Light Warriors promote unity with new album

CT-BASED BAND RELEASES NEW ALBUM TO COMBAT HUNGER AND PROMOTE THE CONCEPT OF “ONENESS”

Blending rock, funk and reggae with indie sensibilities, the Light Warriors is a Connecticut-based band with members from New Haven, Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport.

On March 5, the band released “Book of One,” a new album-length single that includes nine different versions of its song “One,” with reinterpretations being contributed by international artists around the globe.

Among the countries represented are Diné Tribe (part of the Navajo nation), Ghana, Ethiopia and Jamaica.

Proceeds from sales of the album are being used to support the hunger nonprofit WhyHunger, founded by the late “Cats in the Cradle” singer Harry Chapin.

Guest artists on the album include Lyla June Johnston (Diné Tribe), Kwadjo Spiri (Ghana), David Culture, aka Ruff Scott, of Easy Star All Stars (Jamaica), Sydney Salmon (Ethiopia), Shane Digital (Brooklyn), Mistaish (Brooklyn) and Stenny Sten (Connecticut).

Erik Rabasca, Light Warriors’ vocalist and guitarist, explained these covers range in musical styles — from hip-hop, reggae and funk to trap, dub, dance and improvisation — and shouldn’t be considered remixes, but rather reconstructions sharing meditations on topics of unity, inter-spirituality, generational cycles, transformation and, of course, oneness.

“It’s as much audio essays on oneness as it is a unified musical statement from international artists calling for oneness,” he said.

Rabasca started the band in 2015 as a solo project, and it evolved into a full band in recent years. Today, the Light Warriors feature Steven Jean Baptiste on drums, Kris Brewer on saxophone, Angel Sanchez on bass, Liz Page doing backing vocals, Karen Johnstone on keyboards and Jamarr Jabari on percussion/rap.

“We all knew each other for a number of years and would jam in the local Connecticut music scene at all these open mics and random jam sessions,” Brewer said. “It wasn’t until 2019 when we came together as a band in full.”

According to Rabasca, the band played roughly 30 to 40 shows before last February, and then the pandemic hit.

“All our momentum went out the window, just like a lot of other artists out there,” Rabasca said. “Everyone had work, personal and family challenges, but we got through them and are on the other side of those challenges.”

By summer, the Light Warriors started revisiting the music. The song “One” originally was released on Juneteenth in the wake of George Floyd’s death and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests. Proceeds from sales of that single benefited the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and The Brotherhood/Sister Sol.

That original version of “One” has now been remixed and reworked, kicking off the nine versions on “Book of One.”

“During the summer, we started doing music again, but it’s tough because there are seven people in the band and everyone has jobs, so it’s sometimes tough to make it happen,” Rabasca said.

“I have connections to a good community of artists, so we started working to get other versions of the song.”

For instance, Baptiste did a hiphop version with his brother on vocals, and Brewer did a saxophone version of the song. He used four saxophones overall and built around that sound.

“This was a natural thing and something I felt I needed to get out of me,” Brewer said. “I think it worked and especially worked along with everyone else’s version. I looked at what that ‘one’ means to me. I’m in love with it.”

Next, Rabasca started started contacting musicians from around the world.

“I met Kwadjo Spiri out of Ghana and Sydney Salmon out of Ethiopia when I went on a trip to Ethiopia back in 2018, when I started an international peace delegation,” he said.

The whole process, he noted, was done very organically, with the sole purpose of everyone who committed to help to serve the music.

“In doing so, we are creating a little bit of a community here in a time of isolation and in a time of division,” Rabasca said.

Jabari has a long background with grassroots activism work and during the pandemic has served as community organizer director for the Waterbury nonprofit Life in My Days, which provides aid all over Connecticut.

“The verse that I laid on this project came from the heart as well, being someone who is from the marginalized community,” he said. “The power dynamics and the diversity in coalition, such as having people from Africa, really speaks volumes and should inspire anyone who listens to this type of music.”

The recording was done in Rabasca’s home studio under his own record label, Highest Frequency Records. Using the power of technology and file transfers, he was able to stitch everything together seamlessly.

“We sent the basic track to all of the artists and people would send back their verses,” Rabasca said. “I would rebuild their tracks with the help of the band, and take the instrumentation that these guys did and lay them in if we all couldn’t physically get together. Before we knew it, we had nine versions.”

The Light Warriors will be part of a live stream on March 21 called the Eco-Conscious Music Alliance and playing versions of the “One” song.

“Oneness is a little different than unity; it’s something that everyone can relate to,” Rabasca said.

“We are all for unity, but a lot of people don’t do the hard work of coming together in a way needed. Food is something everyone in the world needs, and you can’t get more aligned spiritually. We’re really building something interesting here.”

The band is hoping to do a follow-up recording in the next year with even more versions of the song and inviting other artists from around the world.

For more information about the Light Warriors and the “Book of One” recording, visit www.sonicbids.com/band/light-warriors.

THE LIGHT WARRIORS WILL BE PART OF A LIVESTREAM ON MARCH 21 CALLED THE ECO-CONSCIOUS MUSIC ALLIANCE AND PLAYING VERSIONS OF THE “ONE” SONG.