Aphrodesia Summer 2006 - www.aphrodesia.org

Aphrodesia Live in Crestone Colorado, Summer 2006 What a year 2006 has already been for Aphrodesia! Taking their intoxicating show international for the first time, the 11 piece San Francisco-based musical extravaganza went far off the beaten path and back to the roots of their music by touring West Africa for the entire month of February. The trip landed them in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria- where, over two incredible nights of playing with Femi Kuti, Aphrodesia made history by becoming the first American band ever to play the legendary New Africa Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria. Who is Aphrodesia? If you dont know yet, you soon will. Emerging in 2003 from the fertile San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Aphrodesia's highly original brand of Super Aphro Beat and uncompromising political stance made them resist easy classification. In 2004, the band exploded into the national consciousness with the Just Vote Tour, a swing-state voter registration tour that took the band all the way to NYC and back in their vegetable oil-powered bus and landed the group on the cover of USA Today. The bands debut CD, Shackrobeat Vol. 1 (Flatbed Lamborghini), was picked as one of the best records of 2003 by the East Bay Express, and showstopping performances in 2004 and 2005 at the Aspen JazzFest, the Earthdance Festival, the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, the High Sierra Music Festival and many other festivals and venues won the group high praise. Meanwhile, the band opened for Steel Pulse in California and Colorado and shared festival stages with everyone from Willie Nelson to Ozomatli to Zap Mama. Aphrodesia's second CD, 2005s "Front Lines" (Full Cut Records), was featured on National Public Radio, won rave reviews from media outlets from Global Rhythm Magazine to the Village Voice and broadened the bands already wide appeal even further, setting the stage for their landmark trip to Africa. Aphrodesias music carries with it a strong sense of social justice, and the band has been known to write their own politically-charged lyrics while updating Fela Kuti classics like No Agreement and Zombie. But the bands commitment to social change extends offstage as well. Having headlined numerous benefits for causes ranging from AIDS prevention to Tsunami Relief to anti-Iraq War organizations, Aphrodesia is devoted to 'walking the walk as well as talking the talk'. Believing that alternative energy is necessary both to protect our planet's environment and to reduce America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil, the band proudly travels in a vegetable-oil powered bus- meaning its one of the few groups of any stripe not sponsored by Chevron, Texaco, and co. It may be a small start, but the group believes that its actions, like its music, can have a huge effect. CONTACT- contact@aphrodesia.org; (415) 205-3914 Press clips, photos, sound clips and more- www.aphrodesia.org A potent, buoyant and irresistibly danceable pan-African mashup- Global Rhythm does Felas own Egypt 80 proud- Jambase.com

WWW.APHRODESIA.ORG

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Aphrodesia
• afrobeat
• live
• music
• aphrobeat

[mythsay66]

Thanks for sharing...love this band and enjoyed revisiting their set. Was able to see the back of my head a few times... Crest Fest is the Best!

[RobbieOtto]

Great stuff

[5yearplan1]

Looks like a lot of fun

[doramaso]

sorry all you new age people but your just as lost as the rest of us.You just dont realise it!

[ShaktiLila]

Yes... yes... and yes! Thank you so very much... We must move to such Genuine CREATIVE MUSIC... Creators... Appreciators.... Emerge...

[ejlister]

Reminds me of the Blues Brothers. :) LOL In a good way, that is.... I think.

[oakjazz]

This is so cool, great to see an illustration about music truly being a universal language. As a huge Fela fan, I'm glad they're into his music as well.

[pianopaul87]

Check this band out!!! I've seen them twice (last year, and then just a few days ago), in Potsdam, New York. Full of energy, sure to get you dancing!!!

[ersin9mm]

junkies

[barrancab]

This video offers a very misleading glimpse of this band. I heard them last night and their music was very tight, energetic, good energy, transporting. They put on a great concert. Check it out....you will love them.