All about SOJA's sensational South America 2008 tour! EXCLUSIVE!

The American band SOJA (Soldiers of Jah Army) was once again on South American soil causing great repercussion. After having performed 13 shows in 2007 going through several cities in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, the group that recently released the EP "Stars and Stripes" was once again brought by Intershows/Surforeggae to South America. This time the tour had to be shorter, as the musicians are dedicating themselves in recording their new work, which according to them will be released in February next year.

The arrival

The musicians of SOJA left Washington D.C, capital of the EUA on October 7 at night, having come down on Rio de Janeiro (Aeroporto do Galeão) where they would take the flight to Buenos Aires together with Equipe Surforeggae/Intershows. The reunion was very good, after the good impression that the band left in Brazil in March 2007, it was quite noticeable the will and anxiety to play here again. Even after the long hours of the Washington/Rio de Janeiro flight everyone was very willing and ready to meet the audience and fans scattered throughout Brazil and also in Argentina. This time the group brought a novelty - the presence of Hellman Duran and Rafael Morales, in the sax and trumpet respectively, making the band sound even richer. Both are Latin, being Hellman of Venezuela and Rafa Morales of Porto Rico, where they have already made parts of groups such as Gomba Jahbari and Yerba Bruja.

BUENOS AIR

As soon as we arrived at Buenos Aires the climate difference was felt, but the cold that blew from the east was not enough to cool the moods of the band and the audience that crowded the Niceto Club on the night of October 8. The SOJA has no CD released in Argentina, but it was clearly noticeable that most of the songs were known to the "hermanos". In the repertoire, tracks from the albums "Peace in a Time of War", "Get Wiser" and new ones, which should be included in the upcoming CD. The band brought to the tour a lot of shirts, CDs and DVDs, items that were sold so quickly that we had to take them off the merchandising table in order to save for subsequent shows in Brazil. The show also featured the excellent opening of the band Holy Piby, one of the most outstanding groups in the Argentine scene, having shared stage with other attractions such as Don Carlos, Pablo Moses, Groundation, among others.

FROM BACK TO BRAZIL

The marathon continues, and shortly after the show on Buenos Aires, the band and the entire team took a flight at 9:30 a.m. to Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, from where they would proceed to Campinas, the city of the next presentation. The impression on that day was very good, the Campinas Hall (event site) has an excellent structure, and could receive very well both the audience and the SOJA, which once again made a show of sighing and provoking emotions in the public. The show was opened with "911", which was soon celebrated along with "Open My Eyes", one of the biggest hits of the CD "Get Wiser", which by the way is being released in Brazil by the Surforeggae label and will be available in stores soon. The audience present in Campinas showed that it is resistant and were also true warriors, since on a Thursday, everyone was there at dawn when the show ended.

ARE PAUL - CLOSED AND APPLAUDED

The Ginásio do Palmeiras, site of the subsequent concert of the tour was amazingly packed already at the beginning of the first bands. Other groups that have a large audience such as Planta e Raiz and Chimaruts performed that night, taking turns on two stages. Before the SOJA show, while the musicians and team were fine-tuning the latest details on the stage, much of the audience was already totally focused on them, playing the closest places to the stage. An estimated 7,000 people saw it closely because SOJA today is one of the international bands that brings the most public to Reggae shows in Brazil. Sound engineer Derrick Parker (the same as Steel Pulse) commanded the delays and reverb, making DUBs hallucinating live, showing great harmony with the band. Jacob, Bob, Ken, Pat, Byrd, Rafa and Hellman were highly happy and thanked the public at all times, which doubled all the vibration.

THE MARATON: JUNDIAÍ AND GUARULOS

Everyone was more than aware that Saturday, the penultimate day of the tour would be very hard. The night that had two performances in different cities was marked by a lot of running and work by the Production Team, which ensured that the band did both shows without major complications. Leaving São Paulo around 19:30 on Saturday, the band went straight to Jundiaí, site of the first show of the night. The rain that fell in the city forced the Event Production to open the gates during the sound passage of the SOJA, which has already made the audience excited right away to see everyone getting ready for the show. As the Clube Uirapuru was already literally packed at 00:30, the SOJA performed magnificently starting with one of its best-known songs - Rasta Courage. The very young audience also checked the Ragga footprint of Bob Lee in "Faith Works" and "To Whom It May Concern". From the audience to musicians from other bands such as Sinsemilla Dub, Aline Duran, Leões de Israel, all watched the SOJA, having been mainly commented on the agitation on the stage of Bob Lee and Byrd's ability on the drums. As soon as the Jundiaí show ended, the band immediately moved on to Guarulhos, where more than 8,000 people were expected. The program of the event decided to leave the SOJA last on the grid, which caused the public not to move the foot of Internacional Eventos. After some time for sound passage, since it could not be done before, SOJA went on stage again opening with "Rasta Courage" for the delirium of the gifts. Highlight once again the performance of musicians, who even after a long marathon showed to be very whole on stage. The show that lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes left the audience still with a taste of "I want more", and unfortunately an encore could not be executed because of the advanced time and the band's soon after flight to Belém/PA.

THE SPENDING: BELEM

The last day of the marathon was another demonstration of resistance by all. Soon after the Guarulhos show the group went to the Hotel only to pick up the luggage and go straight to Guarulhos International Airport, to the warm and welcoming city of Belém/PA. After 6 hours of travel, the band arrived in the capital of Pará, and soon after moved on to the African Bar, where they did perhaps the most vibrant show on the tour. Happy to see an audience of over 5,000 people in Bethlehem, the SOJA made a magnificent presentation, almost two hours long. The African Bar was small for the large number of fans and curious who were waiting for the band's show. Highlight for "Revolution", "True Love" (which as in all shows was sung by all) and "Star and Stripes", track of the homonymous EP that stirred the presents a lot. The balance of the tour was highly positive and showed that the band really grew a lot in the country, and has even more possibilities to grow. For those who did not, there is only to wait until 2009 when Surforeggae/Intershows will do another tour of the group, promising to cover more cities and expect to reach bigger and bigger audiences.

IMAGES OF THE EVENT

 Click here to see some photos of the 2008 SOJA tour.

MORE INFORMATION

 Site Oficial: www.sojamusic.com Soja on Surforeggae: Click and access.

MULTIMIDIA

Click here to see Soja with the clip "Peace in a Time of War".