Fantuzzi: Global Troubadour at Home on Hawai‘i Island
By Mᾱlielani Larish
Awakening to ocean breezes and bird song, Fantuzzi looks forward to a day of wrestling with rocks, planting trees, and honoring Pele on the land in lower Puna that he calls home. After months of performing in many different locations, it feels unique to finally dedicate his time to rejuvenation at his Ohia Rainforest Sanctuary on Hawai‘i Island.
When he’s not uplifting audiences worldwide as a singer/songwriter who embodies love in action, Fantuzzi returns to Hawai‘i Island as often as he can to do what he’s excelled at for the past 50 years: building community and relationships, promoting respect for nature, and fostering peace and spiritual awareness through the performing arts.
A Living Legend
Fantuzzi rides the wave of art and activism’s intersection, and that is why he has performed and emceed at landmark music festivals and spiritual gatherings since Woodstock’s inception in 1969. His playful spirit, captured by a photographer at the first Woodstock festival, landed him on the cover of Newsweek. He was also at the first Burning Man, the first Rainbow Gathering, and the first Glastonbury Festival in England, and he has brought his joyful, healing, soulful music to more than 150 countries around the globe.
Famous Harvard psychologist and counterculture innovator Timothy Leary called Fantuzzi a “cultural icon.” Fantuzzi has played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Billy Preston, Richie Havens, Babatunde Olatunji, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, and many more. Reflecting the all-encompassing nature of his life experience, Fantuzzi’s music ranges from soothing devotional ballads to sensual salsa and merengue, celebratory Afro-Caribbean Nyabinghi, energizing Afro-funk, and inspiring island reggae. His best-selling CDs include Tribal Revival (2004), Divine Inspiration (2007), and Ease & Grace (2014).
When asked what it’s like to return to his home in lower Puna after a nonstop performance schedule, Fantuzzi says, “It feels like being rewarded for some good works. I never thought I’d have my own piece of land, my own sanctuary. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Autobiography of a Yogi from Spanish Harlem
Growing up poor in New York’s Spanish Harlem, the grim realities of drugs, violence, and suffering dominated Fantuzzi’s early life. He found safe haven in his loving parents, who are of Puerto Rican/native Taíno heritage, and the rhythms that surrounded him: romantic Latin ballads, steamy salsa, Motown grooves, and rock & roll.
Thanks to the mentorship of a total stranger, a schoolteacher from Idaho who saw something unique in a 7-year-old Fantuzzi shoveling snow from his neighbor’s walkway, doors opened for Fantuzzi to experiment with theater and music. By age 12, he nabbed his first acting role in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. He went on to act professionally and served as the musical director for two theatrical dance companies that performed around the world.
At age 14, Fantuzzi discovered yoga when he received an inconspicuous pamphlet written by a sage from India. Enthralled by the teachings that it contained, he told his mother that he had found God, and she replied with an enthusiastic, “Good boy!”
As a “19-year-old, very hungry to be closer to my source,” Fantuzzi traveled to India and was fortunate enough to receive blessings from several renowned spiritual masters of that time, including Ananda Mai Ma, Sridi Sai Baba, and the Mother in Pondicherry.
All of his life experiences, combined with a daily devotional practice, developed Fantuzzi into a “love warrior” whose unfading faith in the power of love knows no limits. It’s just as important to Fantuzzi to feed and clothe a street urchin in Kathmandu (which he did!) as it is for him to embark on an international music tour dedicated to peace, eco-sustainable solutions, and the rights of indigenous peoples.
“If somebody is on the street, lonely, hungry, or really out of it, sometimes I will sit with that person and look them straight in the eye, into the heart and make a connection with them,” Fantuzzi says.
“Wherever the bell rings, that is where we must be,” he reflects. “We don’t have time to sit around and be frustrated about what’s going on—we have to be smart and figure out how we can resolve and heal the situation.”
With this vision of stewardship in mind, Fantuzzi has organized meditation vigils, coordinated efforts to resupply and rebuild Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and delivered TEDx talks that inspire audiences to stand up, sing, and dance. Wherever he goes, Fantuzzi engages those around him through the magic of music and movement, helping people of all ages reconnect with their inherent joy and strength.
Although Fantuzzi’s music has garnered several awards, he describes his true and ongoing “Grammy moment” as hearing his songs played at Rainbow Gatherings. The ideals of non-violence, free expression, and spiritual awareness fostered by Rainbow Gatherings perfectly resonates with Fantuzzi. He attended the first Rainbow Gathering in Boulder, Colorado in 1972 and has attended all but two in the US since then.
Birth and Rebirth
The miracle of birth first brought Fantuzzi to the Hawaiian Islands in 1977. With a second child on the way, his partner and fellow world traveler Lila asked him where he wanted to go next. Always trusting that the Universe conspires to deliver him to the right place at the right time, he replied “Hawai‘i!” without hesitation.
Within minutes of being picked up at the airport on Maui, Fantuzzi landed a job as percussionist in a band called the Heartstrings. Serendipitously, his newborn son was baptized by a dozen kāhuna at a beach on Maui, garnering him the nickname of “dolphin boy.” Enchanted with Maui’s magic, he led spiritual gatherings on secluded beaches, taught Afro-Caribbean dance, and organized giant lū‘au, requiring attendees to pick up trash along the beach before feasting.
Hawai‘i became an essential stop during Fantuzzi’s annual world pilgrimages. In a typical year, Fantuzzi may lend his charisma to Maui’s Sufi Camp, play at Maui’s Earth Day, visit Kaua‘i to perform at Mirabai Devi’s Sanctuary, and hold intimate concerts on Hawai‘i Island at places like Uncle Robert’s, Kukuau Studio, and Pāhoa’s Lava Shack. In 2011 he discovered the acreage in lower Puna that would become the Ohia Rainforest Sanctuary.
Fantuzzi returns to the sanctuary often. This year he was blessed to be able to return four times so far. He relishes the opportunity to engage in physical labor on his land, musing that, “it makes me turn into a superhero!” He feels rejuvenated and inspired by his idylls at the sanctuary and anticipates the day when his time spent in Hawai‘i waxes while his time on the road wanes.
Giving of Abundance
Hawai‘i Island’s wild, unsurpassed beauty convinced Fantuzzi to fold his wings and rest here. He delights in giving away buckets of liliko‘i and 40-pound jackfruits harvested from his land. He loves the fact that one can play in the snow on Maunakea’s summit and swim at a gorgeous beach within a single day. As a natural-born “fish,” he revels in long distance swims and the chance to gaze into the eyes of the dolphins and whales that may cross his path.
The value of mālama ‘āina (caring for the land) is of great importance to Fantuzzi. That’s why he has organized clean-ups to restore the beauty of the coastline and “prayer-formances” to honor the sacredness of the land. With his friend and mentor, Uncle Kaliko, Fantuzzi has participated in many ceremonies for the land, and he has teamed with Kaliko to offer rites at the sanctuary that incorporate Hawaiian prayers in a traditional Lakota sweat lodge ceremony. In addition to the yoga, music, and storytelling that Fantuzzi invites the community to enjoy at his home, he envisions using the land to host a nature-based camp for local youth.
Fantuzzi helped conceive two popular festivals in lower Puna that highlight our sacred relationship with Mother Earth: MAnaFest and FlowFest. MAnafest is a three-day zero waste event dedicated to the celebration of the sacred feminine through music, movement, workshops, and healing arts. FlowFest celebrates community and honors the earth through three days of inspirational facilitators, performances, and visual arts.
No matter where he travels, the people he meets “make the place” for Fantuzzi. He loves that the spirit of aloha is alive and well on Hawai‘i Island, where he has experienced this generosity in his relationships. He is dear friends with Sam Keli‘iho‘omalu, Uncle Robert’s son, who helped found the Uncle Robert’s Farmers’ Market with his brothers. Fantuzzi enjoys spending time with one of his best friends from childhood, Gabriel de Silva, a successful musician and artist, who lives a mile away from him. As hānai (adopted) brothers who survived New York’s gritty streets together, Fantuzzi encouraged Gabriel’s transition to Hawai‘i.
Fantuzzi will always continue to give back, fed by the wellspring of gratitude bubbling up within his heart. “From home in Puna,” he says with an infectious smile, “I will blast out to the world all the good vibrations that God gives me to sing out.”
Fantuzzi can be booked for solo or group performances, children’s shows, vocal coaching, and workshops in dance, drumming, and yoga. Each time a person buys Fantuzzi’s music or donates to his website, that donation supports his efforts to promote world peace. ❖
For more information: fantuzzimusic.com and facebook.com/FantuzziMusic2
