“Land Back!” The first words intoned by Saul Williams as he stepped onstage with Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople last December, underneath our native oak and endangered black walnut trees. For the next hour, along with Nate Mercereau, Aaron Shaw, Andres Renteria, Maia, Francesca Heart, Aja Monet, and Kamasi Washington, Saul and Carlos held ceremony for speaking truth to power and holding reverence in our strength as people… as friends.
In the weeks immediately following, our city burnt as our politicians abandoned us in affirmation that we are all we have. In the months following, we’ve continued to shout FUCK I.C.E. & FREE PALESTINE in the faces of authority on a daily basis as the National Guard is called to our streets and while wars escalate on our screens. The invocations from this night have persisted to resonate, to inspire, and whether it’s Saul reminding us to “use your instrument as metaphor” or Aja threading a dialogue between collective liberation, climate catastrophe, and disaster capitalism, we’ve come back to our memories of this night often in conversation.
Now, this performance is a record, released with our chosen family of International Anthem. To mark the moment, we’re returning to the mountains, to TreePeople, to this summit of sound within one of LA’s great organizations for conservation, restoration, and equitable access to environmental education. We’re picking up where we left off, where pen meets drum brush & affirmations of resilience are interwoven with transcendental co-compositions. More information to come in the coming months & we hope to see you here.
All Ages. Limited Capacity.
We will be outdoors, among the wildlife,
and at the whim of this first month of autumn.
Please dress for warmth, bring extra layers,
and we’ll have offering waiting for you upon arrival.
A portion of the night’s ticket sales will go back toward’s TreePeople’s ongoing work in habitat restoration & providing access to environmental education for our Los Angeles public schools.