I am raising money to fund my travel around the world and bring music into orphanages, schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, battered areas, warzones, beaches, colleges, and everywhere that I can. We have an opportunity to perform "All the Colors" at 5 Peace Concerts in Israel, to bring music into hospitals and orphanages in San Francisco with the Chrysalis Project, and to travel to the Middle and Far East to bring music, prayer and inspiration to people of all ages. These kind of musical offerings do not garner lots of money from the participants who are often times struggling for their next meal. Only through your generous donations to this effort will we be able to do this very important work. If we are able to receive some surplus of funds, we intend to offer these impovershed communities guitars, drums, harmonicas, and other seeds of creative inspiration.
You can donate directly from our Myspace page or send money via paypal to bear@singingbearmusic.com. Feel free to email me for more information.
Thank you so much for your offering.
"Don't deny each other what you have to give. Hold Each other up so we all feel supported."
Singing Bear - vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonix
Kevin Njikam - ethereal electric guitar
Travis - drums
Influences
Grateful Dead, Richie Haves, Ani Difranco, Michael Franti, Spearhead, John Butler, Brett Dennen, Tracy Chapman, Rusted Root
Sounds Like
Tracy Chapman, Rusted Root, SOJA, Traffic, Shimshai, Jah Levi, Michael Franti, John Butler Trio, Xavier Rudd, Gavin DeGraw, Traffic, Richie Havens, Brett Dennen, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper,
Singing Bear is a poet, songwriter, actor, singer, dreamer, and mystical musical alchemist. "Musical Alchemy," he says, "is an expression for the magic that transforms a normal song into a time traveling portal." If music rides on the waves of every moment, Singing Bear hovers in the precise here and now, surfing each new note and melody effortlessly as if doing it again for the first time.
Anthony Singing Bear grew up in Cleveland, Ohio where he excelled in Mathematics and Science. He worked his way through calculus by the his sophomore year in High School and around the same time found a deep passion for the piano. Anthony studied classical piano with pieces from Mozart, Bach, Debussy, and others, and found music came as natural to him as Math. He attended a very rigorous all boys high school much like "Dead Poets Society" and received several awards including "Best Chemistry Student of 1992" and "Best Math and Science Student" of 1993, earning him a full ride scholarship potential to many major universities. But, as he says in his song, "Indigo Child", "Politicians, teachers, and authority figures can't force me into molds that don't fit me. My true calling must be remembered. I will surrender to my destiny." Something in his creative soul refused to be put in a box, and in his last year at University School, screamed to be free. He became known for his free spirited nature, encouraging others to be free and uninhibited, and by the end of his senior year, created such a presence that it began to threaten the school's ability to govern the students. So before he was able to give his senior speech to the entire school assembly, he was expelled. Subsequently, a letter was sent to Brown University telling them to cancel his admission and scholarship because he was not "fit to be part of the community". So he earned almost straight A's and two major awards at a very prestigious High School and was not given a diploma because he was too creative.
He continued his life so much stronger and more aware, dedicating much of his energy towards music, creativity, and the expression of love and freedom. Thus began his spiritual path which led him all over the United States, Navajo Nation, Mexico, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Holland, Poland, and on and on. In 1997, his mother, Nancy found his new name in a Shamanic Journey. She gave him the name Singing Bear in a sacred ceremony that took place on his family farm in Meigs County, Ohio. For the years that followed this ceremony, Singing Bear kept to the name "Tony" and refused to publicly acknowledge the name given to him. In all of his travels, he carried his $200 cedar top seagull guitar that his Dad got him when he was 16, and learned songs from the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan. In 2002, after meeting Lindy Kehoe, he formed the band Forealious and the Serendipity Circus. They played around Athens, Ohio and were written up several times in the local papers with quotes like "about as funky as you can get on an acoustic guitar" and "uninhibited folk rock". After 3 years in Athens and playing at festivals such as Uprising Fest and Comfest, Singing Bear started to feel like a big fish in a small pond.
In the Fall 2005, he sold his house in Athens and moved to San Francisco with only a couple friends in the bay area and a complete trust in spirit and officially took the name Singing Bear. Now only two and a half short years later, his energy and experience has pulled him into the forefront of the conscious music movement. He is being featured alongside musicians such as Wisdom, Jillian Spear, Chris Berry, Shimshai, Tina Malia, Scott Huckabay, the Human Revolution, and Cipes and the People and at large Health Conscious Festivals and Events such as Harmony Festival, Monterey Pop 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love, Raw Spirit Festival, Mystic Garden Party, CAST, Peace Village Festival, Dreamtime Festival, The Good Fest, and the list goes on and on. Singing Bear is becoming known for his powerful lyrics that are often channeled in the moment. His performances are always fresh and magical and never a repeat of the old. In fact you never know what to expect when you see him live - it could be an intimate soft and sweet moment with him and a guitar or it could be a full 9 piece rocking band that makes you want to dance so hard you fly from your body. In any case, his performances will always uplift your soul and often times induce spontaneous shamanic healing. All in all, this is one potent brother with a powerful presence and a profound message, and it is only a matter of time before he is discovered by the world.
Travis has been playing drums since he was a little bambino. His multicultural infusion and versility rounds out the Aumnibus sound with a great World Fusion Back Beat. Travis also performs as an electronic artist under the name travels. Check out his myspace page at http://myspace.com/travelsounds.
Kevin Njikam is a spiritual sorcerer of the electric guitar and keyboards. He is a smooth, seamless composer and performer of a sort of Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock, Jerry Garcia School. He moves in and out of riffs with amazing ease and has, along with Wade, composed several of the Aumnibus original jazzy fusion jam tunes. Most of his electric guitar work that is featured on "Supported" was done in one or two takes with very little pre-production. Together Kevin and Wade formed Aumnibus in Connecticut with a slant towards eclectic tribal jazz. They both met Singing Bear in January and following their intuition, fused their variety of music with his more folky, reggae, world beat style. Now they have emerged as a combination of all of it, a brand of music they call, World Tribal Folk Jazz Fusion.
Wade Hutson is an incredible composer, singer-songwriter, and performer. He was born in Deleware, and went to music school in Connecticut, spending tireless hours studying musical relationships and rhythmic structures. He actually designed a "grid" outlining the mathematical relationships between all scales. He teaches workshops in music theory, musical sacred geometry, and sound healing. He is also an incredible on several instruments including the bass, djembe percussion, and keyboards. He is featured on all three in the album "Supported" and has an unreleased electronic album which has some great tracks. Wade and Singing Bear met in January 2007 in Farifax, CA at 19 Broadway playing their very first set at an open-mic. Four months later they recorded "Supported" which has already reached far and wide.
Blessings from Aumnibus -- All of us -- On the Bus of the Universal
Hey Thanks for the friendship and Kind Comments. Im glad you like the Music!! we'll be posting some new material in the next few weeks so keep listening out!! Enjoy your week and take care :) JP
Hey Singing Bear, How are you? I just directed a music video. Let me know what you think! I also built my boyfriends website EmrysHanley.com Check it out!
Thanks for sending us your comment which was approved and can now be seen on our page. Thanks too for being one of the 3300+ members of Musicians and Artists for World Peace.
We now have members in 58 countries, including Donovan, Melanie, Patti LaBelle, Pete Seeger, Melba Moore, the New Rascals, Willie Nelson's Peace Research Institute, the Dalai Lama, Holly Near, Country Joe, Wayne Dyer, Patch Adams, Jean Houston, Dennis Kucinich & Deepak Chopra's Alliance for a New Humanity to mention just a few.
It would be much appreciated if you would consider placing us on your top friends list. If you have lots of friends you can search for us. Go to Change my Top Friends and paste in musiciansforpeace as the MySpace URL in the "Quick Find" dialog box.
Perhaps some of your friends will visit our site, listen to our music and decide to join us too.
BTW, we have joined with people from all over the world to help make the 40th anniversary of Woodstock a true celebration of peace and love through music and collaboration. Please check out our page at http://passion.edu/elearn/mod/resource/view.php?id=1712
For the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock, we will be doing a butterfly release at West Fest in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Sunday, October 25, 2009. Please see www.2b1records.com/woodstock40sf
We have also been invited to join the planning committee for a 3-day concert called "IMAGINE," in some respects similar to Woodstock '69. Imagine will take place in 2010 at the same time as the G8 world leaders meeting in Montreal, Canada. www.imagineconcert.com