Special Event
U.S. Band Audiopharmacy To Play Four-City Tour in Indonesia
U.S. band Audiopharmacy, from San Francisco, California, will arrive in Indonesia February 15 for a week-long Indonesia tour sponsored by U.S. Embassy Jakarta. The band will hold workshops and performances in four cities around the country: Jakarta, Serang, Balikpapan, and Medan. This tour was made possible through the American Music Abroad exchange program at the U.S. Department of State.
The events listed below are open to the public and free of charge.
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Jakarta
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Venue: @america Venue: @america |
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Serang |
Venue: IAIN Banten |
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Balikpapan
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Venue: Gedung Banua Patra Pertamina Venue: The Dome |
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Medan |
Venue: Methodist School Campus |
Audiopharmacy has performed domestically all over the West Coast and New York. Internationally, the band has taken the stage at festivals, concert halls and clubs in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, France, the United Kingdom and Japan. Audiopharmacy is a part of Audiopharmacy Prescriptions, a San Francisco-based international art collective, in which each artist strives to build community, as well as invoke consciousness, empowerment and respect for life in every creative endeavor shared with the world.
Meet the Band
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TEAO (PRODUCER/GUITAR/TURNTABLIST)
Teao hails from San Francisco, California. As a DJ/music producer and multi-instrumentalist, he founded an international art/music collective in 2002 called Audiopharmacy Prescriptions to raise a consciousness and global awareness of humanity’s ability to build prosperous and harmonious communities through art and music. Though rooted rhythmically in hip-hop, as a producer Teao endeavors to unite the voices and sounds of many world cultures into the Audiopharmacy sound. Teao has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from San Francisco State University and has hosted hip hop radio shows on KCSC, and KSCU’s popular, “Curbside Show". He has worked as a school teacher at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School and Schools of Sacred Heart in San Francisco. Last, but not least, Teao is a proud family man and father to two amazing children, Shishin and Sakima.
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RAS K’DEE (VOCALS/ KEYBOARD)
Ras K’Dee is from San Francisco, California, and is a Native California (Pomo)/ African musician, community educator, and renowned lyricist and producer. For K’dee, his musical inspiration is deeply rooted from his experience as a Pomo/African artist. K’dee invokes the songs and dances from traditional ceremonies of his native people, and tells stories of resistance, healing, community and empowerment that can be understood and felt universally by all people. In 2002, K’dee co-founded a Native youth media organization called Seventh Native American Generation (SNAG), which he currently co-directs. The mission of SNAG is to provide Native youth the opportunity to achieve balance and harmony, address historical and modern grievances, and explore and develop leadership and community skills through arts and cultural expression. As an educator and community activist, K’dee leads workshops weekly with Native youth and co-hosts the radio program “Bay Native Circle” on 94.1 FM in Northern California. K’dee has also been featured in Smithsonian Magazine (Summer 2010) and his awards include KQED American Indian Local Heroes Award, and Most Earnest and Up And Coming Band (2005).
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KEEPYAHJOY (BASS/BUCKET DRUMS)
Keepyahjoy, born Christopher Romanelli, and raised in New York, he now lives in San Francisco. He is known in the streets from San Francisco to Tokyo as “The Bucketman,” whose inspiring and infectious rhythms can have anyone within earshot to break out in dance. Keepyahjoy is an original member of Audiopharmacy and has toured the world with the band since 2004. He has been featured on many albums including Ras K Dee’s Cloud Writer (2011), Gregg Green’s World Citizen (2011), Audiopharmacy’s U Forgot About Us (2010) and Spare Change (2007). Among other accomplishments, Keepyahjoy is also a multi-instrumentalist, music producer, film maker and loving father.
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KWOME GUSTAVE (DRUMMER)
Kwome Gustave was born in 1980 into a family where music was as essential to life as food, water, air, and spirituality. Ras Kwome learned early that his destiny was to continue the musical work that his father, Ras Ibeshee, began with one of the most treasured bands from the US Virgin Islands – The Zioneers. Playing drums at an early age, he worked hard to emulate Carlton Barret – the drummer for Bob Marley & the Wailers. After a few years, Ras Kwome’s skills became apparent to his father, who then groomed him to become a future member of their band. At the age of 15, Ras Kwome began his professional career as the drummer for the Zioneers with the skill and good vibes of a seasoned veteran. Together with his father, they held down the band’s foundation of drum and bass alongside multi-instrumentalist and singer Ras Ibednego and keyboardist Sonny Andrews. The combination gave the group the versatility and heartfulness that made The Zioneers one of reggae’s premier bands. Now also a member of Audiopharmacy, Ras Kwome has toured and performed in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Chicago, California, North Carolina, Boston, Virginia, Florida, and Hawaii.
American Music Abroad and Association of American Voices
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced a partnership with the Association of American Voices to engage with people across the world through music. Known as American Music Abroad, this people-to-people exchange will feature a wide variety of American musical genres through international cultural exchange initiatives that will reach more than 40 countries around the world during 2012 and 2013.
American Music Abroad brings people together and fosters greater understanding through the universal language of music. It also builds on the historic legacy of the Department of State’s Jazz Ambassadors, who first traveled the world in the 1950s to connect with people through music. The Department of State and the Association of American Voices create a series of month-long, multi-country exchange programs. During the exchange, 10-12 ensembles representing American music will conduct public concerts, interactive performances with local musicians, lecture demonstrations, workshops, and jam sessions with diverse audiences. American Music Abroad activities will focus on younger and underserved audiences in approximately 40 countries with little or no access to live American performances.
American Music Abroad ensembles are selected on the basis of artistic quality and commitment to education and cultural engagement through an open competition. Further information about the application process for musicians will be announced fall of 2013.
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs promotes international mutual understanding through a wide range of academic, cultural, private-sector, professional, and sports exchange programs. These international exchanges engage youth, students, educators, artists, athletes, and emerging leaders in many fields in the United States and in more than 160 countries. Alumni of ECA exchanges comprise over one million people around the world, including more than 50 Nobel Laureates and more than 320 current or former heads of state and government.
The Association of American Voices has presented concerts, workshops and master classes, and summer youth performing arts academies to over 200,000 audience members in 110 countries during the past two decades. With a focus on nations emerging from conflict or isolation, American Voices has taken its unique brand of cultural engagement programs, Jazz Bridges, YES Academy and Hiplomacy, to nations such as Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. In recognition of its work, American Voices was selected as a Best Practice Organization by the International Cultural Engagement Task Force and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD) in 2010.
