People

Making the Movement Move

Medicine for the People is a third year non-profit organization working with every kind of community imaginable to rekindle old traditions and spark the fire within the youth and elders to live their truths; to use your personal medicine and heal the wounds around us.
Since 2011, the non-profit has been renamed and under new management - For Unity – www.4unityproject.org
We’re proud to announce new projects coming in 2012 with 4 Unity and Medicine for the People!

Spirited thump-hop storytelling. Unless you’re familiar with Medicine for the People, you may have never heard this self-described genre before. But tune into their recordings, and most likely, you’ll quickly find that as proclaimed in their hit song, ‘Vultures of Culture,’ ‘it all starts to make sense.’ That is, their music and their message.

Established as a non-profit organization in the winter of 2008, Big Island- and Portland-based Medicine for the People travel near and far using music as their vehicle to foster self-action and healing. Their lyrics and activities make it clear that at the center of their mission lies the belief that the power of inclusion will always overshadow the walled-boundaries of exclusion. It should thus come as no surprise that their songs and performances draw you in with supreme force and magnetic charm.

With so much of its focus on the message, Medicine for the People have naturally employed modern technologies, namely YouTube, to create a giant, worldwide camp fire. Have a look at the videos linked below, and you’ll see that it’s burning Big and Bright. Compelling storytelling, contagious beats and jarring vocals (think Jack Johnson meets Michael Franti on an Indian reservation) all add up to make for an engaging experience for many. Whereas most unsigned bands struggle to garner a few hundred YouTube views and Facebook friends, Medicine for the People’s videos have attracted over 20,000 viewers, and they’ve already made friends with nearly 2,500 people on their still-fresh journey.

A community experience. Spirited thump-hop storytelling. Earth-based-spirit-inspired. Working for social and environmental justice. Musical medicine. Our band tours and performs at benefits to support causes for other non-profits aligned with a similar vision. Please contact us if you have an event that we might be able to help get moving with our music! Be a part of the global movement. We will activate our audience towards positive direct action; a selfless tribe, caretakers of the land, walking in a sacred manner.

Live by example. Live your truth. Sing loud. Be heard.

Nahko Parayno

Anchoring that attraction are the acoustic melodies and raw, penetrating vocals of band leader, Nahko Bear. Part Native American and part Puerto Rican, Nahko looks as though he would be equally comfortable in the forests of Oregon or jungles of Hawaii, and those locales are exactly where he calls home. His musical journey began at an early age with Nahko taking gigs working as a piano instructor before he even graduated from high school.  This guy’s bio needs major repair – but, he basically got the call while in Alaska that he needed to learn how to live off the land.  Tickets were cheap and Pele had another thang up her sleeve – so off he goes, joining WWOOF and scooting around the island for a year he eventually settles up Hamakua with ‘ol Seven Feathers – and thus begins most of the epic stories heard off Medicine’s freshman EP On the Verge.  Founding Medicine for the People in 2008 with Max and Hope – Don, Jeanna, Bailey, Tim and a myriad of other rotating musicians formed around the tiny little brown man with a big voice and nice teeth.

Bailey Scott

Bailey Scott brings high energy stage presence, and inspiring visual aids of dance. Story telling by interpretive dance with the music to offer a kinetic venue of lyrical understanding. A trained gymnast, acrobat and ariel dancer born and raised on the farm in Minnesota. A singer/songwriter herself, she adds vocals, hand percussion, and descriptive movements to the band.

Being raised in the heart of conventional agriculture she understands the destruction that the current methods of farming are doing to the land. One of her main focuses through Medicine for the People is bringing awareness to the environmental issues facing our Mother Earth, and the need to shift to a balanced respectful approach to the land and it’s species. Promoting simple sustainable living through her work she is determined to spread inspiration to all, to heal individually resulting in a collective movement for a hopeful future!

Max Ribner

The Jazz fusion and funk in MFTP is brought by Connecticut native and Berklee School of Music graduate Max Ribner. His ingenious, creative, and tasteful flugle horn lines draw listeners of all ages near and his sparkling eyes catch everyone’s attention. His raw food diet has become a traditional talking point at MFTP shows and his love for simplistic living continues to show even in his music. Max collaborates with many musicians in Portland and is making quite a name for himself in various communities in the NW.

Hope Medford

The tribal and traditional sound comes from percussionist, Kentucky raised, and Portland based, J.J. Hope Medford. You’ll never meet a woman who can play the bass cajon or djembe like Ms. Medford. She has studied internationally- in West Africa, Peru (the home of the cajon drum), and Brazil and continues to be inspired by multicultural rhythms. J.J. has been hand drumming for over a decade and has been blessed with taking workshops from such masters as Babatunde Olatunje, Thione Diop, Carolyn Brandy, Antonino Balaskas, Fomodou Konote, and Mamady Keita.

Drumming is a spiritual path and the rhythm unites us all through the heartbeat. Hope brings high energy and driving beats through the bass cajon box drum and her off-stage vibrations. Hope has created environments for others to experience the power of hearing their own voice on the drum, she has co-facilitated drum circles in schools, libraries, and community centers for over 2,500 participants and youth in the Portland area. She is also an artist, a painter, community activist, certified in permaculture design, co-founder of Tryon Life Community Farm sustainability education center, a drum instructor, birth assistant, and midwife. She has been playing with Medicine for the People for almost a year, and has enjoyed all of it!

Don Corey

Don Corey Berklee school of Music grad lays down the bass line with stand up bass and electric bass.  Based in Portland with his family Dunnell and new daughter Grace Moon, he stays busy with teaching music lessons and collaborating with other bands.  Don brings a great presence on and off the stage with his love for music and unique sense of style.