FAMU’s Marching 100 gets invite to perform in California for a Juneteenth Homecoming event

Florida A&M University’s highly acclaimed Marching 100 band recently announced that it will be traveling to San Jose, California for a Juneteenth Homecoming festival in Santa Clara County.

The performance Saturday, June 17 — two days ahead of the Juneteenth national holiday — comes after the African American Community Service Agency sent the invite about a month ago for the band to be a part of its annual showcase, which usually attracts an average of 6,000 attendees.

The agency provides services that promote the participation of Black people in Santa Clara County, and the festival — which will be held from noon to 7 p.m. — marks its 42nd year of producing the event to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States and 158 years of freedom for African Americans.

“It's very exciting to know that we're still in demand,” FAMU Director of Bands and Professor of Music Shelby Chipman told the Tallahassee Democrat Thursday. “It’s exciting to have this opportunity of knowing that at any point we may pick up the phone to hear that somebody’s wanting to fly us all the way across the country to perform at something as significant as this.”

The agency’s cultural arts department, which is familiar with the Marching 100, reached out to Chipman after viewing the band’s past iconic performances.

Around this time last year, the FAMU band was rehearsing in preparation for its global appearance in France as it took the summer trip to performed at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Paris Fashion Week Show, which was live streamed worldwide.

As the Marching 100 will become the first HBCU (historically Black college or university) band to perform at the agency’s festival, the event also celebrates the distinct milestone of Santa Clara County becoming the first county to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday ahead of its recognition as an official national holiday in 2021.

More on Juneteenth: Juneteenth is Sunday. What's the significance behind the federal holiday?

Fifty-five band students along with five staff members — including Chipman, Assistant Director of Bands Darryl Baker, Band Equipment Manager Donald Beckwith and the media — will take part in the all-expenses paid trip, where they will depart Friday June 16 and return to Tallahassee Sunday June 18.

The festival’s entertainment segment will also include main headliner and FAMU alumna K. Michelle, an artist and television personality known for her past role in “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” as well as Gospel headliner Lena Byrd Miles.

Past headliners at the event have included artists such as Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans and Brandy.

Related news: How much does it cost for FAMU's Marching 100 to travel for games? It is 'quite pricey'

While the band will be performing some of its normal repertoire such as “S.O.S” and “Do Whatcha Wanna,” it will also be adding its Rattler flavor while playing a special selection of “California Love” (the remix) by Dr. Dre featuring Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and 2Pac.

The band’s performance will be followed by a march to a nearby city park during the festival.

In January, the band took part in an an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles, California to perform at a basketball tournament at the University of South California’s Galen Center, which was an event sponsored by Nike and LeBron James.

That trip was the band’s first return to California since its performance in the 2019 Rose Parade performance in Pasadena, California, where over 200 students played at the 130th annual event to celebrate New Year’s Day as part of the Tournament of Roses.

More on band's California performances: FAMU Marching 100 set to perform in Los Angeles at Nike, LeBron James-sponsored event

More: Florida A&M 'Marching 100' takes off for the Rose Parade - and more in California

To add on to the band’s various appearances, an invitation to perform at the fourth annual National Battle of the Bands event in Houston, Texas this August has also been extended, although the university has not yet confirmed if they will accept the invite.

Members of the Tallahassee community are welcome to watch the band rehearse Thursday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on FAMU’s campus ahead of their departure.

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU’s Marching band to perform in California for Juneteenth weekend