Go Hear it on the Mountain – Eco Music Returns to Vermont

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

ART FOR CHANGE: The Union of Art and Agriculture!
Featuring The Villalobos Brothers and La Realidad Ensemble

Thursday, August 7, 430-9pm.
2248 Royalton Turnpike, between East Barnard and Sayer roads. Barnard, Vermont

Contact: Benjamin Barson / 973.896.7697 / BenjaminBarson@gmail.com
Chloe Powell / clovermont@gmail.com / 802 999 3391

Renowned artists and activists from around the world are coming to Barnard this month, to team up with local farmers and to prefigure a better world! The world-famous violin virtuosos “The Villalobos Brothers,” together with La Realidad Ensemble, are coming to Barnard for a special concert on Thursday, August 7th. The concert will celebrate the Feast and Fields Farmers Market concert series, where community members and farmers gather to create a local food economy and reverse the rampage of monopoly food corporations in our political system and on our plates.

The event follows on the heels of a tour that took place in February of 2014, “The Red, Black and Green Revolutionary Eco-Music Tour,” which celebrated the life and music of two revolutionary composer-artists, Cal Massey and Fred Ho. Ho, who died of cancer this April, premiered his final work to Vermont audiences across three of its historic colleges and the community of Barnard. The question: in the age of climate catastrophe and the sixth mass extinction, what anthem will raise our spirits? As veteran global activist and tour emcee Colia Clark said, “Go hear it on the mountain, Ecosocialism is here.” The tour, and this month’s event in Barnard, are brought to you by an international organization with roots in Vermont, Ecosocialist Horizons.

Musicians from this tour, which performed for sold-out audiences across the state, are now returning to Barnard for a special performance for the Feast and Fields Farmers Market, which commemorates the commitment to local production, environmental justice and reclaiming the commons.

More about the artists: The Villalobos Brothers: Contemporary High-Octane Mexican Fiddling! This group of violin virtuoso brothers has toured the world, performed in world class venues from Carnegie Hall to the Apollo Theater, and has won many prizes for their original compositions and musical concept. As Grammy winner Dan Zanes said in USA TODAY of their new CD, “Aliens of Extraordinary Ability… is the latest CD from these young brothers who grew up in Veracruz, Mexico, and now live in New York… a crazy ball of sound: Mexican coastal traditions meet Sam Cooke in the Bronx!” Expect physics-defying violin pyrotechnics combined with a commitment to Vermont’s many invisible migrant farmers.

Opening for the Villalobos Brothers is the La Realidad Ensemble, featuring Ben Barson (baritone saxophonist and protege of the legendary Fred Ho), Gizelxanath Rodriguez (winner of a Latin Ace Award by the Association of Latin Entertainment Critics of New York), Quincy Saul (international activist, Vermonter and clarinetist), and Sonny Saul (local pianist, composer and activist). The La Realidad Ensemble is a named in homage to the autonomous community of La Realidad in Chiapas, Mexico, and also in a burning commitment to all of our relations – ecological, social, and spiritual – which stand on the precipice of a mass extinction. Will the forces of unmediated groove and sublime symphony be enough to short-circuit our civilization’s collapse? Come to the Feast and Fields Farmers Market concert series at 6pm to find out.

“Art for Change” will raise funds for arts and educational programming at the Feast and Field Market and Camp Red Clover. Heartwood Fable Collective Farm, Eastman Farm, Kiss the Cow Farm and Camp Red Clover are working with the Vermont Land Trust to access the historic Clark Farm, and share a vision for a robust local food economy, more spaces for hands-on learning and creativity on the farm. The event will showcase and celebrate the work of local arts organizations and social and environmental justice organizations. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/feastandfield

The concert is a project of Ecosocialist Horizons, an organization devoted to the reharmonization of humanity and nature with organizing, education, and cultural production. For more about the organization and about the February 2014 “Red Black and Green Revolutionary EcoMusic Tour,” check out www.ecosocialisthorizons.com