Album Notes

I hear ya. What the heck is a Fantuzzi?

"Since you asked, I'd describe myself as a global troubadour and fun master," said the mono-monikered world beat musician. "I've brought celebration and joy to circles pretty much all over the globe for the last 25 or 30 years."

He proved it, too, with tales of musical travels to faraway places - Bali, Morocco, Brazil, Jamaica, India, Israel, Puna.

"I'm a Puna-tic all the way, braddah," Fantuzzi said of his five years on the Big Island in the mid-'80s.

Fantuzzi claimed San Francisco as his base, but confessed that wherever he lay one of his many hats was home. Since 1992, he's been globe-trotting on a self-financed, open-ended "Save the Earth Tour and World Peace Pilgrimage" of music and peace sharing.

"Explain it? I'd love to write a book about it someday," Fantuzzi said of the tour/pilgrimage. "It has a lot to do with giving your all wherever you go, and being happy with whatever you get."

Genial to a fault and crazy charismatic, Fantuzzi finds venues to perform in and friends to perform with wherever he goes. Sometimes he stays days, sometimes a month.

Trying to remain a free spirit in the modern world, however, isn't always a walk in Eden. Inflexible airline schedules in particular frustrate the 52-year-old. Still, he is nothing if not optimistic. His mission: spreading peace. His goal: nothing short of world peace.

Fantuzzi's travel stories (ask him about Woodstock and the rattlesnake that nearly killed him) almost made me forget to ask about his music.

"I've lately called the music mystical, Afro-funkadelic, Latin reggae," he said, chuckling. It's a mouthful he'll be showcasing tonight with a couple of Honolulu-based musician friends at "Solstice Sounds," a party at Soullenz Studio in Chinatown. Fantuzzi will sing, play guitar and handle some percussion.

Fantuzzi went on to spin yarns about meeting and jamming off-stage with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and on-stage with Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Billy Preston, Babatunde Olatunji and even Tommy Chong. He ended our chat with the kind of life reflection that only a global troubadour and fun master could possess.

"I like my freedom, bro. I've had the most amazing, free life. I can choose to go anywhere anytime. It's a huge blessing. And I'll go wherever the wind blows me.

more at FantuzziMusic.com