Tag Archives: Grammy

With Grammy Award Winning Artists, Environmental Nonprofit Celebrates Local Indigenous Leader

PALO ALTO – Green Foothills’ annual Nature’s Inspiration celebration Sunday, September 27 from 5-6:30pm will honor Valentin Lopez, the highly respected Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band since 2003. Chairman Lopez is being recognized for his tireless work bringing international awareness to the experience of Indigenous Peoples and his dedication to fighting for sacred lands.

“I am excited to be performing during Green Foothills’ Nature’s Inspiration in celebration of environmental land conservation and Indigineous rights.” Raul Pacheco, founding member of Ozomatli.

“Green Foothills has been a valued partner for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band in our fight to protect Juristac from a sand and gravel mine,” explains Chairman Lopez. “Juristac is the Tribe’s most sacred site and serves as a major wildlife corridor in Santa Clara County. This is a natural partnership and we are stronger together. I’m honored to accept this award” 

In addition to a live acoustic performance by Grammy award winning Ozomatli’s Raul Pacheco, this virtual event will also feature Indigenous vocalist Calina Lawrence and a special pre-recorded performance by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Neil Young who was moved by the fight for Juristac and the work of Chairman Lopez. Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe will open the event with a Land Acknowledgement.

“This is a celebration of the people in our community who are fighting for a livable planet. Join us for a few moving performances as we stand in solidarity with local Native American community members. Tickets and sponsorships support the work of Green Foothills and the Amah Mutsun and include a local pie, what’s not to love about that?” said Megan Fluke, Green Foothills Executive Director.

For more information, visit greenfoothills.org/natures-inspiration.

About Green Foothills

Founded in 1962, Green Foothills has worked collaboratively in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to help protect over 183,000 acres from development, weighing in on over 900 land use issues and 60 ballot measures. According to Executive Director, Megan Fluke, “We envision a resilient region where wildlife thrive, everyone has natural beauty to enjoy, and communities live in balance with nature.” For more information, visit www.greenfoothills.org


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Desis in the Grammy House!

It’s Grammys-time again and as has been for a few years now, there are a few desi names on the nominee list:

Best Dance Recording,
Dance/ Electronic Music Field
“Don’t Let Me Down”—The Chainsmokers featuring Daya

It would be hard to miss or not notice the edgy “Don’t Let Me Down, down, down” song when you turn on your local hit-music radio station. Well you’re in for a surprise: that edgy voice belongs to Grace Tandon, who goes by her middle name Daya. Daya means “mercy” in Hindi, and she probably got the name, in part, because her grandfather is of Indian origin.

Daya’s start in music was unintentional; her first piano lessons were at age three, and she started only because her older sister Rachel insisted on taking her along to her lessons. Her involvement in music was constant, and she has just graduated from high school last year. In a recent interview she shared that she got on a plane the day after her prom to record her first extended play. Her hit track “Hide Away” was a part of that extended play. One version of how she got together with The Chainsmokers is that they had reached out to her after they heard, “Hide Away.”

Daya believes it’s important to write her own songs because then the music is truly, “authentic.” One of the videos starts with a few DADDs, Dads Against Daughters Dating, with Daya belting out,

“Boys seem to like girls who laugh at anything,
The ones who get undressed before the second date,
Girls seem to like the boys who don’t appreciate,
All the money and the time that it takes, To be fly as a mother.”
Daya is multi-talented; she also plays the guitar, saxophone, ukulele, and flute.

Best World Music Album/World Music Field
Land of Gold—Anoushka Shankar

“Sing your song with ease and pride,
I’ll be there not far behind,
Find the kind heart, rest your feet and soul,
May your kind heart find the land of gold.”

Beginning with compelling sitar playing to stark words sung by Alev Lenz, Land of Gold gives voice and stirring sound to the international refugee crisis. Speaking of its making, Anoushka said in an interview, “My experience was that of a human being viewing the world. I think becoming a parent has made me feel impacted by what’s going on in the world around me. It makes one so much more vulnerable to things—having children. And so it just feels like I can’t hide from what I imagine other parents must be going through. That was kind of the central impetus for making this album.” Alev Lenz is a London-based German artist born to a Turkish mother.

Sing Me Home—Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble
Their website says, “Silk Road has been guided by two principles: that we cannot afford not to know our neighbors, and that music can help us connect.” World renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma was inspired to found this ensemble by the historic Silk Road that connected Asia with Europe through trade routes
Affiliated with Harvard University since 2005, The Silk Road Project is made up of artists from more than 20 countries (including Grammy-nominated Sandeep Das from the Benaras gharana) and the group has produced six albums. Sing Me Home is a collection that explores “the ever-changing idea of home,” and includes pieces by Ustad Shujaat Khan on the sitar and singer Sarah Jarosz. Incidentally, Jarosz’s album Undercurrent is a Grammy-nominee in another category.

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (Production, Non-Classical Field)
Undercurrent—Shani Gandhi & Gary Paczosa, engineers; Paul Blakemore, mastering engineer (Sarah Jarosz)
Gandhi is a rare breed among music engineers, there aren’t too many women mixing sound. A music engineer is tasked with making sure the sound of the music—instruments, vocals, effects sound the best that it can. Gandhi has been described as superlative at her work by both Paczosa and Jarosz, among other artists. n

The Grammys award ceremony will be televised by CBS on February 12, 2017 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Priya Das is an enthusiastic follower of world music, and avidly tracks inbtersecting points between folk, classical, jazz and other genres.