This year’s festival is going to be absolutely chock full of amazing talent. We can’t wait for you to get out on the grass and enjoy the beats! We pulled this year’s line up from every corner of the planet, and the best part? They’re all local! Don’t forget to go drop some bucks in the bucket to support our artists and their incredible contributions to our community.
Take a peek at what’s in store:
This year, we are thrilled to bring you the eclectic sounds of Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands. Crystal’s background is in Ethnomusicology and it shows! The band’s genre is undefinable being described as everything from European carnival to gypsy folk to french parlor with a Latin flair. We don’t know what it is, but we sure do like it! Some of the instruments you’ll find on stage? Accordion, musical saw, Adungu (Ugandan harp), concertina, bombo (Argentine drum), jembe, congas, riqq, and horn. We can’t wait!!
Kicking off the main stage this year is Diali Cissokho & Kairaba!, back for a second year and even better than ever. In fact, national music publication Paste Magazine just named them one of their “Top 12 North Carolina Bands to Watch!” Led by Senegalese kora magician Diali Cissokho and backed by a clan of crazy talented music loving North Carolinians, Kairaba! has the kind of sound that will have your feet tapping and head groovin at the first beats.
Hopping over to another continent, Greensboro’s own Braco Latin rock group is sure to get you dancing. Braco’s sound is rooted in rock but crosses genres with a fusion of Latin jazz, funk, Caribbean, Spanish and even Middle Eastern sounds. Leader Cesar Oviedo’s energy is infectious, so make sure you’re at the park when they hit the stage!
If you haven’t heard Mamadou Mbenge and his new group Mamadou’s Fantastic Band yet, you’re in for a treat. Mamadou, a “tama” (talking drum) master from Senegal, is well known for his international touring career with African pop stars like Abdou Guite Seck and Abou Thioubalo. Today, we’re lucky that he calls Greensboro home and will be blessing our stage with his traditional Senegalese songs, rhythms, dances and stories.
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Afro-fusion dance band music giving way to Klezmer with a southern twist followed by a tama master and his fantastic band before getting into some Latin Rock and closing our with haunting gypsy carnival… if we had only that it would make for a pretty amazing day. But we’re definitely not done yet! They may not have websites yet and you can’t find them on iTunes, but the incredible amateur groups we have celebrating their talents and culture throughout the day are absolutely not to be missed.
