GroundUp is the un-festival music festival. Confused? Now in its eighth year at the Miami Beach Bandshell, the GroundUp Music Festival is the brainchild of Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League and Paul Lehr, former YoungArts CEO, who now runs the band’s music label.
Their goal was to create a different kind of festival, one that didn’t pack people in, where there was room to breathe, where sets didn’t overlap on different stages and artists didn’t cut and run after performances. Available quality dining choices were also prioritized. The result is a three-day festival on two stages spread out from bandshell to beach, with a daily capacity capped at 1,500 for comfort.
(Adriana Riera Pérez)
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas
“The environment is unique … there are hammocks along the park, so you can keep your distance from people or walk right up to the stage … It’s just a relaxed atmosphere,” said Lehr. “And the performers will be giving small workshops and master classes that take place mostly in the morning before the music starts.”
And then, there’s the music.
“We curate a lineup that most people have never heard of, but you’ll be blown away … the artists at our festival you won’t see at any other festival … they’re selected according to their artistry in terms of musical style and diversity,” Lehr said.
(Paul Lehr)
Paul Lehr, GroundUp Music Festival Co-Founder
Although GroundUp has been called a top 10 jazz festival, featured performances often fall far outside the boundaries of the genre.
This year, legendary Cuban band Los Muñequitos de Matanzas is in the lineup, performing in Miami for the first time in decades. Joining them is Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas, which has never before appeared in the Magic City. The two groups will even perform a set together on Friday night, which they’ve never done on the island. Los Muñequitos is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed rumba groups of all times. AfroCuba, one of the island’s most acclaimed folklore groups, includes band members who are practitioners of the African-based religions whose music and dance they perform.
(GroundUp Musical Festival)
Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League (center) performing with members of his band.
Other featured performers include the five-time Grammy Award-winning collective Snarky Puppy; alternative jazz artist Louis Cole, who boasts two Grammy nominations; two-time Grammy-nominated ngoni maestro Bassekou Kouyate, known for his inventive take on the griot tradition; multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood; influential jazz figure, tenor saxophonist and Grammy-winning artist Marcus Strickland with his band, Twi-Life; Grammy-winning drummer, composer and producer Larnell Lewis; and Fuensata, a singer, double bassist and composer born in the water forest of Veracruz, Mexico, just to name a few.
If you stick around, chances are that you’ll meet some of the artists.
(jammincolors.com)
Grammy-winning artist Marcus Strickland is an associate professor at Frost School of Music.
“You sit under a tree by the beach and you just get to know the artists … they hang out with the fans to be a part of it all,” Lehr said.
When Lehr started pitching funders for cultural arts grants in support of the festival, he promised that people would come from all over the world, “but I had no idea if it would be true. Now, eight years running, it holds true.”
The festival is able to track that close to 64% of the audience will be coming from 48 states and 54 countries. The artists are also coming from all over the world, guaranteeing what is sure to be a kaleidoscope of global talent.
(Maarten Nauw)
Fuensata
Tickets are available at GroundUpMusicFestival.com and run from $65-$180 and up.
Daily Lineup
Friday, Feb. 2
• Snarky Puppy – family dinner set with guest vocalists
• Los Muñequitos de Matanzas & AfroCuba
Saturday, Feb. 3
• Snarky Puppy – full-length set
• Los Muñequitos de Matanzas
• Louis Cole’s Huge Band
• Kinga Glyk featuring Robert “Sput” Searight, Casey Benjamin, Brett Williams & Dominic Xavier Taplin
• Gisela Joāo
• Fuensata
• Etienne Charles & Creole Soul
Sunday, Feb. 4
• Snarky Puppy – full-length set
• Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas
• Nate Wood
• Varijashree Venugopal
• Bassekou Kouyate featuring Weedie Braimah & The Hands of Time Acoustic
• The Joy Lapps Project featuring Larnell Lewis
• Marcus Strickland with Twi-Life
• Elena Pinderhughes
1 of 7
(GroundUp Music Festival)
Festivalgoers lounging on hammocks.
2 of 7
(Akmi Bassekou)
Akmi Bassekou
3 of 7
(Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas)
Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas
4 of 7
Larnell Lewis
5 of 7
Louis Cole
6 of 7
Nate Wood
7 of 7
(GroundUp Music Festival)
Snarky Puppy