Knoxville.com

We grew up in Knoxville, TN, to the sounds of James Brown & Motown, Grateful Dead & Talking Heads. Learning to rock with Led Zeppelin & Queen, & how to love from Al Green. Remembering my first dance and hearing Michael Jackson and losing my virginity to Van Morrison. It was Neil Young and Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, George Clinton, Doc Watson, and Yonder Mountain that wrote the soundtrack of our lives. We began as rebellious kids banging heads to Nirvana, heavy metal & punk, but discovered a better way with Thelonious Monk, folk and funk. We were raised on bluegrass in the heart of Appalachia, where heroes like Johnny Cash will always be remembered and everywhere you go you can hear Lynyrd Skynyrd. We thank bands like Phish and String Cheese for allowing us to discover how music can lift you into the breeze. Traveling has definitely given us a more eclectic dynamic as our sound has developed, bringing home rhythms from Africa, Australia, and the Middle East, and the individual empowerment spread through Reggae’s message of social betterment. We visited the stars with Ravi Shankar, made friends with plants in native chants, and found nature's thunder in the music from down under. It was a long way from the Deftones to the Flecktones, but that was what it took to make our music what it is today.

Ga-Na-Si-Ta is a Cherokee term meaning "dogwood." Ga-Na-Si-Ta’s sound derives from an eclectic mix of musical influences such as jazz, funk, bluegrass, Celtic, indigenous tribal percussion, and "jam" music, to name just a few. The group's membership varies depending on the venue and individuals' schedules; however, the band always includes Wilbur (drums), Keeny (guitar & mandolin), Joey (bass, guitar, banjo, and didjeridoo), and Matt (didjeridoo and drums). The band's sound found its origins during Matt Galaher and Joey Jaccard's journey across the outback of Australia, which began as part of their studies in anthropology and art (respectively) and evolved into something more profound. Through the musical influences mentioned above, their experiences with aboriginal "dreamtime" ritual songs & performances, and their studies of the didjeridoo, they developed a knowledge of music’s healing abilities, its capacity for spiritual cultivation, and its ability to serve as a tool for cultural exchange & the transgenerational transmission of culture. Ga-Na-Si-Ta was born out of the combination of Matt & Joey's developing indigenous musical style with Keeny and Will's more structured, traditional, composed, progressive-Western influenced styles of music. The didjeridoo & drums remain key components of Ga-Na-Si-Ta's sound, serving as the natural roots propelling the powerful & pulsating music that has become their trademark sound. The band’s performances are almost entirely improvisational, making each one a unique and different experience for both the audience and the band. Ga-Na-Si-Ta seeks to explore music that lives only during the moments in which it is played & heard. The energy and vibe this creates sets the stage for the sound that is produced on any particular night. Ga-Na-Si-Ta thrives on the metaphysical dynamic of spontaneous musical creation and interpretation. That's the way we like it! Ga-Na-Si-Ta find their inspiration in the styles of traditional peoples & cultures from all corners of the globe. The band incorporates instruments from Africa, India, Australia, Turkey, England, Appalachia, and South America. Their music is percussion driven, allowing room for various stringed instruments to take turns navigating the groove in whatever direction it takes. The band members' travels all over the world give them a unique knowledge, experience, and consciousness of music’s universal vibrations, resulting in a sound that transcends all cultural boundaries & regional styles. Ga-Na-Si-Ta have found their own niche in pan-global sounds, seeking to establish themselves in modern music by offering something fresh and satisfying to Western audiences, many of whom have told us they were spiritually, socially, and sensorally starved for something different from the many similar "cookie-cutter" bands that seem to dominate popular music. Ga-Na-Si-Ta's audiences are an indispensable part of the music, as Ga-Na-Si-Ta channels the energy and atmosphere created by everyone present at the performance. It is music meant to speak to the soul, eluding time and space, eliding time and space, quenching the thirstiest of spirits, giving pulse to the most desicated musical veins, and flow to sclerotic cultural bloodstreams. When the music starts pumping, you can feel it take life in your heart, spreading quickly through the body, and before you know it you’re dancing without control or concern, smiles beaming from every face, lighting up the room like the sun. Everyone can feel its warm embrace. Ga-Na-Si-Ta's music manifests pure euphoric sensations in all who hear it, which is why Ga-Na-Si-Ta continues to attract larger and more vibrant audiences with every performance. A Ga-Na-Si-Ta show is a spiritual, physical, transformational experience not to be missed!