photo by Jay Blakesberg

It’s been 25 years since the release of Mickey Hart’s innovative, influential Planet Drum album. On this recording, which went on to win the first-ever Grammy for Best World Music Album, the Grateful Dead drummer was joined by fabled musicians from around the world, such as: Babatunde Olatunji,  Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Vikku Vinayakram, Giovanni Hidalgo and Frank Colón. In honor of this, a special 25^th Anniversary Edition is now available. The album has been remastered, with three previously unreleased bonus tracks and is now available on CD and digital, with vinyl pre-orders now underway as well (click here to purchase in the format of your choice).

Today we are premiering a special live performance of “Island Groove” from Planet Drum. Hart tells Relix that the song “is the soft side of percussion. It is a slow, simple 4/4 samba of ashiko rhythm, based on the sounds of the Yoruban consonants: go, pa, gun. Put together, they become drum talk. This song evolved as the rhymes one person played reminded another of something in their own background. We were able to collectively draw upon our various cultural traditions and contribute individually to the creation of this composition.”