Reggae returns to the Vilar Performing Arts Center with SOJA and HIRIE

The Vail Valley Foundation recently issued the following press release on a special Valentine’s Day reggae show at the Vilar Performing Arts Center (VPAC):

Fall in love with Grammy award winning reggae band SOJA when they perform a Valentine’s Day show at the Vilar Performing Arts Center (VPAC), with openers HIRIE, in Beaver Creek on Feb. 14. In 2022, the band made history for being the first American Reggae-Rock group to win a Grammy for “Beauty of Silence” (2021). 

“Hosting another acclaimed Reggae artist is long overdue on the VPAC stage,” says Cameron Morgan, VPAC Executive Director.  “It’s been since 2019 we enjoyed Stephen Marley and Toots & The Maytals. What better way to bring this sound back into our room than a huge night with 2 incredible Reggae bands: HIRIE & SOJA.”

Reggae as a genre has a massive global footprint, and SOJA has risen to become one of the great bands in the next generation of reggae. They’ve drawn on influences from world music, jam, rock, funk, and hip hop to develop an original sound and push the genre forward. 

SOJA, which stands for “Soldiers of Jah Army,” is based in Arlington, Virginia. The eight-member band formed in 1997. For nearly a quarter century, SOJA have elated audiences across the globe with their take on roots reggae, a sound born from their shared passion for making music that transports and inspires. 

On “Beauty in the Silence” — released in 2021 — the two-time Grammy Award-nominated band deepens that communal spirit by collaborating with artists from all over the reggae world, including the likes of UB40, Slightly Stoopid, Stick Figure, and Rebelution. 

Openers HIRIE bring the heart

Also hear vibrant reggae pop from California-based HIRIE, set to open the show. 

Hirie, the band’s frontwoman, considers herself a global citizen thanks to her father’s job with the United Nations. She was born in the Philippines, spent years in Italy and finally settled in Hawaii, which is where she fell in love with reggae music. Irie, a popular reggae term, is a warm greeting as well as a positive mindset. Add an “H” (after Hawaii) and you have HIRIE, a seven-piece band hailing from San Diego, Calif., that seeks to offer an uplifting message to music lovers. 

“Hirie is a lifestyle choice, it’s about healing the body, the mind, and the spirit,” said the band’s lead singer who has taken the band’s name as her own. “Our fans and our band are always saying ‘let’s get HIRIE,’ it’s a way to detach from the painful complexities of the world, and bask in joyous energy.”

For more information about VPAC’s schedule and to purchase tickets, visit vilarpac.org or call 970-845-8497.