Planet Jam

Bio:

B u y     P l a n e t     J a m     C D ' s     o r     M P 3 ' s     O n l i n e :

2010 CD "WORD SOUND POWER"


  Planet Jam - " Live in Romania"


  Marius & Mae Ploy " Seven Generations"


Here's a podcast link for Planet Jam's Live Radio Show on Community Supported KXCI.ORG 91.3 FM Tucson from 9/28/2009 : http://www.kxci.org/localsonly/podcast/podcast-09282009.mp3

Live at The Hut 2010-04-17 - Even Higher



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Planet Jam's Short How did it Start Story:
For a few years in the nineties, when Marius Todirita was an illegal alien in Italy, Kacy Armstrong was hitchiking, working, and then driving across Europe in an English ambulance with a sketchpad, a guitar, a few human friends and an Irish Wolfhound named Monte, space was tight but written on the ceiling was: "There's always room and never a problem."
They had met before while busking in the streets of other Italian towns, both being guitarists claiming to be from Arizona. After an eclipse of the moon in Rome, they began to make beautiful music together.
Years later in Tucson Arizona, it's an evolving fusion of Eastern and Western music and culture. Planet Jam music has rippin' rock solos, poppin' reggae rhythms and fresh Gypsy licks, dubby and tight, modern with ancient tap roots. Planet Jam lyrics say stuff that makes sense. They positively present ideas of change about border issues, political hypocrisy, seven generation awareness, freedom of expression, spiritual and cultural evolution as well as experiences that Marius had in the Romanian Army as a draftee Private during that country's 1989 revolution.
In September 2007, Kini Wade joined the band on the drums, and Steven Abramson (from Living Earth and Woody Harelson) sat in on keyboards. Highly highly skilled on their instruments, they add another half a century of music experience to the mix.




THE PRESS :

Wednesday, February 10th 2010 - Tucson Weekly
Soundbites
by Stephen Seigel

REGGAE WITH A HINT OF GYPSY

The next several weeks are loaded with new local releases and the shows that accompany them, but this week, we've got just one such release to tell you about.

There just aren't many reggae bands playing around town. The first name that comes to mind is, of course, Neon Prophet, who have been plying reggae in Tucson for almost a quarter-century. But the second name to hit the brain these days just might be Planet Jam, who have been gigging consistently for several years now.

The band's co-founders, singer/guitarist Marius Todirita and bassist/singer Kacy Todirita, met while busking on the streets of Italy. Kacy, whose last name was Armstrong in those days, was traveling across Europe with some friends, while Marius, who was drafted into the Romanian Army during the 1989 revolution, was still living there, illegally, according to the band's MySpace bio. Years later, the pair (moved to) Tucson, eventually adding Steven Abramson on keys and Kini Wade—whom you might know as a bartender at Plush—on drums. Thus began Planet Jam, who this week release a new CD, Word Sound Power.

Planet Jam doesn't play straight-up reggae; instead, they infuse it with strains of various types of world music, most often Eastern European gypsy music. In other words, Bob Marley this ain't (although he does get a shout-out on "Even Higher"), even if they address similar political and sociopolitical issues.

"Disobey," which opens the album, contains some of that gypsy flavor in the form of a keyboard melody that runs between the song's verses. "Crying Wolf," which places gypsy accents over a cool, Caribbean-inspired vibe, is a pop-reggae tune that features searing guitar-key runs that mimic the sound of dual lead guitars. "Conscious Revolution" is as much jazz as it is reggae, with some delightful playing from Abramson; the music has a slight Steely Dan feel to it, though you'd sure as hell never catch the lyrics "nothing can stop the conscious revolution" coming out of Donald Fagen's mouth. Meanwhile, "The Riot," which features a killer chorus that somehow reminds of '80s British pop, is the most fun song on the disc, even as the lyrics are about tearing down Babylon.


Saturday, October 11th 2008,
Tucson Weekly
"Tucson's finest straight-up reggae band ...
...Traditional, with a social conscience."

Wednesday, July 9th 2008,
RENASTEREA BANATEANA, Nr. 5623 TIMISOARA ROMANIA

"From Arizona, to Timisoara"

..."Planet Jam is considered to be emblamatic of the new fusion between eastern and western cultures."

Monday, July 14th 2008, AGENDA TIMISOARA - ROMANIA (in Romanian) http://www.agenda.ro/news/print/9072/ritmuri-reggae-cu-planet-jam.html

Reggae Rhythms with Planet Jam

"Saturday night on the terrace of the Cafe Papillon, music lovers and the people that just happened to be passing by had the opportunity to enjoy a very special event: The music of American band Planet Jam, with a mix of roots reggae combined with Balcanic sounds and other goodies.
Above all, one of the most surprising things which everyone could see was the ease with which the band came before the audience. The fussiness and other such things which unfortunately are often present at the shows played by Romanian musicians, were completely absent.
The band has its roots in our country and their music represents a fusion between east and west with reggae, gypsy, rock and roots influences.
... It was an interesting and very special concert which left a question hanging in the air - Why don't we have any other reggae bands in our country?"


LUPAMEA.RO
Weekly newspaper from CRAIOVA ROMANIA

http://www.lupamea.ro/articole.php?numar=2&rubrica=1&id=2249

Planet Jam: Reggae and Dub - Romanian American Version
Fans of Jamaica straight from Arizona Live at Play
by Cosmin Stoian

"Sunday night is a discouraging moment for the people that have to go to work the next day. But Play organised a concert, sticking to trouble just like velcro would on the hair of the singer.
The 13th is an unlucky day for old women who believe in superstitions, but not for the customers of Play,to whom reggae band Planet Jam induced a wonderful state of optimism and relaxation, 'cause that how reggae is. A joint was missing for the recipe to be complete. The song "Jamming" by Bob Marley, covered by Planet Jam arrived just like a full tank of gas when you have no money but you want to go to the beach. It put an automatic smile on everybody's faces...

-- Planet Jam - The Riot - V I D E O
About the 1989 Revolution in Romania

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Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor - Image Hosting

Member Since:

February 19, 2007

Members:

Greetings everyone,
We wish all of you to have Happy Holidays and High Loving Vibes with Family and Friends.
Due to an unpredicted emergency Marius had to drop everything and hop over the pond to help out with blood family issues.
With the grace of God he'll be back in January and we all can continue the works of Planet Jam with renewed determination in the mode of goodness and of course new music to help kindle the personal and universal revolution happening in each of us.

They dropped the tresure in the sea
And now they seek it in the pond
Such is denial, such is vanity
Wisdom is shackled by the want
When Truth is covered in a golden casket
Outside the fools are mourning the defunct

Thank you oh so much for checking on us.
Blessings from Planet Jam
Always Original Riddm and Uplifting Lyric for people of International Morality!
One Love!
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O U R   N E W   C D:

" W o r d   S o u n d   P o w e r "

Released February 2010

N o w     A v a i l a b l e    o n    C D B a b y . c o m




Marius Todirita -Guitar and Vocals





Kacy Todirita - Bass and Vocals





Kini Wade - Drums



Stevie Abramson - Keyboards and Vocals



Cecil Carter - Percussion


"Conscious Revolution"
Live at The Hut in Tucson AZ 02-11-2010



Planet Jam " Defiant " Live at The Tucson Earth First Benefit in May 2009



Planet Jam Live - Disobey




U.S. PRESS

Planet Jam brings the world to its shows
November 26, 2008 Tucson Arizona
OTTO ROSS
Tucson Citizen

The members of the local "world jam reggae" band, Planet Jam, come from different backgrounds and cultures but all share one powerful passion: music.

Guitarist/vocalist Marius Todirita, bass/vocalist Kacy Todirita, drummer Kini Wade and keyboardist/vocalist Stevie Abramson will share their eclectic global backgrounds in an international fusion of cultural music and worldly awareness this Friday at The Hut.

In a recent e-mail interview, Todirita discusses the band's roots, its University of Arizona connection and how he outsmarted censors in Romania.

Q: What got you into playing music and when did you start?

A: I started playing guitar and singing when I was 10 years old in the Socialist Republic of Romania. Communist political screening censored most music, and there was some contraband music smuggled in from the West, but not enough for my demand, so I provided my own uncensored music by playing my guitar. We usually had to show our lyrics to some comrade before we could play anything on stage. I was persecuted for breaking the rule and playing AC/DC and Rolling Stones tunes at my last high school dance. We generally played a lot of instrumentals.

How did your band come together?

When the Berlin Wall came down, I was finally able to travel. I went west to Italy and was busking in the streets of Bologna where I met Kacy, who was also traveling with a guitar. We fell in love and we've made music together ever since. She's been playing bass since 1999, when we put out our first CD, "Tribal Healing." We've been jamming in this configuration since September 2007 when Kini Wade joined on drums and Steven Abramson playing keyboards.

From where do you draw your inspiration?

We are a multinational, multiethnic, multiracial group, so we draw from that diversity and try to remain as objective and universal in our unifying approach. We listen to a lot of diverse music. I try to put a positive, transcendental outlook on subjects that most people can relate to in current society. It's important to be aware, and music is a vehicle for awareness to become instantly contagious on a mass scale.

How would you describe your style of music?

Concisely, I would call it world jam reggae. We use roots elements like ancient Romanian Gypsy riffs with traditional roots reggae beats and take it all into a dub infused electric jam.

Where did the name Planet Jam come from?

The name came at a time when we had a more geographically diverse show in 1999, when the point of the performance was to sing in as many languages as possible and musically travel around the planet on a genuine cultural experience.

How did you end up in Tucson?

I married Kacy, our bass player, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1993. She's a UA architecture graduate who has a lot of friends here. We now have two children, so we settled in the warmer side of our previous nomadic route.

Where do you most like to play music?

I like to play outdoors. There's a revolutionary aspect in our message and it feels good to bring it to the street like in California's summer music festivals. I loved playing on the beach on the Romanian Black Sea coast last summer, too. Here in Tucson, we like to play at The Hut on Fourth Avenue.

Money? Fame? Fortune? What are your goals for the future?

I'm going to keep writing music and share my gift with the people because it's my calling. Money is what's needed to produce and deliver music. Fame is what brings people to the show. Fortune is needed for magical elements to fall into place and provide catalytic support for the ignition and launch of unique time and space moments into the multidimensional universe when consciousness accelerates friction-free for leap years in a second. We intend to keep the new music flowing in and to keep performing, make some nice videos and book some good shows.

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Influences:

Midnite, Israel Vibes, Bob Marley, Taraf the Haiducks, Shukar Collective

Sounds Like:

Dub, and Roots Reggae
Here's our Live in Romania CD at CDBaby.com:

Marius and Mae Ploy's Seven Generations CD:

Record Label:

Unsigned