The Baboons play Arts at St. John’s Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 24 @ 7pm
October 12, 2015
The Baboons play Arts at St. John’s Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 24 @ 7pm
Miami’s percussive primates to headline Arts at St. Johns’ autumnal celebration in Miami Beach
It’s going to be a wild time in the Pumpkin Patch when The Baboons headline the Arts at St. John’s Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 24th, 7:00 p.m. at St. Johns on the Lake, 4760 Pine Tree Drive, Miami Beach FL 33140. The veteran worldbeat group will feature songs from the band’s upcoming release, Spanglish, a 15-song opus of Miami stories set to a syncopated only-in-South Florida soundtrack. The First Annual Harvest Festival will feature a weekend of family-friendly concerts, face-painting, and pumpkin-picking in beautiful Miami Beach. Tickets to the concert are available at artsatstjohns.com.
The Baboons draw inspiration from the mix of worldly influences found on the streets of their hometown. Throughout the years, musicians with diverse backgrounds have added to the band’s palette, evolving into a rich global fusion that combines Latin American, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern and American roots influences.
The seven-piece outfit features sultry singer Majica on lead vocals and founder Mano Pila on drums and vocals (the two also host the “Global Gumbo with Majica & Mano P.” radio show Sundays on WDNA, 4-6 p.m.), Miguel Rega on percussion, Ike Blues on guitar and vocals, Michael Mut on bass and vocals, and Dominick Cama and Paul Messina on saxophones and flutes.
“The Baboons are thrilled to be part of the Harvest Festival,” said Majica. “We’re honored to perform these South Florida songs for the Arts at St. Johns community, especially in light of this season’s theme, Places We Call Home. These songs are all about characters that call Miami home. There are samba-loving little sisters dreaming of future carnavals, aging mambo masters keeping traditions alive, rhythmic pilgrims seeking salvation in the rapture of a righteoThe Baboons have been South Florida fixtures for more than 22 years. Born at an In-Progress Art Festival at the now-defunct Ft. Lauderdale nightspot Squeeze on July 2, 1993, the amorphous early ensembles featured a rotating line-up of local musicians eager to explore the band’s culturally curious aesthetic. Throughout the years, the band has shared the bill with Jimmy Buffet, George Clinton’s P-Funk All-Stars, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Radiators.us rumba, homesick students overwhelmed by a parcel from home, and barrio bakery boys who court Little Havana princesses with guava pastries. They come from different worlds but they all call Miami home.”
The Baboons will perform at St. John’s on the Lake for the first time since October 2005. “It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since we last played here. We can’t wait to return to this very special sanctuary for the arts,” Majica said.
The Baboons have been South Florida fixtures for more than 22 years. Born at an In-Progress Art Festival at the now-defunct Ft. Lauderdale nightspot Squeeze on July 2, 1993, the amorphous early ensembles featured a rotating line-up of local musicians eager to explore the band’s culturally curious aesthetic. Throughout the years, the band has shared the bill with Jimmy Buffet, George Clinton’s P-Funk All-Stars, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Radiators.
Since their inception, the group has received many honors, including a Florida Jammy Award for Best Worldbeat Band. The Baboons have released two full-length recordings – the award-winning Evolution, honored by New Times Miami as the “Best Album Of The Past Twelve Months” in 2000, and the critically acclaimed follow-up Global Gumbo in 2001. The band is currently working on the 15-track recording Spanglish at Miami’s Red Door Studio.
For more info, please call 305.510.3003 or email thebaboons305@gmail.com. Check out http://thebaboons.com and join our community of friends on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thebaboons, on Twitter at @thebaboons and on Instagram at @thebaboons305