I have to admit that I am not a full fledged reggae fan. You probably wont see me all done up in dreadlocks or hear me being preachy of love, unity and peace, one love, etc, but you can most definitely find some of the Namsayin familia hangin’ out at OHANA. Every wednesday night, Da808music / nvrMT promotions host a weekly event called “Island Nights” housing some of the most refreshing live reggage / island jams that Seattle locals can jam to.

Earlier I posted a story about a project that Namsayin x Kore Ionz will be doing and before I tell the world about it, it’s very dear to me that I also tell you about Kore Ionz the band. I believe that when inspiration doesn’t come naturally, sometimes finding a tangable message someone can relate to can often times be enough to spark a fire of thought; and from this, beautiful creations can manifest. Kore Ionz’s music is the inspiration; to me, to the people here in Washington and to the island people of the Pacific and beyond. The music that Kore Ionz play is as rooted as reggage’s birth. They have spread many messages in their music and they’ve been veterans at it since I first heard them play at Ohana 10 yrs ago.

What I enjoy about Kore Ionz as a band is that each 5 Kore Ionz members have the utmost respect and are super talented. There is Pak, percussionist Ahkeenu Musa, bassist Brendan DeMelle, drummer Teo Shantz, and keyboardist Kiley Sullivan, the band enlisted the talent of tenor saxophone player Izaak Mills (Clinton Fearon), trumpet player Owuor Arunga (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Wheedle’s Groove), and lead guitarists Mark Oi (Clinton Fearon) and Thaddeus Turner (Thaddillac, Maktub, Digable Planets, Shabazz Palaces). Talk about OHANA forealz.

Kore Ionz have shared the stage with such legends as The Wailers, Steel Pulse, and Third World, as well as current charting artists like Katchafire and J Boog. In fact this Sat, July 7th, Da808music / nvrMT will be throwing a Summerfest ’12 and Kore Ionz will be playing along side with Katchafire @ Showbox Market. They will be playing some of their newest tracks from their World War Free Album. Tomorrow, we will be giving a glimpse of our message / collaborative project. So stay tuned, namsayin.

This weekend, Saturday March 17, 2012 NVRMT promotions / Da808seattle Saturday March 17, 2012 is throwing a killer show at Showbox Sodo. Jboog is headlining along with other island/reggae heavy hitters Two Story Zori and Tarrus Riley. A show you don’t want to miss.

If you’re not familiar with the name NVRMT then you havent been in Seattle long enough. They’re the kings of nightlife. I’ll have a more indepth story about them soon. Stay tuned, namsayin.