Out in the sloping, snaking streets of Coconut Grove, there are 10,000 Jah-blessed soldiers gathering for a peaceful revolution and they're chanting the opening lines of the Rockaz MVMT mantra: "We are universal people/Young, strong, focused/Modern sages/Armed with sounds and phrases/Using music as our shield/Embracing this battlefield/Called life/Spreading love and compassion."
Founded in Miami over a decade ago, Rockaz MVMT is a production company and an activist organization using the righteous force of reggae music to shock the world out of its collective social coma.
And the MVMT's most recent initiative is a national Feed the Hungry campaign to benefit Curley's House, a local not-for-profit grassroots project serving the elderly, abused, hungry, homeless, and HIV- and AIDS-infected in Overtown, Liberty City, Opa-Locka, Brownsville, and beyond.
Officially, the Rockaz MVMT revolution begins this Saturday with the inaugural Miami Reggae Festival at Peacock Park. And you can join its ranks of socially conscious soldiers just by showing up, bringing a few canned gifts, and chanting the last lines of the MVMT mantra with Puerto Rican reggae crew Cultura Profética, Rastafari survivor Luciano & the Jah Messenjah Band, and young lion Warrior King: "We are history. This is our legacy ... We are an infinite movement of people."
Miami Reggae Festival with Cultura Profética, Luciano, Warrior King, Spam Allstars, Bonnie Casey, Ephniko, Jahfe, and others. Saturday, April 30. Peacock Park, 2820 McFarlane Rd., Coconut Grove. The festival begins at 3 p.m. and admission is free with a donation of two food cans and registration at miamireggaefestival.eventbrite.com. Call 305-763-4509 or visit rockazmvmt.com.
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