Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Let’s start today’s podcast with a little anecdote. 

The text from my friend Jennifer Brazill, President of the Borderland Festival, arrived about 18 months back. 

“Are you interested in producing, mixing and mastering an album for a reggae-based band from Micronesia, through a grant from National Geographic?”

“Um… well, *** yes, I’m interested. Details???”

Thus began a journey that culminated in a performance at the Borderland Festival on Saturday, September 13, when founding members of the band Ulithian Vibes traveled from Guam and Hawaii to Western New York, to be joined by a cast of Buffalo musicians for their first international public performance. 

It was immediately following this performance at Borderland that today’s podcast was recorded. 

During this episode, you’ll hear Jerry, Konner and Kira - three of the singers who form the Ulithian Vibes collective - along with manager and project coordinator Samantha Stollenwerck, who travelled from Germany to oversee the band’s visit to Buffalo, discuss the way their group formed as a means of preserving  the culture and traditions of the island of Ulithi for future generations, through a marriage of music and storytelling. 

We also discussed the Ulithian Vibes album. You can find that album, which you’re hearing excerpts from in the background right now, wherever you stream music.

 I hope you’ll get a sense of why I fell in love with the band’s story and its music, and how much being involved in this project has meant to me, and to my colleagues as well. 

I have a feeling you’ll fall in love with it, too. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, Ulithian Vibes.