HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The upcoming Beyond the Reef Volume 2 Music Festival will bring island vibes this weekend, with food trucks, food vendors and talented singers from Guam and across the Pacific.
On Saturday, the music festival will be held at Plaza de España, Hagåtña, featuring food trucks, a farmers market with more than 20 vendors, and singers from Guam, Saipan, Hawaii and the mainland U.S., with the local acts featuring:
- Keo Ray
- Mama Char
- Sleeping In
- The FreqX
- StraightupJed
- Jonah Hano
- The John Dank Show
Singers include Anuhea, Eli Mac and group Inna Vision from the Hawaiian island of Maui, Saipan’s Kui Lee, Cali performers Gonzo and Zeb from Tribal Seeds, and Cas Haley from Texas. All performers will bring their unique blends of reggae, blues, soul and rock, to name a few music genres. Frankie McJohn, founder of the festival, shared the importance of bringing these new sounds together for the festival.
“Just because we are a tiny island, it doesn’t mean we only promote reggae music and island music, but also just to have eclectic people and eclectic sound, and something different, it’s always nice. I mean, Guam’s used to what Guam has, a lot of the time,” McJohn began.
“Putting it together, it was more just about finding the right people to fit the bill, one, and two, promoting the right music. … It’s really just a matter of not limiting ourselves to what everybody thinks Guam has in their festivals.”
McJohn shared how organizers now plan to bring more women behind the mic this year and forward. “Looking around, my team and I noticed that island events tend to book male bands, artists and comedians, instead of giving the platform and opportunity to overly deserving women, so we opted to change that, ” McJohn said.
“Guahan music has been shaped by female pioneers like Flora Baza Quan, Ruby Santos and The Sirenas, it’s only fitting that Beyond the Reef give an outlet for the strong, independent women and girls of our island to let loose, have fun and finally be represented on the big stage.”
Beyond the Reef’s art director, John Bermudes, told The Guam Daily Post how these events and their moments of networking and connecting help aspiring Guam artists to pursue their music careers off island, partaking in music festivals representing their communities. “Our primary mission is to grow our musical community and our creative community, and one of the ways we can do that is by creating a bigger platform with more seasoned touring artists and national artists,” he shared.
Tickets are $65 for general admission and $100 for VIP and are available at Guamtime.net, 76 Circle K stations and at the door. While kids 12 and under are free, they are required to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Artists performing at the music festival at the press conference at the Nikko Hotel Lobby on Nov. 17, sharing the process of putting everything together and bringing inspiration to younger artists on island.
