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October 5, 2005 - ASCAP member Paul Pena passed away on October 1, 2005 after a long battle with pancreatitis and diabetes. Pena, a songwriter, singer and musician, is known throughout the world thanks to the documentary film about him called Genghis Blues. The film, which explored Pena's discovering and mastery of Tuvan throat singing, won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999. Pena, who was blind since birth and had perfect pitch, performed with Tuvan throat singer Kongar-ol Ondar at the first ASCAP Music Café at Sundance the year the film was shown. He performed at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival alongside James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Kris Kristofferson and over the years played with many of the blues greats including B.B. King, Muddy Waters and T. Bone Walker. His song "Jet Airliner," recorded by the Steve Miller Band, was an enormous hit in the 1970s and is still consistently played on the radio. The mayor of San Francisco, where Pena lived much of his life, declared July 11, 1999 'Paul Pena Day.'
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