By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2019 — Having completed the South American segment of his “Vibration Tour 2019” in Sao Paulo, Brasil, April 5-7, Lenny Kravitz, the internationally acclaimed Bahamian-American rock superstar, is now headed to Europe for a hectic and grueling series of performances beginning Saturday, April 27, at Arena Stozice in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Given the fact that Kravitz recently became the pitchman for the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Fly Away’ to Bahamas” promotional campaign, no doubt The Bahamas will continue to receive a great deal of residual spin-off publicity during Kravitz’s tour, thanks to the good sense exercised by Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar and his Executive Team at the Ministry of Tourism when they selected Kravitz to spearhead their campaign.
When the announcement was made earlier this year, TRAVEL WEEKLY magazine noted in an article on February 8: “The Bahamas inspired singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz to write the hit ‘Fly Away.’ And the Bahamas ministry of tourism hopes the song will inspire travelers to put the Bahamas at the top of their must-visit list. ‘Bahamas — Fly Away’ is the islands’ new slogan, and the tourism ministry has launched a campaign around the theme, including video promotions featuring Kravitz.”
The TRAVEL WEEKLY article added: “The musician, whose mother is of Bahamian descent and who grew up visiting the islands frequently as a child, wrote the song while on the islands, where he also often records. To further promote the Bahamas, he recorded a new version of the song to a junkanoo beat, a style unique to the islands.
“At an event at the Public hotel here to announce the campaign, Dionisio D’Aguilar, the Bahamas’ minister of tourism and aviation, said that visitation last year rose 17%, and in January numbers rose 15% year over year. He is hoping the campaign will accelerate the momentum.”
Kravitz, who has a home and a recording studio in Gregory Town, Eleuthera, is quoted in the article as saying about The Bahamas: “It’s the place I go to be a human being. It’s an honor to be representing my country.”
Although he was born in New York, Kravitz is closely connected to The Bahamas through family and visited often during from he was a child. He is the only child of actress Roxie Roker, with strong family roots in Exuma, and NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz, a Ukrainian of Jewish descent, according to Wikipedia.
Lenny and his daughter, actress Zoe Kravitz, whose mother is actress Lisa Bonet, recently teamed up with popular luggage company Tumi to film a campaign that “allowed them to head home to the Bahamas and explore their roots and ancestry.”
In a video produced for the Tumi campaign, Lenny says to his daughter on their visit to Exuma: “I thought it’d be nice to go down to the end of the island and show you a bit of our family history, pay a little respect to our elders and the people who came before us. I think we’ll get a lot out of it.”
At the event in New York when Bahamas tourism officials officially announced Kravitz as the country’s new tourism pitchman, Tourism Minister D’Aguilar underscored the importance of the campaign when he said, “We all know how important tourism is to The Bahamas. It is vital to our economy and our people.”
As he continues his “Vibration Tour 2019” in Europe, in some respects, Lenny Kravitz, in a manner of speaking, will be spreading the word to potential visitors to The Bahamas that it is indeed “Better In The Bahamas.”
Beginning on Saturday, April 27, here is the full schedule of his European tour:
SATURDAY 27 APRIL 2019
Arena Stozice, Ljubljana, Slovenia
TUESDAY, 30 APRIL 2019
Ischgl, Austria
FRIDAY 03 MAY 2019
VIP Hall, Boris Trajkovski Arena, Skopje, Macedonia
SATURDAY 04 MAY 2019
Armeec Arena / Арена Армеец, Sofia, Bulgaria
MONDAY 06 MAY 2019
Sala Polivalenta Cluj-napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
WEDNESDAY 08 MAY 2019
Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland
SATURDAY 11 MAY 2019
Mediolanum Forum, Milan, Italy
SUNDAY 12 MAY 2019
Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy
TUESDAY 14 MAY 2019
Arena de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019
Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France
FRIDAY 17 MAY 2019
Palais Nikaia De Nice, Nice, France
SUNDAY 19 MAY 2019
Zénith Toulouse Métropole, Toulouse, France
MONDAY 20 MAY 2019
Zénith Nantes Métropole, Nantes, France
WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2019
SAP Arena, Mannheim, Germany
FRIDAY 24 MAY 2019
Radio NDR2 Festival 2019
Hannover, Germany
SATURDAY 25 MAY 2019
Lenny Kravitz with The Blue Van and Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
Fængselsgården, Fængslet, Horsens, Denmark
TUESDAY 28 MAY 2019
Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
THURSDAY 30 MAY 2019
Gröna Lund, Stockholm, Sweden
SATURDAY 01 JUNE 2019
Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
WEDNESDAY 05 JUNE 2019
Lenny Kravitz with Curtis Harding
AccorHotels Arena, Paris, France
THURSDAY 06 JUNE 2019
Palais 12, Brussels, Belgium
SATURDAY 08 JUNE 2019
Hello Festival 2019 – Dagkaart Zaterdag 2019
Grote Rietplas, Emmen, Netherlands
SATURDAY 08 JUNE 2019 – MONDAY 10 JUNE 2019
Pinkpop Festival 2019
Landgraaf, Netherlands
SUNDAY 09 JUNE 2019
Hello Festival 2019 – Dagkaart Zondag 2019
Grote Rietplas, Emmen, Netherlands
TUESDAY 11 JUNE 2019
Lenny Kravitz with Corinne Bailey Rae and Brass Against
The O2 Arena, London, UK
