Toulouse, Francia) recorre el Camino de Santiago desde 1981. En 1989 compuso la canción “Ultreia”, que se ha convertido en una de las más queridas y conocidas de las que se cantan en los numerosos Caminos de Santiago de Europa, incluido el Camino Francés. En 1993 compuso la música para Misa de Amor, un romance del siglo XVII. Además de “Ultreia”, ha escrito las canciones “Pour Partir Léger” (2013, letra de Jacques Strobel), “A Fisterra Llegaré” (2014) y “Por qué tan Lejos” (2014). Además, ha sido coautor de numerosas canciones colaborativas, entre ellas “Mélodia del Bierzo” (con Nhu-Mai Nguyen, 2023), “Gracias a las Ruedas” (con Kristina Jacobsen, 2023) y muchas otras canciones escritas a lo largo del Camino como participante en retiros anteriores de Songs of Santiago (2023-2024). Está contento de volver como compositor residente del Camino de primavera de este año con Songs of Santiago (2025).
Escucha la coautoría, "Melodia del Bierzo", aquí
Escucha una entrevista con Jean-Claude para el podcast "Senderos Jacobeos", aquí
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April Goltz is a freelance writer, flamenco dancer, event producer, amateur singer, and adventure seeker. Her interest and training in ethnomusicology has led to her work with a long list of arts organizations including the National Institute of Flamenco, Preservation Hall, American Routes, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum. April's pet project, Candelabra Productions, is dedicated to producing multi-sensory arts experiences that bring together artists and audiences from diverse creative communities.
Songs from the Jemez
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Meredith has been interested in songwriting for over twenty years. From an early age, it became her guide to understanding the world around her. She wrote, recorded, and released a solo album in 2008 ("Self-titled") and fell in love with the process of collaborating with friends to fine-tune the songs she wrote on her own. Her second solo album "The Coming of the Night" was released in 2016, and she was lucky enough to sing the album from start to finish in a cathedral in Albuquerque, NM. From 2011-2016, she wrote with the band Wildewood and recorded three albums ("While the Light Lasts," "Wildewood," and "The Other Side"). They toured throughout the US and, most notably, opened for The Handsome Family on the west coast. Meredith has written and recorded with numerous songwriters from New Mexico and Colorado, including the one and only Kristina Jacobsen, and continues to feel grateful for and inspired by the songwriters that take the time to go on retreats and share their ideas. Her music can be found on meredithwilder.bandcamp.com.