Striking it rich at Guitarfish
In the old days, Cisco Grove was a gold mining town, but nowadays there is a different kind of gold to be found there.
The 3rd annual Guitarfish Music Festival, with the motto s “for the people, by the people,” offers up musical gold — a three-day, family friendly music, arts and community festival boasting multiple music stages, a kids’ area, on-site camping, including designated family camping, yoga and pilates classes, arts and crafts vending and more.
While the festival does offer something for everyone, the real star is the impressive line-up of music. The three-day event features a great array of funk, soul, rock and world music artists, including The Pimps of Joytime, Lyrics Born (performing a James Brown Tribute, as well as originals), Orgone, Magic Gravy, SambaDá, BLVD, Joe Craven, New Monsoon, Afrolicious, Tracorum, Vinyl and more, with additional artists to be announced.
Hip hopper Lyrics Born and his project Contunuum perform a James Brown tribute with jazz mafia, funk and soul ensemble Orgone. With a booming, bluesy voice, LB’s work is a highly refined melding of traditional boom bap, blues, funk, jazz and classical music. Orgone, who bring a unique blend of funk, R&B, reggae and rock ‘n’ roll, can take a song or spontaneous jam and twist it into something new and exciting every time they play it, sliding through style and dynamic changes seamlessly and effortlessly, continuously injecting whatever they play with their own heavy brand of raw funk power.
Magic Gravy is a side project featuring Dan Lebowitz of ALO and Garrett Sayers and Dave Watts of The Motet. Born in the high deserts of Mexico’s Baja California, this hard-hitting, jazz-rooted, psychedelic improvisational trio lay down the grooves. These three classically trained musicians are constantly on the search for the unknown, comfortably fitting psychedelic grooves into jazzy pockets of sonic bliss.
Santa Cruz-based, Afro-Brazilian dance band SambaDá delivers a mixture of hard-hitting dance music and exceptional live shows. With one foot firmly rooted in California, and another in the deep cultural traditions of Brazil, SambaDá serves up non-stop percussion driven dance music. A mix of samba, capoeira music, funk, reggae and hip-hop, the entire band has developed a type of samba-reggae-funk with a universal appeal. SambaDá musically unites the Americas, drawing from percussion-based styles of South and Central America, and blending it with that good old funk and reggae to create a mix that is playful, vital and energetic.
San Francisco rock and roots quintet New Monsoon is continually morphing with an exhilarating marriage of acoustic and electric instruments that comes together in a blend of sophisticated songcraft, musical exploration and down home rock ‘n’ roll. This makes New Monsoon a difficult band to describe because they have so many influences and are classified in so many genres of music. The group is well known for its blend of vibrant world percussion performed with an eclectic array of instruments. Percussion, didgeridoo, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, bass and keyboards unify the musical styles of New Monsoon’s vast influences.
There is plenty more to be musically had including the funky Afrolicious, roots and R&B quartet Tracorum, funk, Latin and R&B from Vinyl and more. The Gold Rush may be over, but there are still plenty of nuggets left.
The Guitarfish Festival is a three-day event from July 26 to 28 at Cisco Groove Campgrounds. For more information along with the full line-up, visit guitarfishfestival.com.
Friday-Sunday, July 26-28 | 8 p.m. | 3-day pass $155 advance/$75 daily at the door | All ages | Cisco Grove Campgrounds | Cisco Grove, Calif.
