Grab your lawn chairs and prepare yourself for the final concert of the 2022 Levitt AMP Galva Music Series! All summer long this family-friendly concert series has brought free live music to Wiley Park in Galva and the Galva Arts Council is excited to present a very special event for the finale. This special evening will begin an hour earlier than usual, starting at 5:00 PM, and will feature three acts: JigJam, a bluegrass group direct from Ireland, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, 2017 finalist on The Voice and one of the best soul groups around, and Vox Sambou, a powerful 10-piece group from Haiti. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating on the lawn. A variety of food vendors will be on-site and guests are welcome to bring in outside food as well. Within listening distance from the stage is a playground area and basketball courts. Restrooms are available on-site. Street parking is available around the park and neighboring streets. Those needing assistance with seating should contact Tina at (309) 853-7537 to make arrangements. The street running through the park will be closed during concerts. Those with golf carts/UTVs are asked to keep their vehicles on the perimeter of the audience to prevent blocking the view of guests and minimize the risk of accident while driving through the park. The event is rain or shine.
JigJam are a multi-award winning quintet from the heart of the midlands in Ireland. Blending the best of traditional Irish music with Bluegrass and Americana in a new genre which has been branded as 'I-Grass' (Irish influenced Bluegrass), their onstage energy along with their virtuosic musical ability has captivated audiences throughout the world.
Jamie McKeogh and Daithi Melia all hail from Tullamore, Co.Offaly with Co. Tipperary born Gavin Strappe completing the Irish members of the band. An injection of Scottish energy is added by Calum Morrison & Daniel Hunter rounding off the quintet. All five members grew up immersed in Irish traditional music and culture which is reflected by the band collectively achieving over twenty All-Ireland titles at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann competitions. They have now developed their own unique style of music influenced by American Folk music whilst staying true to their Irish roots. Described as 'The best Irish group so far in bluegrass' this sharply dressed outfit delivers an energy-fueled, foot-stomping live performance. All multi-instrumentalists, JigJam interchange between banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins and double bass onstage which creates an experience which is pleasing to both the eye and the ear.
Night after night at their live shows, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal leave it all on the table, bringing crowds palpably authentic music. This is a real working band; music for the people, by the people. You hear the veracity in Hoyer’s voice. You hear the strife of a guitar amp being pushed to its limits. You hear keyboards hammering notes home while emboldened horns soar over the top of a rhythm section akin to a freight train. The raucous funk and smooth soul emanating from the stage dutifully pays homage to the past soul giants while simultaneously charging forward, piloting themselves into the modern era. This is soul music.
"If James Brown and Otis Redding had a love child, it would be Josh Hoyer. The Lincoln, Nebraska, soul shouter, and his band of merry soulsters, Soul Colossal, deliver a sound so big, so funky, so wring-the-sweat-out-of-you energetic that it reaches through the speakers and shakes you until you start moving to its groove." says No Depression magazine.
Vox Sambou comes from Limbé, Haiti. He writes and performs in Haitian, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. He is a founding member of Montreal-based hip-hop collective, Nomadic Massive. He performed across North America at the Kennedy center in Washington; Grand Performances in Los Angeles; Le Printemps de Bourges, France, Chile, Brasil, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso, Colombia, Brasil, Morocco, Spain and USA.
His music is a fusion of traditional rhythms of Haiti and Afro-Latin elements of afrobeat, reggae and hip-hop. As a songwriter, he recorded Lakay in 2008, Dyasporafriken in April 2013 and The Brasil Session in 2016, accompanied by musicians from different backgrounds. Vox Sambou is a committed musician who is not afraid to denounce injustice, social imbalances and inequities. He sings in Haitian, English, French and Spanish. He holds a BA in Psychology and Anthropology and has worked as the Executive Director for more than 10 years The Youth House of the Côte-des-Neiges, a non-profit organization whose mandate is to prevent delinquency among teenagers in the district of Montreal’s Côte-des Neiges. Vox Sambou is crucially involved in the achievement of educational and community projects based in Limbé, Haiti. He is a founding member of Solid’Ayiti, an artists and activists initiative working for a long-term solidarity between Montreal and movements fighting for social justice in Haiti, according to the principles of self-sufficiency, education, decentralization and reforestation.
The 2022 Levitt AMP Galva Music Series is supported by many community sponsors, donors, and volunteers, and the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a private foundation that empowers towns and cities across America to transform underused public spaces into thriving destinations through the power of free, live music.