We are now just a couple weeks away from the 2023 Gem and Jam Festival! Held annually during Tucson Arizona’s Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show, Gem and Jam will take place February 3rd - 5th at Pima County Fairgrounds. This year, the festival is celebrating its 15th year of Music, Arts and Community with a lineup of diverse artists that will open your heart and expand your soul.

Gem and Jam is widely known for its integration of music, minerals and magic and while there is sure to be an endless array of experiences to explore, we wanted to highlight a few mindful musicians you definitely won’t want to miss. With electronic music equipment, unique instrumentation, and inspiring lyrics, these musicians are stepping forward with offerings that integrate ritual, honoring of the land, and sets that flow through reflections of whatever is present within the space. As we vision into making our way through the dancefloor in the desert sun, we are so excited to see these artists perform…

Dirtwire

Dirtwire is currently made up of the duo Evan Fraser and Mark Reveley, two multi-instrument musicians who met while studying music in the Southern California desert. The multicultural sounds these two cocreate celebrate roots from all over the world. The band has also created a song collaboration with Native American musicians, titled “Intertribal” and released in July of 2022. The song is a collaboration with the Black Lodge Singers of the Blackfoot Nation from Yakima Washington and Larry Yazzie of the Meskwaki Nation in Iowa. Evan Fraser shared, “We hope to do more collaborations like that. Through this track, we’ve opened the door to meeting more people from native tribes who have been reaching out. Who knows what else will be in store.”

The band also works to honor Native Lands by inviting Indigenous Speakers to give Land Acknowledgments when the opportunity is available. For the next section of their tour, Dirtwire will be joined by Adam Shield, who runs Tree of Light, an Indigenous-led nonprofit.

With their band’s roots originating in the desert energies and mythology, the duo is excited to be stepping back into the expansive desert during Gem and Jam next month. The band’s last performance at Gem and Jam was in 2020 - one of the last festivals before the pandemic lockdown.

Mark Reveley shares on his inspiration, “The Southwest is almost mythic, in a way. We like to tap into the idea of expansiveness, opportunity and potential. As well as the realities of what the west has seen and what it has been, and the culture and history we are a part of. It's a way of understanding the American experience by inhabiting that by moving into it. The Southwest is the heart of that… We love Gem and Jam and we love Tucson. The community, the land, the place. It draws a really eclectic and interesting energy.”

“The whole idea of the transformational music festival is a good one - especially sharing inspiration, it’s kind of a culture unto itself. It shares diverse creativity. The most exciting thing for me is when I see that the festival really cares for the planet. It’s not ever perfect, but I do love to see when people are encouraging each other to show up sustainably - BYO plates, cups, that kind of thing. That spreads that consciousness” Evan Fraser

Through soundscapes inspired by land and culture, Dirtwire’s music inspires deep inner reflection. When I asked about the greatest inspiration for making music, Mark shared, “Making music is a beautiful way to express things and explore parts of yourself that you can't tap into any other way. I think feelings we might not want to look at or don’t know we have come out through music. It's like when you have a dream, and you just know there’s this association but you don't know why. It evokes a feeling that relates to something in yourself, and you don't know why it happened or why it's there but you know it's there and it can be really cathartic.”

Dirtwire has been making music for over a decade and released their newest album, “Ghostcatcher,” in October of 2022. The band toured with their new album in the fall and over the holidays wrote some new songs to incorporate into the winter tour – so keep an open ear to hear some new tracks at their set. Evan and Mark also shared that Gem and Jam attendees can expect to see a special instrumental guest, Briana Dimara, who has toured with Dirtwire in the past.

Ayla Nereo

Ayla Nereo is a singer-songwriter who loops beats and vocals in a weaving of poetry and sound. Music made by prayer and presence; these sacred songs are crafted to call you into reverence with Mother Earth Herself.

While Ayla is often found doing full-band sets or group shows, she is currently stepping into a solo set with bigger energy and bigger production that mashes up her acoustics with DJing. She shared her inspiration for this set design falling into alignment with a new album project she’s been working on, Sovereign Kin.

The project is a four-part album story guided by the elements–the first of which being Fire. She shared,“It's not that every song is specifically about fire, but it's more about the transformational energy that fire holds, the passion, the many aspects of fire, the, you know. My song Fire (that is already released) that I will be performing at Gem and Jam is on this new album. It's about the Phoenix energy. It's about letting life, challenge, passion, whatever it is, burn us so that actually we then have an opportunity to let burn whatever is not serving us, so that our own Phoenix can come forth and fly from the ashes and rise. And that's in that song. It's also a very big theme for the album, and it's a big theme for my life.”

Outside this solo album project, Ayla has also been a part of the recently founded music ensemble, Starling Arrow, alongside Leah Song & Chloe Smith of RIsing Appalachia, as well as Tina Malia and Marya Stark. While the group won’t be performing at Gem and Jam, they’ve begun to release some songs and several members of the girl-band have been touring across the states. You can catch Ayla Nereo, Tina Malia and Marya Stark touring Southern California just before Gem and Jam.

Ayla shared that whether she’s performing in a small venue or a large festival, she works to create intention and prayer, “dedicating each set, each performance to the Earth, to the remembering of us humans, to love each other, to love ourselves, to love the planet, and really offering it.” This year will be Ayla Nereo’s Gem and Jam debut and she shares, “I've just heard such great things about Gem and Jam, so I'm excited to play there for the first time. I love playing festivals like Gem and Jam that have a bit more of an electronic edge or that have a whole array of artists performing. I love the diversity of genre and sound and I think I have a particular joy with the music I make being put in a context where maybe I'm the only one doing it. I've been one of the only female vocalist artists at a festival before, when they're more electronic, and it's fun! …and there’s a few friends on the lineup, so that'll be nice to see them and just take in. I get really inspired just hearing music in general, so it'll be fun to wander about.”

Poranguí

Within his live sets and music releases, Poranguí illustrates his multi-cultural background, drawing inspiration from his roots across the US, Brazil and Mexico. He holds space as a facilitator more than an entertainer, with a background in healing arts that influences his music in both sound and movement. Every performance, then, becomes a place of ritual and healing.

“We always make a prayer before we go out there, to really set the intention, to be able to bring through the most beautiful offering we can to meet the need of the moment, to rise to the occasion, to create a beautiful and sacred space and safe space, and container for healing, for all those who are in attendance, seen and unseen.”
Poranguí

Poranguí will be taking the stage at Gem and Jam with his partner, Ashley Klein. Every set performed by Poranguí is done as an improvisational live jam, so each performance is a journey inspired by whatever forms in the presence of the space. Poranguí shares, “My greatest inspiration when creating music, I would have to say, really comes from the moment, from Mother Nature, Mother Earth. She’s always present in everything that I create. And for me, when I'm with an audience, everything I do is improvised and in the moment. So I'm very much listening from a very deep place within myself, within the collective and the audience, within the space wherever I am, the land, the air, literally both in the scene realms and the unseen realms. And so all of that information is coming through and literally like sonar, you know, I pulse out a sound and that bounces back. And it's that what I receive in that moment, that inspiration, that reciprocity between me and the co-regulation of the nervous systems of the audience and myself then tells me where and what note to play next and how to play it and with what energy, with what intention.”

If you’re keen to get a taste of some of Poranguí’s music, you can check out his newest release, Madre de la Sierra, before you head to the festival. This song, “is an invitation to remember the interconnectedness of humankind with Mother Earth. Every part of our body can be found in every part of hers. When we desecrate the earth, we desecrate ourselves. When we desecrate ourselves and each other, we desecrate the earth.”

Poranguí has performed annually at the Tucson Gem Show, but this will be his first time at the Gem and Jam. He shared that he place at this festival in “weaving prayers and into the collective at this time and in this place in Tucson, when all of these minerals, all of the mineral kingdom, much of it has been brought to this one location on our Mother Earth.” As Gem and Jam is known for its wide collection of gem excavators, salespeople and collectors, Poranguí seeks to offer perspective, presence and prayer for these crystal beings and those present within the energy there.

“It's really important to be there and to be able to create prayers and to be restoring relationship with the mineral kingdom, which is a consciousness – these are the treasures of our Mother Earth. And they, our elders, teach us that they have a sacred function where they came from… I think it is important to be present and to be able to weave in those prayers into the collective and to bring that consciousness and that awareness so that as people are there and they are interacting with this, the mineral kingdoms of our mother earth, they're able to do so maybe with a little bit more awareness and presence and consciousness, of our sacred responsibility of, ‘How do we do that in a good way?’”

Bloomurian

Bloomurian is the electronic-music sound project by Robin Liepman, a musician, singer-songwriter and permaculture educator. Robin is currently on tour with Dirtwire and was recently selected to join Gem and Jam after entering and winning the DJ-contest run by Dancing Astronaut.

Robin Liepman has roots as a permaculture teacher and has taught these ethics and practices across the world by working with local land projects to support permaculture action days. You’ll see a spark of this philosophy & practice in his performances wielding an upcycled shovel-guitar made by Justin Johnson. He shares about his current and past teachings, “I've actually been lately giving workshops and slideshow presentations on the intersection of music and regenerative action. In 2014, I co-organized a permaculture tour called Blooming Biodiversity. We did this whole tour down the west coast, where essentially we would have dance parties and concerts, live music, yoga, workshops, all the things that inspired us about music festivals we would bring to a farm and that would attract more people there. And then we'd put shovels in people's hands and do all sorts of projects that were needed on the land…  I'm really into that integration of music and permaculture and regenerative action.”

Robin started his journey in music as a singer/songwriter with songs about the earth or holding earth symbolism, and you can feel the integration of this earth energy in his electronic productions.

“Even though the electronic music can get pretty cosmic and psychedelic and sound like outer space, just galactic kinds of sounds, I mean that's all still connected to the earth and the earth is part of the whole ecosystem of the cosmos. So, it's almost like bringing these cosmic frequencies into the earth realm, which is something that I like about electronic music. And, those kinds of wavelengths and frequencies and the wobble effects can just open up these things within us that nothing else really can… Something I like about DJing is you get to take people on a journey. You're not just keeping it the same one steady frequency and BPM the whole time. You're actually taking people on a journey that can be really transformational.”

If you’re interested in learning with Robin Liepman outside of Gem and Jam, he’ll be teaching permaculture at Heartland Village (near Nevada City, CA) in an intensive course this spring and he teaches music production in one-on-one and small group settings online through his project, Full Bloom Music.

Bloomurian will be performing Sunday night at Gem and Jam, and celebrates the alignment of the festival with the holistic sustainability vision of the world we are stepping into. “I think festivals are almost like incubators and launch pads for transformation and creativity. I almost see the festival culture as training wheels for this place that we're trying to get to… Festival culture is a place for us to have these big awakenings of consciousness and big ideas and transformation and the experimentation with psychedelics where we get all these visions and ideas. And then we can put that into action by having these visions of a different way of living and then actually going to implement it, which a lot of people are doing.”

Each of these artists are set to take stage at Gem and Jam with a presence and musical devotion that honors the land and the festival community. Through prayer, energy integration, deep listening and sounds to set your soul on fire, these mindful musicians will be cultivating some powerful sets come the first weekend of February.

The 2023 Gem and Jam is one to be remembered! This year’s festival had workshops on topics from mycology to movement to mindfulness, musical performers & guests that blew our socks off, and spaces that cultivated groundedness and inspiration.

On Friday, as festivalgoers arrived and grounded into the festival space, Andrew Ecker of Drumming Sounds guided attendees through an Opening Ceremony. He guided prayer and invited folks into gratitude for land, for water, and for ancestors. Throughout the weekend, Andrew gave several workshops at the Drumming Sounds workshop space.

He shared, “My experience at music festivals is really about this, about having conversations and connecting with people. I've seen a lot of great bands, and I'll gravitate towards the dance floor every once in a while. But most importantly, it's about interacting with the people. And what's happened with the contemporary music festival is it's morphed into this really powerful kind of system for information that I feel fortifies the design of that culture that I'm speaking about. So when we offer workshops and we offer drum circles, when we offer these tools to integrate, we're really meeting the needs of the people. And I come here to serve, you know, fundamentally to serve that reflection of my younger self in the eyes of the people that are seeking these experiences.”

Andrew Ecker is the author of ‘The Sacred 7’ and offers his book online for free. Through his own journey of healing, Andrew has come to a place of offering facilitation of spaces that focus on suicide prevention, substance abuse, individual and community development. He works to curate spaces at festivals for attendees to drop into this healing energy and come into deeper connection with self & community.

“I think that the design of the container is based around transformation and I feel that energy exists in two forms, density and flow. So I'm continually holding the space of optimized community engagement, optimized individual persona, optimized self-identity. I'm hoping that people are in that place of living their best self. And that's what I'm hoping people will gain from the ceremonial practices. Opening up that container saying, hey, we're coming to this place consciously and intentionally, and we're creating a foundation that inspires people in transformation, brings them to a place of alleviating the intensity and finding flow.”

Friday also featured KR3TURE, a musician known for his sultry beats and lively dance floor energy. Currently on tour through the west coast and transformational festival circuit, he shares, “I just make fun music that I love. Because of who I am and my values and inspirations, I feel like that comes through in the music and it fits really well in these settings… (my music) really encapsulates what I feel is like a positive expression to help people transcend challenging times, connect with themselves, express themselves, be free and open in a safe, positive and loving container.”

Beyond music, KR3TURE has a background in ecology and currently works with a couple of nonprofits in the environmental field. Spaces like Gem and Jam definitely resonate for him. KR3TURE stated, “What I believe is that when people feel more connected to the world around them, to be connected to plants and animals through nature or to community, in these gatherings, I feel like we create a more connected, more holistic reality for one another. I felt that connection when I started studying ecology as a college student. I was like, oh my God, these plants are incredible. And the more I learned about them, the more incredible they became. And it made me feel better about the world because the world is such an amazing place. And the more we learn about the world and how incredible it is, the more inspired I become. I just try to share that feeling. Cause I think that that feeling is really a healing place to be.”

On Friday night, Poranguí and his partner, Ashley Klein, took stage with their improvisational set of sacred songs, prayer and dance. This sunset ceremonial-energy performance created soundscapes for healing and connection across the Emerald Stage lawn.

In our conversation before the show, Poranguí shared, “I always lead with this question: How can I create more beauty in this moment? How can I compliment life, the life that's here, and how do I make it more beautiful? And I found it, including each individual that's in the audience with me. How do I leave them more beautiful than when they came into the space, to the festival, to the venue.”

This sentiment resonates alongside Poranguí’s Beauty Way Tour – which just announced two more months of tour dates across the West Coast of the USA and down into Mexico.

Saturday set the stage for expansive energy, from workshops to musical performances. We were also wowed with a special guest on the Opal Stage headlining set – if you hadn’t heard by now: CloZee surprised the Gem and Jam community with an appearance during LSDream! During his set at Opal Stage, LSDream brought out CloZee to perform their two new collaborations. It was an epic moment that you definitely wouldn’t want to miss.

Earlier in the day, LSDream debuted his new offering: Lightcode. This sound bath experience immersed listeners in a meditative space – and little did we know what was to come during LSDream’s evening set later that night!

During the day on Saturday, we had the opportunity to drop into some mycology magic with workshop presenter Rayne Grant. Rayne led a workshop on Mushroom Nootropics and Aphrodisiacs, which dove into a variety of mushrooms and their benefits. Rayne Grant teaches mycology workshops across the west coast - and if you didn’t catch her presentation at Gem and Jam you can find her at this year’s Lucidity Festival.

“It’s so important to be sharing these life skills with each other because we need that and we need to be able to connect with family. And when we create spaces like this, when we come back to these spaces, we see a lot of the same faces, and it feels like community. And whether that's sharing about, say mushrooms, or that's sharing about skills, sharing community is really important. Cause we can share our skills with one another, so that enhances each of us, right?”

Rayne Grant also runs the Four Corners Mycological Society and is the president of the Psychedelic Club of Durango. She is available online for learning about mycology and sharing resources for a variety of topics within the mushroom world. Rayne shared, “You can always reach out to me… I can point you in the direction if you’re wanting to learn how to cultivate, if you're wanting to learn how to forage, if you're wanting to learn how to build… there's so many different aspects of fungi, you know, building soils, for instance, and permaculture settings. So there's a lot of resources out there.”

On Sunday, we stepped into more jams on the musical side of things - flowing from Bloomurian to Ayla Nereo to Dirtwire to a Cheese Incident set. String Cheese closed out the main stage for the weekend with two inspiring sets and the birthday celebration of Keith Moseley, bass guitarist for the band.

Bloomurian’s Sunday set was another moment of surprise for Gem and Jam attendees, with the entire Balkan Bump team joining him on stage. Bloomurian shared that Gem and Jam “was amazing! Seeing so many friends, being surrounded by visionary art and crystals, and dancing to epic, beautiful bass heavy music was phenomenal… (my favorite part was) definitely getting to perform on the Onyx stage with all the members of Balkan Bump joining me on stage, and a bunch of my friends dancing!”

Following this performance, Ayla Nereo performed at the Emerald Stage for a set that reigned in transformational magic. Ayla started her Sunday set with ‘Eastern Sun,’ a song of awakening and renewal, as the sun set for the last night of Gem and Jam. Through the set, rays of light beamed over the crowd as we transitioned from day into night, sun setting and full moon in leo rising above us.

When asked about her set’s musical flow, Ayla shared, “it was fun to figure out because I had all these new songs that are more like a different production. I just came off of a totally acoustic tour and so I was like, I think I wanna start a little lighter and then go into the dance. And this was kind of the beginning of something that's coming. The whole arc was more light and then we're going deeper and then popping out. I'm excited to create more of a journey. So this was kind of the first iteration of something that's coming. It was magical out there”

“I felt committed to being with the energies of the Leo Full Moon and just that feeling, what does it mean to be in our full expression? Especially having this be the first step of a new kind of sound and a new kind of set, stepping more fully into that and inviting that energetic reflection from the audience felt so good.”

Dirtwire’s set closed out their month-long tour and their performance was full force with all the organic sounds and high energy beats that Dirtwire is loved for. They were joined on stage by Briana Dimara, a violinist who often joins Dirtwire in their live shows.

Dirtwire shared, “We had a blast at Gem n Jam this year! Playing before for The String Cheese Incident was a real honor. What we really love about Gem and Jam is the vibe - there's nothing else quite like it. It's a great mix of people that appreciate a lot of different acts and genres. It's a uniquely Southwest experience.”

Gem and Jam is creating a culture that has expansive energy with top of the line music artists while holding onto its organic grassroots values through community culture, mindful musicians, and holistic workshops. One of the few remaining independently owned and operated festivals running in the states, Gem and Jam is thriving in its roots, while blooming into new opportunities and offerings.

Through the weekend, whispers of a new festival spread through the festival grounds, and as we headed home from an epic weekend, the Gem and Jam team announced their upcoming Pacific Northwest gathering: Cascade Equinox Festival. This freshly announced festival will be coming up September 22nd - 24th at Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon. Given the magic that was brewed up at this year’s Gem and Jam, we are so excited to see what the team cocreates in Oregon late September.

Looking back on last month's High Vibe Fest, we can’t help feeling the ripples of inspiration and awe. The festival took place from May 4th-8th 2023 and featured an incredible lineup of conscious musicians, inspiring workshop presenters and stellar performance acts. A main philosophy of the gathering is that High Vibe is a sober festival, and with no alcohol sales or consumption on site, the sacred space was truly held in deeper presence and cocreation. This year’s High Vibe Fest was one to remember with their new location at Mandala Springs in Cobb, California. The festival's main stage, nestled under the canopy of an elder oak tree, provided the perfect nest for musicians and attendees to embody their full authentic expression. Throughout the weekend, Main Stage performances were heart opening with prayer and celebration, expanding the energy to truly hit that high vibe.

The lineup at High Vibe Fest was filled with so many powerful artists, including Mikey Pauker, known for his devotional songs inspired by his life experience and Jewish faith. The energy he brought to the stage was filled with prayer and raw emotion, creating a ripple of depth felt by attendees. During his performance, he invited Marya Stark to the stage to perform together in a weaving of soul and sound. With the depth of presence that he brought to the stage, Mikey Pauker truly embodied the energy of a sacred space holder.

Ayla Nereo was the headliner at High Vibe Fest, delivering a performance that stirred the hearts and souls of the audience. Her songs, reminiscent of heartfelt prayers to the Earth, carried a potent message of reverence and unity. Blending the raw power of bass music with her enchanting vocals, she skillfully wove a tapestry of sound that captivated the crowd. Ayla Nereo's headlining set at High Vibe Fest was a testament to her unique artistry and divine feminine presence.

As the main stage closed on Saturday night, Equanimous took the stage and delivered a performance that brought the energy to a pinnacle of celebration. With his signature style, he elevated the electronic music experience to new heights, captivating listeners with his deep basslines, beautiful melodies, and innovative rhythmic beats. Festival-goers were transported into a state of euphoric dancing and heart-centered bliss as Equanimous effortlessly created a musical journey that resonated with the depths of our souls. Later in the weekend, Equanimous brought the festival into a deeper magic with a sunrise set through the final sunrise of the gathering. Both his sets were, as always, aligned with the sacred artistry, celebration and devotion of conscious music.

Ruby Chase is an artist who consistently shows up with a vision that mesmerizes audiences with her ritual-based performances. Sunday night's performance was a testament to her ability to create a transcendent experience through music. With her unique blend of genres, ethereal vocals, and interactive elements, Ruby transformed the stage into a temple of the beauty way, guiding the audience on a profound journey of self-discovery and connection. Her performance left a lasting impression, reminding everyone of the transformative power of music and the sacredness of shared rituals.

As a grounding and facilitating support to the main stage performances, the Immanent Sound sound system at High Vibe Fest was top-notch, delivering crystal-clear sound quality and creating a truly immersive experience for festival-goers. The organizers cultivated a soundscape that ensured every note, beat, and lyric resonated through the hearts and souls of those in attendance.

High Vibe Fest also offered a diverse range of workshops, catering to the holistic well-being of the participants. From tantra to cacao, the workshops provided an opportunity for personal growth, exploration, and connection. Sacred Sensuality workshops, such as Shakti Twerk with Sahara Rose, and Tantric Twerkshop with Katie Scott, allowed attendees to tap into their sensual energy and embrace their divine femininity.

The Cacao Ceremonies and Workshops led by Madaly Love (Friday), Neema Star (Saturday), and Dorothy Morgana of Cacao Source (Sunday) provided a sacred space for participants to connect with the heart-opening magic of cacao.

As the sun set over the festival grounds each night, DJs and Producers took stage and the indoor pavilions, creating an atmosphere for embodied movement and self-expression. Ezekial Zion, Sheena Medicina, and Twerkaba were just a few of the talented musicians who delivered pulsating beats that carried the crowd into states of pure bliss through the night.

Looking back on the magic of High Vibe Fest 2023, it's clear that the festival succeeded in its mission to provide a space for self-discovery, connection, and inspiration. With its breathtaking location, diverse lineup, and immersive workshops, High Vibe Fest proved once again to be a haven for those seeking to elevate their spirits and embrace the power of music and community. As we eagerly await next year's edition, the echoes of this year's festival will continue to reverberate in our hearts, reminding us of the transformative power of high-vibe experiences.

Exclusive Interviews with Equanimous, Ruby Chase and Mikey Pauker:

Equanimous:

What was a highlight for you of your festival experience?

“I think the highlight would probably be singing Cellular Upgrade - the We Saw Lions remix - at the very end of my set, especially because it was the first time that We Saw Lions and Activation had met and we all got to sing it together for the first time on stage and that was just super special, with everyone singing with us too.”

Of all the other performers and workshop presenters that were booked, which were you most excited about?

“I was most excited about Chris Barry's set honestly, and he crushed it. I mean, he improvised a whole amazing live set. It was super good. I love Brent Pell's comedy set too, that was great.”

Can you tell me about the choice of moving the fest to Mandala Springs this year? What is the vision for High Vibe Fest in the future?

“We wanted a place where you could go all night, where people were camping, it was more intimate, the space was nicer. And they had interest in us, so we just kind of partnered and teamed up and made it work – and I do believe we're gonna do it there next year as well. Vision for the future is to just expand it and grow in this venue and grow the community and really just have beautiful high vibe experiences.”

What other personal musician projects do you have that you’re working on that we have to look forward to?

“Really just diving in more with Equanimous. I'm working on kind of an orchestral album right now, as well as some other fun party singles. So yeah, lots of fun stuff in the works I'm excited about.”

High Vibe Fest organized and hosted a pre-festival High Vibe Music Retreat as a music education immersion, can you tell me more about that?

“The retreat was great, yeah, you know, it was intimate, probably 30 of us. People got to really learn and dive in and create together. There was a lot of free time also for the people at the retreat to really collaborate with each other, so that was super cool. We definitely plan on doing that next year.”

As a musician, what is your greatest vision for your impact on festival goers?

“I just want them to leave with a new beautiful path, a life changing, happy, satisfying feeling of love and bliss and an excitement for life. Our aim is to really have people celebrate and heal through joy. I feel like people had a beautiful experience here and we look forward to creating more.”

Ruby Chase:

How'd it feel to balance organizing the festival while also participating as a performer?

“Wow. It was full on, but I feel like with, with things like this, when the energy is coming from a really inspired place, it's almost like there's an infinite energy to work with, and that's how you can really tell when something is coming from passion rather than coming from expectation or coming from some other place. When energy is derived from passion, it's infinite and it's really magical what we can get done.”

What was the highlight for you of your festival experience?

“The highlight for me was feeling the impact it had on all the people. Hearing the feedback, hearing the stories of transformation, seeing the smiles, seeing the new relationships build. That is why we do this, at the end of the day. It's to bring community together and to make magic. And I feel like it really did that.”

Of all the other performers and workshop presenters that were booked which were you most excited about?

“This was so fun cause I got to bring in people that I really look up to. I was really, really stoked to have Jade Michelle there. She's incredible. She's one of my oldest friends. She was my little sister's best friend in elementary school all through high school until now. So having her there and getting to have her present, she just got her master's degree in psychology and mindfulness and that was really, really special to get to share her wealth of knowledge with the community. It also was really special to bridge different communities that had never woven into this scene before. Roxanne Ruby, my dearest best friend, got to share a workshop. Um, and then people like Rachel Bell, Sky Life, Activation, Sahara Rose and these queens that are really leading so much of the consciousness scene, especially as empowered women, getting to share their voice here was just so, so, so special. It was so fun to get to be an audience member for these things.”

Can you tell me more about the music retreat that happened before the festival?

“This was really special because at the core, High Vibe Fest is an offering of High Vibe Records and the music is something that is behind everything we do. And so many people that participate and come as guests to the festival, deep down, they want to make music themselves. And so having this offering of the music retreat beforehand was such a gift to be able to bring that education forward and that empowerment so that next year we could be highlighting some of those artists. And I've met some of my most favorite collaborators and many of the artists that we highlighted even at the festival were people that we met at music retreat experiences similar to this one. And it's a great way to weave community and find your collaborators and to also shine light on where are the next steps for people that do wanna make music their thing and make music their livelihood and what the next steps are there. So it was very great for that empowerment.”

What is your greatest vision for your impact on festival goers?

“My prayer is that people utilize this time to step out of their day to day and, and practice living as their highest self. And when we say high vibe, it really is about that. It's like, what vibration are you emitting? And at a festival it's so obvious because if you're feeling down it's, or if you're feeling up, it's amplified. It's all right there in front of you. You can't push it aside, you can't pretend it's very much the internal is shown external in this very real way. And so, my prayer is that these can be spaces where people get to explore who they wish to be in the world and practice and try it on and, and have a time out of reality almost, to really drop into the versions of themselves that they are manifesting themselves into.”

What is your intention behind creating a performance that integrates a ritual into the offering?

“I feel that any performer on stage, you know, there is an element to being on stage where there's a big energy exchange and we are being looked up to, and there's an opening of energy that happens when so many people are synchronized with the music that we're playing. And it's a ritual no matter whether or not we recognize it, there is an element of ritual at play. Any of the greats know this. And for me it's really important to direct this energy. I spent a long time in the rave world and in the festival scene and getting to see rapid transformation taking place without direction. And I believe that it's a big reason why you have those big comedowns after the festival and why there's kind of this lack of direction in our world, is because all the energy is created, but it's not being put anywhere that gives us purpose. So I really am inspired to direct the energy that is cultivated at these types of events, at these types of performances, into something that can be lasting impact. For instance, praying to the water and bringing awareness to the world that I wish to see and bringing awareness to our ability to create our universes and bringing our awareness to the versions that we wish to become. And then we can utilize that energy that's created to really amplify it and direct it into who we wish to be and the type of world that we wish to see.”

Mikey Pauker:

What was a highlight for you of your festival experience?

“Highlight of the festival for me was connecting with so many other great artists. It felt like a family gathering. Getting to spend time with Equanimous, Ruby and getting to invite up Marya Stark to come and sing with me during my set. (Marya is) someone who I love dearly and has released a few songs on my label, Beautiful Way Records, which is also an imprint of High Vibe. And for me, just connecting with the artists who I love, doing things that I love, and vendors that I love - all in the same place. It felt like a great family gathering.”

How do you integrate your relationship with spirit into your offerings with music?

“For me, it’s one in the same. My music is ceremony. It is spirituality. I write my music based on spiritual experiences and also spiritual text, specifically for me I’m Jewish, so a lot of my songs are based on Kabbalistic text or the Old Testament and also Jewish experiences that I've transmuted into these songs. These songs are prayers and what I like to do is weave a field where everybody feels the presence of spirit moving through the community. And I like to pray with the community through song, through story and intention. My music is prayerformance. It’s not just an offering of music. It is deeply woven with prayer.”

What are some upcoming music projects we can look forward to?

“Playing at PlayThink Festival (June 14-18 in Harrodsburg, KY) coming up with Equanimous and Ruby Chase, and others. I think Savej as well. I had a new single come out May 26th through Beautiful Way Records. I have other shows as well, make sure to go to MikeyPauker.com and sign up for my email list to stay up to date, go to my Instagram and add me there. I’m also offering a prayer practice container coming up in the next month or so, where people can learn how to pray and how to create a morning practice, and if you have interest in that you can find me through my website or Instagram.”

We are now less than a month from dawning on the desert for Unison Festival 2023. This intentional arts gathering is held at Tico Time Resort near Durango, CO from September 7-10, 2023.  The festival experience includes music, art, yoga, ecstatic dance, swimming, workshops, and a sacred fire held through the weekend. As we prepare ourselves for this gathering, we wanted to highlight five female artists that we can’t wait to dance our hearts out with… tune into the full article for some in depth interviews with a few of these powerful performers!

Ayla Nereo

Marya Stark

Snow Raven

Kayla Diana

Sheena Medicina

We are so grateful to share these one on one interviews with Marya Stark, Kayla Diana and Sheena Medicina about their excitement to make magic in the desert and what it’s like to be women in the music industry. We were also lucky enough to get an in depth drop in with Christina Sasser, AKA Sheena Medicina, who was the curator of the round two lineup of electronic artists; she gave us a look into her involvement with the gathering and the intense process of designing a diverse lineup for all to enjoy.

Marya Stark:

Have you performed at Unison before?

Not Yet! First time for this event.

What are you looking forward to about the festival?

Well I just loooove northern New Mexico, and I can't wait to sing under those skies, and enjoy the river.

What’s it like being a woman in the music industry?

Gorgeous and Evocative. I honestly avoided fully embracing the idea that I was part of the music industry for a long time because I think culturally we're possessed by an obsession with youth, and ageism that takes out its fear of death on women in the spotlight. The older I get, the less I care about the cultural trances, and the more grateful I am to be part of a movement of women uplifting other women in the industry. I think that women's voices are amazing and soulful, and needed for balancing the airwaves. As a woman, I feel I have a unique artistic voice and lens to perceive the world around me- which I love to bring into my artistry and storytelling. I am happy to participate wholeheartedly these days sharing my passion of embodiment, womb centered alchemy, and radiance as a woman unleashing herself from the shackles of b.s. cultural indoctrination, invisibility, and self-silencing. I am grateful to live in a time of great changes and bring my vitality to the table along with so many other incredible artists.  

Are there any artists on the Unison lineup you’re looking forward to seeing yourself?

Well I'm always excited to see my girl-band mate Ayla Nereo rock her beautiful soulful songs live. I am also loving what Dirtwire is bringing to their live set these days with the 3 drummers and fully dialed multi-instrumental excellence, and can't wait to see Snow Raven blow everyone away with her brilliant performance and extraordinary vocal animism.

Any final thoughts or things you’d like to share?

I am releasing my new album Weightless the week before this festival, so I am excited to come and share this new music while riding the wave of joy, celebration, and excitement of this new release!

Kayla Diana:

Have you performed at Unison before? When? How was that for you?

Yes! I performed at the very first Unison... I heard about it and I knew I had to be there. It was absolutely wonderful. It was one of the best festival experiences I've ever had... from the land to the people to the organizers I felt really supported and filled up by the experience.

What are you looking forward to about the festival?

I'm looking forward to the beautiful humans that will be there and being able to breathe the air and feel the potency of the land... I feel deeply moved by that valley and the water. I'm excited to nourish old connections and make new ones and see the magic that unfolds for us all gathering together in this way. I'm also stoked to share some new songs- I've written a lot of new material since the first festival.

What’s it like being a woman in the music industry?

Whew, this is a big question. I took a week to think about how to answer... First, I think there's never been a better time to be a woman in the music industry. The world has seemed to notice the imbalance of male to female artists on the lineup and I'm really stoked to see that changing.  Second, it has at times been very, very hard. I've learned a lot of really hard lessons in valuing myself and trusting my own voice. . I've felt taken advantage of, shouted over and sexualized, and also lifted up and protected.  I've also had big brothers in the scene put me under their wing and have my back, and also met some real jerks.  More than anything it's been up to me to stand firm and graced in myself and communicate, value myself, and learn to express boundaries in a graceful way. I'm grateful to be living in communities where I feel safe to not only be a woman but a woman in the music industry.

Are there any artists on the Unison lineup you’re looking forward to seeing yourself?

I'm honestly so excited for all of them! Some of my really good friends are playing at this festival so I would literally have to list every single one haha. The artists that are playing at the festival are all devoted to the music, breathing life into their dreams and following the muses no matter what life brings. I absolutely admire that and I'm so stoked to dance my face off, cry, laugh, and everything in between.

Sheena Medicina / Christina Sasser:

Have you performed at Unison before? When and how was that for you?

Yes, I actually performed twice at the precursor to Unison Festival, which was Ascension Festival. I did the opening set and then I also did a Saturday night set. It was small and intimate and that's where the seeds really began for Unison.

And then, at the first Unison Festival, I closed the Goddess Night and then I also played a Sunday afternoon beach stage set, which was super, super duper fun. I loved it so much. The following year, last year, I also closed out The Goddess Night on Friday night. I was also the artist relations coordinator, so I was working a bunch. The last couple of years of playing, you know, ending The Goddess Night have just been some of my absolute favorite sets of the year, and it's been my opportunity to really play exactly the kind of music that I feel is the most full expression of me, not even as an Ecstatic Dance DJ, but to get to play at this festival that I'm part of creating, and be fully in my element with closing out the night, the Goddess Night, especially with the energy being all about the most badass women and high vibe bass music.

What am I looking forward to about the festival for this year?

I think for me, the thing I look forward to the most is just the experience of being there and watching all of the stuff that we've been planning for months happening in real time all around me and experiencing just one zone to the next zone, to the next zone, and everything being incredible and everything being like a dream and just being such a variety of talent and creativity and art and music and beauty and connection and ceremony and sacredness… and that's what I'm looking forward to, all of it.

What’s it like being a woman in the music industry?

That's such a big question. For me it's really fun and so much of my purpose and mission as a woman in the industry is about amplifying other women. I think one of the biggest reasons why I even ended up getting involved is because I was sick and tired of hearing myself complain about how I wanted to see more women at the events that I was going to and a part of, and just feeling like, where are all the women on the lineup?

And every time I would see women play, they just absolutely blew me away. So I was like, we need more female talent. And I kept shouting it from the rooftops for years and years until finally I just took things into my own hands and was like, all right, I'm gonna get in there and start doing it myself. it's just more and more women in the music industry every day now and more and more women that are helping to create more opportunities for more women. If you're a woman and you wanna be an artist, this is probably one of the best times to do it. And similarly, if you're black, indigenous, a person of color, a minority, this is definitely the best time to start learning and get out there. People definitely want to support more diversity on the lineups and it's becoming more and more of a legit conversation with all event production world these days, more than ever before. So it feels like an exciting time. Honestly, I feel grateful to be a part of that energy and that movement.

Are there any artists on the Unison lineup you're looking forward to seeing yourself?

Oh golly, yes. I sure am of course. I'm very excited for a lot of the women on the lineup, go figure. I'm excited for Saucy Feather to return to the stage on Goddess Night. She threw down, I think what was the best set of last year, and I'm excited to see her doing her thing again. She's an incredible up and coming talent. Shelajit is also somebody that I just absolutely love and adore who's gonna headline The Goddess Night. Super excited about her and of course Little Red is a newcomer to The Goddess Night, I'm excited for her to open things up that evening. And Amrita, who is Unison family, been with us since early days, and is just an incredible talent, been at it for such a solid while behind the decks of artists and musicians.

So the whole Goddess Night lineup, I'm really stoked about.

And then I'm really stoked on some of the people that are gonna play the base stage 'cause they're folks that I've found in reviewing all of the applicants for the festival. I'm excited for Yawei, I'm excited for Dreaddy Bear, I'm excited for Clarifeye, K. Maitri, who's one of my dearest and best friends, from Cascadia also. I’m excited for Parasox, who’s also part of the Unison team. I'm always excited for Cody Coyote sets. He's one of my oldest and dearest friends. He's one of the co-producers of the event and he's also legitimately one of my favorite DJs on the planet. So, those are good homies. Always love what they put down. I just am stoked for all of it.

What factors went into your decision for the second tier of lineup for Unison?

We had about 30 spots to curate and we decided to do about half of those to returning artists, people that have been with us on the Unison journey for a while. You know, they've been coming to the events, they've been playing at the events. We had 130 applicants and about 15 spots for those new people. So it was an incredible pool of talent that applied, and I gave consideration and due time to every single person. I actually created a pretty thorough system of review to look at all of their social media numbers, to listen to several tracks, to look at how many tracks that they've published and shared on the different platforms they've shared them on, to read their bios, to look at their Instagrams, just to really try to get a good understanding of all of these artists and who they are as people and what their purpose is and what their mission is and, what kind of energy they would bring musically and even just them as beings. I definitely put a, a very legit emphasis on curating an equal measure of female to males in the lineup.

That was definitely all things that were weighing into my decision, but also just talent reigned supreme and diversity. Also choosing people from the Four Corners area. We wanted to support people that are from the area that is close to where Unison is happening. So, you know, we really chose some of the best artists from Salt Lake City area, from the Moab crew, from the Denver area, from the Sedona area, down into New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, all around.

My absolute favorite part of being able to curate the spots this year is not only thinking about those spots, but thinking about the entire experience as a whole, and musically the journey that you're gonna take the entire festival on energetically, with all the different stages, whether they're happening simultaneously or whether we'd get to the point in the night where there's just one stage and then the silent disco. Just really thinking about how it all fits together as one whole experience over the four days that is exciting and adventurous and emotional and healing and connective, and all the different layers and elements.

How can festivals and conscious gatherings work to empower female musicians, DJs and producers?

That's a great question. I think that they should be curating with that awareness in mind that we don't just wanna all see white guys all the time. The music industry is predominantly white males, and it gets boring. A lot of talent is to be found in the lesser represented artists, which tend to be women and other minorities. There's some really, really amazing and unique voices that deserve to be heard. I hope that Unison will continue to be more and more inclusive and that more and more artists will apply that are in that category, 'cause we definitely want to support that.