‘From the first time a musician went beyond his or her home village, or region, or nation,” percussionist Tony Vacca says, “music has been an ever-expanding, multi-culti hybrid of instruments and ways to play them.” According to Vacca, that is the attitude that fuels the music of Fusion Nomads, a musical collective he launched in 2021 who will perform at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Friday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to Whately resident Vacca, Fusion Nomads includes guitarist John Sheldon of Amherst, bassist and drummer Jo Sallins of Holyoke, multi-instrumentalist Ron Smith of Northampton, and special guest performance poet Tantra Zawadi, who currently resides in Brooklyn.

This accomplished group has an extensive history of playing all types of music worldwide. They have also played in various configurations with each other. According to Vacca, “Their careers have covered everything from pop music to avant-garde, from electro-funkadelic to spirit-guided improv, from western classical music to spoken word, and from old school to new school to no-school-could-teach-this.”

Gather them together in a band that embraces improvisation, and you’ll have a night of innovative, exciting music.

“Expect it to sound like we played together a lot, but we are shaping the journey as we go along,” said Vacca in a recent phone interview. “It’s not loose like we don’t know where we are going, but it’s loose in that we all get to steer.”

Vacca has been working in jazz and world music since the ‘70s. He’s made many trips to West Africa, working with musicians in countries like Senegal; these experiences have greatly informed his approach toward drums, rhythms and beats. As a solo artist and as leader of World Rhythms, Vacca has delighted local audiences and those around the globe by incorporating percussion instruments from around the world and spoken word into his brand of boundary-pushing music. He has released eight recordings under his name and has shared the stage with artists like Sting, Baaba Mall, Don Cherry, and countless other musical luminaries. He also is a member of the local group Do It Now, which features John Sheldon and beat poet Paul Richmond.

Vacca, who grew up in New Jersey and came to the area as a student at the University of Massachusetts, has always been inspired by adventurous music-making.

“Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and Art Ensemble of Chicago all had these recordings that started with an ostinato (a short melodic phrase repeated throughout the song) in one song after another. The bands sounded like they improvised the material, but really they were all sort of rehearsing ... and turning it into something,” said Vacca of his inspiration for Fusion Nomads. “That intrigued me. Whatever they are doing, I want to work like that.”

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In the Spring of 2021, when the world remained shut down due to COVID-19, Vacca sought a way to navigate the difficult times. So he called some friends — musicians he had a long history with — bassist Avery Sharpe, electric violinist and multi-instrumentalist DerrikJordon, and saxophonist Charles Langford.

“I was thinking it might be good for us all to do this recording together in the middle of that storm, because we’re all friends, because we’ve been feeling and carrying some of the weight of that year, because every one of us has spent our lives in music, and because we all felt there was something urgent to communicate.”

“These were people that I knew and played with regularly but had never assembled in that way,” said Vacca of the early roots of Fusion Nomads. “Everybody had played with one or two of the others, but nobody had played with everybody. I said to the guys, ‘I’ll show up with some riffs on the balafon and we’ll take it from there.’ I reminded them that we are all good composers so let’s get together and use the riffs and turn it into something.”

The other musicians were game, so they went to their favorite theater, the then-empty Shea Theater, and filmed themselves creating music. The session went so well that they came back for a second day and brought in guitarist Sheldon. “I look back at the recordings of those sessions and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t composed. Everybody just knew what to do.” The recordings, which show the band creating a spirited world-music blend that defies labeling, were ultimately put up on the Shea Theater’s website.

After doing those two sessions, Vacca felt like there was a special vibe going that had a distinct signature sound that he wanted to take further, and the concert on Friday night is continuing in that direction.

Guitarist John Sheldon is known locally for his work with the rock band Blue Streak, and his one-man show “The Red Guitar,” Jo Sallins has years of working in blues and jazz and world-music, and Ron Smith plays saxophone, percussion, and electric bass and is well-versed in jazz, blues and world-music. He is also the director of music programs at Northfield Mt. Hermon.

That brings us to poet Tantra Zawadi, the author of three books of poetry who has performed poetry to audiences around the world. Among her many accomplishments, she had a residency at Smith College and performs regularly with the Senegal-America Project. The added power that words can bring to music has always been important to Vacca’s work.

This is a small sampling of the many accomplishments of this talented group. To list all their achievements would fill pages. The fact that they are based here in the Valley is evident of all the talent we have living here.

“For the show on Friday, we are working in the same way as the shows at the Shea, but they have a little more time with the themes. Some of the things we’ll play I’ve played both with World Rhythms and Fusion Nomads, and some came right from the Fusion Nomads material that we filmed.

“When Tantra plays with us and performs her poetry with us, it’s always improv but a focused improv,” he added.

This promises to be a one of a kind concert. These musicians have all been around music, around the world, and around each other for decades and when you fuse all that experience together you get an extraordinary performance.

“The music is meant to be a magic carpet ride, for us and for the audience,” said Vacca. “It’s all about the free flow and fusion of ideas in compositions we’ve created together.”

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show is upstairs in the Perch.

Friday night is also your chance to bid farewell to local reggae artist Simon White, who is gearing up to move to Kingston, Jamaica. Hawks & Reed will host a send-off show for White at 8:30 p.m. in the ballroom. The event will feature White performing with his band Rhythm Inc., local reggae band Wheel Out, and Burnie T, a Dominican native who resides in Hartford.

White, who is from Wendell, has been a frequent visitor to Jamaica throughout his life and loves the city of Kingston. White spent some time in the country this winter recording with some of the best producers in the business. It became clear to him that if he was serious about his career in reggae music, he needed to be in Jamaica.

“Though Kingston is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, it has some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, a culture based on love, respect, and unity, And most of all, a culture that is entirely based around music!” He wrote on Facebook. “The reason I’m moving to Kingston is because my career is thriving here, as well as I simply love the Jamaican culture.”

To help finance the move, he has launched a GoFundMe campaign that you can donate to at https://gofund.me/122783f1.

White hopes to come home frequently and possibly keep the projects he established such as the annual Wendell Reggae Festival going. For now, come bid him farewell and wish him the best while enjoying a great night of infectious reggae rhythms, soulful lyrics, and plenty of dancing.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $20 the day of the show. Tickets for Hawks & Reed shows are available at hawksandreed.com or by calling 413-774-0150.

Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at Soundslocal@yahoo.com.