![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloSpeaker-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Cannabis breeders use the
\nterm \u201chybrid vigor\u201d
\nto describe the vibrant strength of plants created by crossing two different
\ncultivars from vastly different places, and it\u2019s a concept that also comes to
\nmind when considering the traveling musical carnival known as Gogol Bordello.
\nWith seven current members hailing from disparate countries, this
\ncross-cultural phenomena originally took root in New York City in the late \u201990s,
\nand has since toured the globe, powered by their distinctive blend of gypsy
\nfolk and East Coast punk rock. <\/p>\n
Taking the stage close to midnight on the first day of the Emerald Cup<\/a> \u2014 California\u2019s premier cannabis competition and festival \u2014 Gogol Bordello shook up the tired, stoned crowd with \u201cNot a Crime<\/a>,\u201d off of their 2005 \u2018Gypsy Punks\u2019 album, which features a raucous chorus that also served as a worthy anthem to kick off a concert at the one of the world\u2019s first cannabis events featuring fully compliant, legal sales to the public. <\/p>\n In the old time it was Whipping up a frenetic mosh pit towards the front of the stage, frontman Eugene H\u00fctz strutted back and forth, dressed in a shiny black robe emblazoned with rasta-colored cannabis leaves, alternatively playing an acoustic guitar and splashing the front row with wine from a bottle clutched alongside his microphone. Primus frontman and Sonoma local Les Claypool then made a guest appearance on \u201cTrans-Continental Hustle<\/a>,\u201d a song that praises \u201ccross-pollination,\u201d one of the central themes espoused by H\u00fctz, himself a Ukranian immigrant.<\/p>\n With a fresh album out called \u2018Seekers & Finders<\/a>\u2019 and an East Coast tour planned for next March, Gogol Bordello concerts promote a refreshing antidote to the xenophobic fear-mongering of current politics. So they were right at home playing at the Emerald Cup to a temporary city of farmers, traders and smokers brought together by their mutual love of cannabis and dedicated to perpetuating a new carnival culture based on compassion, consciousness and community. <\/p>\n Cannabis Cannabis Now: Is cannabis Eugene H\u00fctz: <\/strong>Cannabis has been in and out of my life and it\u2019s in a fabric of everything we enjoy music-wise. It\u2019s inseparable from so many beloved melodies and poems. The ambiance of it is always there in the art and music that we fall back on. As a band that\u2019s so closely tied to carnival culture, where it\u2019s all about celebration, we are more like an art carnival, music, songwriting, storytelling band. But there is that aspect of carnival \u2014 it\u2019s a social equalizer, that\u2019s what carnival is. As a person who saw it up close and personal living six years in Brazil<\/a>, I understood that it\u2019s not about the facade of it. Carnival isn\u2019t about the facade and the flamboyance, it\u2019s about social equalization. It\u2019s the only time that a worker, a dentist, an athlete, a musician, a taxi driver and a lawyer all walk down the street singing the same song \u2014 and that does a lot of healing for social life. <\/p>\n In the past, you\u2019ve Well, that idea is not mine, it\u2019s a mystical idea that\u2019s been around for thousands of years and there\u2019s a reason that it\u2019s been around for so long because that\u2019s the real reality of it. We\u2019re all an organism. From space, we can be observed as nothing but one colony of cells. The politics of separation reeks of the dark ages instantly, so anything that can put you on the track of thinking that it\u2019s much more worthwhile to live a life of compassion is very valuable. Compassion is a sign of understanding that we are all one. Why would you want to mistreat yourself?<\/p>\n I\u2019m wondering how you feel about the cannabis legalization<\/a> that\u2019s happening in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n It seemed to be lurking Have No, I haven\u2019t. I\u2019m I\u2019m very interested to Yeah, it\u2019s an important I know you have such an incredible reputation for high energy, immersive live performances. Are these performances a spiritual experience for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Very much so. It\u2019s incredibly uplifting before anything. The very secret of its uplifting quality is the chemistry of the personalities that we have in the band. The openness of people in the band to experiencing each other\u2019s cultures, because we\u2019re all coming from different countries. We\u2019re a New York City<\/a>-based band, but we come from not only different countries but different continents. The self-rejuvenating aspect of it is that openness and also by being able to propel that kind of energy between the band onstage and then communicate it to the crowd is what built the whole legend and the bubble of Gogol Bordello mythology. It\u2019s a very interactive, all-inclusive communal celebration feeling.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a dark time, I don\u2019t know, after a How can people live up to Yes, I am optimistic. I Music and art have a lot to do with it \u2014 you\u2019ve probably heard of experiments<\/a> where they\u2019ll have 30 to 40 people meditate in a certain city with the intention to decrease the crime rate, and that\u2019s not some anecdote, that\u2019s actually been done and it actually brings down the crime rate because the vibration of the city transforms to an extent. I think art and music does that \u2014 they\u2019re meditators who help that process, that\u2019s how I see it. It works in another way where you don\u2019t need to understand the intricacies of the political situation but as long as you are an artist and meditator, it does the job for a greater harmony to evolve.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re not traveling Traveling and working on music is only a fraction of my life. Most of the time, I\u2019m writing things, whether it\u2019s songs, future scripts or a novel \u2014 that\u2019s a whole other conversation. Mostly my creative daily operation revolves around writing in its various forms.<\/p>\n Is there anywhere in the Of course, tons of places! Well, I hope you feel Yeah! I think we will. We TELL US<\/strong>, who is your favorite musical artist?<\/p>\n Originally published in Issue 35 of Cannabis Now. LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The post Q&A: The Hybrid Vigor of Gogol Bordello<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Cannabis breeders use the term \u201chybrid vigor\u201d to describe the vibrant strength of plants created by crossing two different cultivars from vastly different places, and it\u2019s a concept that also comes to mind when considering the traveling musical carnival known as Gogol Bordello. With seven current members hailing from disparateContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":34180,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1104,50,478,9571,6719,85,7260,89,593,86],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34181,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34179\/revisions\/34181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nnot a crime \/ Drop the charges \/ Not a crime<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNow
\ncaught up with H\u00fctz a few days before Gogol\u2019s Emerald Cup performance for a
\nwide-ranging discussion of cannabis legalization, spirituality and human
\nintegration. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloSpeaker.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloCloseUp.jpg\")
\nsomething you enjoy? Does it help with your creative process?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\ntalked about human integration and how we\u2019re all one big human family. Do you
\nthink the influence of cannabis can help people see past the politics of
\nseparation?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nin the near future for quite a while. It\u2019s exciting and it\u2019s a celebration
\nacross the board about that. <\/p>\n
\nyou been inside any of the cannabis retail stores yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\ncuriously observing the whole thing and we\u2019ll check it out. It\u2019s an exciting
\npage that\u2019s suddenly here. I know for many people it\u2019s not a new page because
\nthey\u2019ve been working on it for so long, but for most people, it\u2019s an exciting
\nand uplifting development.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloViolin.jpg\")
\nsee what you think of the Emerald Cup; it\u2019s this enormous event with all of
\nthese farmers who come to show off their cannabis so it\u2019s a very beautiful
\nplace. <\/strong><\/p>\n
\nstatement, too, that it is deeply connected to musicality, communication and
\nsense of community. It\u2019s a helping thing, an asset, an ally. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloAudienceReaction.jpg\")
\nwith authoritarian politics rising in the U.S. and Brazil. When politicians
\nscapegoat immigrants, what are they trying to distract the public from?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nwhile, I felt like I can\u2019t make any sense out of it. Even years back, I just
\nrealized that it\u2019s impossible to understand. I really don\u2019t know\u2026 I started
\nsiding with poetry and music that doesn\u2019t see its credo in trying to crack any
\nsort of political issue because essentially political issues are operating on a
\ndifferent frequency.<\/p>\n
\ntheir maximum human potential? Are you optimistic for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nthink that the world always has yin and yang energies fighting or coexisting
\nand dark times always brings a new lotus to the surface. That\u2019s why the lotus
\nis used in Buddhism so much as a symbol of higher vibration and wisdom because
\nlotus grows on top of dirt. It\u2019s something that appears out of what you could
\ncall dark times. That\u2019s pretty much the flow of the planet, it will still flow
\nand rejuvenate itself and find its next level of enlightenment. <\/p>\n
\nand working on music, what do you like to do to relax?<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GogolBordelloFullBandShot.jpg\")
\nworld you haven\u2019t been yet that you\u2019d really like to go?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI haven\u2019t been to Asia at all and there\u2019s places I\u2019d love to go back to. One of
\nthe beauties of traveling the world extensively is that you develop a sense of
\nhomecoming towards a lot of places. When we go to Italy now or Argentina, there
\nwill be a sense of adventure, but also homecoming, so it\u2019s a homecoming
\nadventure, which is how we like it.<\/p>\n
\nvery much at home when you visit Northern California\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nhave a great history there and a great following. It\u2019s an extra-celebratory
\nvibe that\u2019s in the works this time. We\u2019re not going to be dragging anyone to
\nthe higher frequencies at the Emerald Cup, they\u2019re already halfway there. <\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Q&A: The Hybrid Vigor of Gogol Bordello<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"