Greetings to one and all....Summer is upon us already with solstice right around the corner. We hope you are all making plans to enjoy the weather, energy and chance to spend time with friends that summer always brings. We certainly are.
Since our last post we have been fortunate to have some serious time off, but not before we hit up The Reunion Islands and Greece. With two shows in Greece, one in Athens (our first there) and the other in Thessaloniki (our third) and a few days off we were able to experience a country truly in the throws of tumult. People in Greece of all ages and viewpoints are coming together in truly inspirational ways to dictate how they want to see their society positively change. Greece was a truly memorable experience and we cannot wait until we return.
This post is focused on the major event occuring right now for Groundation: the impending release of our sixth full-length studio album
Here I Am. The dates have been shuffled around a bit, but the official releases are as follows - June 23 internationally and August 18 in the U.S.
(We will be offering a very special, on-line only early release to our friends here in the States sometime in July -- stay tuned!)We are very proud and excited of this album and cannot wait to start playing it live, taking it in new directions and helping craft altogether new realities out of the songs.
This album is also very exciting for us because besides featuring legends and long-time Groundation associates
Pablo Moses and all original vocalists of
The Congos, this album also features a much more prominent role of Groundation vocalists
Kim Pommell and
Stephanie Wallace. As you may have noticed on the home page, we have posted a track off of the new album: the title track "
Here I Am" features Kim and
Dave Chachere on trumpet and, in a lot of ways, is the centerpiece of the album. Please post your comments on the new track!
In support of this album we will be embarking on a world tour, from San Diego to Tel Aviv and nearly all points in between. Besides headlining some of Europe's biggest summer festivals (Summerjam, Rototom, Solidays) we will also be hitting up some of our largest pockets of support throughout Western Europe on this huge two month long tour. It is no coincidence that the first leg of our
Here I Am world tour and the earlier release of the album are both happening in Europe. For one reason or another, the people of Europe, the Middle East and S. America have responded strongly to this music of ours and we are very fortunate and happy to bring it to them.
Of course, we are (for the most part) a N. American band. We see it as a duty of ours to push this music and its inherent message to our sisters and brothers here at home. Having been very encouraged from the response we received on last summer's full coast-to-coast tour we are once again heading out to conquer this expansive land mass of ours. This time we will be bringing with us new ammunition in our own battle for hearts and minds.
Here I Am is just what it sounds like: a declaration of presence and a committment to action. Something we feel will resonate very strongly with many of our fellow countrymen and women. We will be touring extensively throughout the South, East Coast, Mid-West and Rockies in support of this album, with dates running from early September to mid-October.
Stay tuned dates will be coming very soon...
In between the two segments of our world tour we will be playing three very special festivals on the West Coast of the United States. On August 7 we will be headlining the first annual
Seattle SummerJam Festival, which is being co-produced by Culture Yard International and longtime Groundation collaborator Ulotrichi Productions. This one day event brings together some of our closest colleagues in Reggae music, including
Pablo Moses,
Ooklah the Moc and
Paula Fuga and we are very proud to be a part this inaugural event.
August 9 we will be heading a little further south to the Eugene, Oregon area to headline the 5th annual Northwest World & Reggae Festival with a big Sunday night, festival-closing set. Besides being a beautiful location for a festival,
NWWRF also brings out the best qualities in the NW community for a truly special event. Also, on August 29 we have been booked for one of the West Coast's biggest festivals;
The Outside Lands Festival is held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, with some 60,000 fans in attendance and featuring headliners such as Ween, Beastie Boys and Dave Matthews Band, as well as some of our own favorites like Midnite and Nino Moschella with Darondo.
As always, you can stay connected to what is happening in our world by signing up for our newsletter at
www.Groundation.com. If you have questions, comments or suggestions for where we should be playing, or if you would like to join our street team and help spread the word about Groundation in your area, just email Nicholas at tm@groundation.com.
Thank you all for your continued support of conscious music. With this music and each other we are creating a world-wide movement to help unite people on a common wavelength with the goal of forwarding the positive evolution of our collective consciousness. We welcome and stand with you.
Check out Here I Am when it is released and come out and see us when we come through your region. You will not be dissapointed...
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