September 27-30 — Head to Bloomington for the Lotus Music (and more!) Festival
One of the best world music festivals on the planet takes place in Indiana — The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, in Bloomington. It’s worth making at least one drive south to soak up the spirit and song … and sample the foods.
When: Thursday September 27 to Sunday September 30, all day
Where: Bloomington, many venues
One of the first newspaper articles mentioning Provocate seemed to find our background noise more noteworthy than our clever ideas or gracious manners:
Stop in on any given day and you will hear a diverse mix of tunes wafting from the office of Senior Fellow John Clark. Gypsy music from the Balkans, Portuguese fado, bebop from Kansas City, Cuban salsa, a Mozart sonata or a current remix of a classic Beatles tune all figure into Clark’s eclectic taste for this universal language, an artform that moves human emotion by transcending time and political, religious, ethnic and national boundaries.
Well, I don’t play all those tunes all at the same time, that would be confusing. But Charlie Wiles gets the point: Provocate is all about the music. That’s why the Lotus Festival is a BIG DEAL. For more information about festival, check the Lotus website: www.lotusfest.org. Provocate.org will be covering many of the articts appearing in more detail. In the meantime, here’s Provocate’s list of Top Ten favorite musicians scheduled to appear at the festival, along with links to the artists’ websites so you can get a sample of their sounds.
- Dhoad Gypsies from Rajasthan Gypsy (Roma) music from India — Friday, Saturday, Lotus in the Park
- Balkan Beat Box Middle Eastern fusion — Thursday
- Dhafer Youssef Tunisian oud & vocals – Friday, Saturday
- Helder Moutinho Portuguese fado – Saturday, Sunday
- Pharaoh’s Daughter Middle Eastern fusion – Friday, Saturday
- Anat Cohen Quartet Jazz from Israel – Saturday, Sunday
- Chirgilchin Tuvan throat-singing — Friday, Saturday
- MC Rai Tunisian rai – Friday, Saturday
- Chango Spasiuk Argentinian accordion — Friday, Saturday
- Toubab Krewe West African roots music — Friday, Saturday
Come back for more info about each of these groups and musicians, as well as samples of their music (after Provocate checks with its lawyer staff.)
If this sounds like a cool experience … go to the Indianapolis International Festival November 15-18 for a more amateur version of the professionals at Lotus.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:58 am
[…] September 27-30 — The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival One of the best world music festivals on the planet takes place in Indiana, in Bloomington. It’s worth making at least one drive south to soak up the spirit and song … and sample the foods. check it out […]
September 8th, 2007 at 9:24 am
[…] check out … Three faiths discussing one Patriarch September 18. And go to bloomington for the Lotus Music Festival September […]
September 12th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
[…] this festival sounds fun and educational, check out a couple of others: The Lotus Music Festival in Bloomington September 27-30; and Spirit and Place November 2-18. Bookmark […]