News Release
For Immediate Release
Musicians from Around the Globe to Perform During Santa Fe Indian Market
Native Roots & Rhythms Festival Features Native American and Indigenous Performing Arts
Santa Fe, New Mexico – July 15, 2008 – The 14th Annual Native Roots & Rhythms Festival will be held at Santa Fe's Paolo Soleri Amphitheater featuring Katchafire, one of New Zealand's leading reggae bands, and Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Native American musician, composer, educator, and social activist. The two-day festival will showcase Native American and indigenous music, dance, storytelling, comedy, poetry, and multimedia imagery during the weekend of the Santa Fe Indian Market on August 22-23. It will also feature Native American and indigenous performers from around the world including Canada, New Zealand, and throughout the United States.
"The Native Roots & Rhythms Festival will showcase the many forms of contemporary and traditional entertainment performed by Native American and indigenous people including music, spoken word poetry, and comedy. It is the perfect complement to the Santa Fe Indian Market with its arts, crafts, and culture," said Melissa Sanchez, co-owner and producer of Emergence Productions, a production company dedicated to bringing awareness to Native American and indigenous performing arts. "We have added several new and exciting features to this year's event including a multimedia experience featuring clips of past and current film projects by the Sundance Film Institute's Native Initiatives Program."
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Headlining the festival, Katchafire is one of the world's leading reggae bands and has built a fan base of thousands of people from around the world. Katchafire has performed in international venues and reggae festivals across Europe, the United States, Australia, and throughout the Pacific region. Katchafire is known for its musical versatility often switching instruments among its members during performances, the use of multiple lead vocalists, and integrating elements of rock, hip-hop, and jazz into its performances. The band's live shows have a soulful yet up-beat feeling which encourages people to dance.
Buffy Sainte-Marie is an Academy Award winning composer, musician, educator, and social activist from the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, Canada. Many of her earliest songs were covered or turned into hits by other artists including Elvis Presley, Joni Mitchell, Joe Cocker, and Jennifer Warnes. Sainte-Marie co-wrote the song "Up Where We Belong" for the film "An Officer and a Gentleman," which won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1982. Other hit songs include "Universal Soldier," "Until it's Time for You to Go," and "Mister Can't You See." She also appeared regularly on the Public Broadcasting Service's (PBS), "Sesame Street" between 1976 and 1981.
The two-day performing arts festival will feature a total of 14 Native American and indigenous performing artists including Levi and The Plateros; Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word; Miss Indian World and Alaskan Eskimo Dancers; Casper and the Mighty 602 Band; Injunuity; Native Roots; the Sundance Film Institute Native Initiatives Program; Joe Tohonnie Jr. and Apache Crown Dancers; Buffy Sainte-Marie; Katchafire; Princess Atak; Lion Tribe; James Jones; and Angela Gladue. The Native Roots & Rhythms Festival will take place Friday and Saturday, August 22-23. The Paolo Soleri Amphitheater is located on the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School, at 1501 Cerrillos Rd. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 22 and at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 23.
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Tickets are available at www.ticketssantafe.com, Lensic Box Office, or by calling (505) 988-1234. Tickets are $23 for general admission, $38 for reserved seating, $45 for premium seating, $15 for students with identification at the gate, and children 12-years-old and younger are free. Two-day passes are $40 for general admission, $70 for reserved seating, and $80 for premium seating. Those who purchase 2-day passes before August 1 will receive them for a special price of $25. The Native Roots & Rhythms Festival is produced by Emergence Productions. New additions to this year's event include Native American food vendors, and a children's activity area.