2018 HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands

About

HONK! fans! It’s that time again. Save the dates: October 5 – 7, 2018! for the free HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands. For the thirteenth year in a row, Somerville will open its homes, its businesses, its streets, and its heart to hundreds of activist street musicians from across the country and around the globe to celebrate the sound and spectacle of twenty-seven brass and percussion bands performing in the service of participatory culture and righteous social causes. Join us for the music, make some art, march in the parade, build community, and stand up for social justice.

Since its founding in 2006, HONK! has expanded to numerous cities across the US, including Providence, New York City, Austin, Detroit, Seattle, Eugene, and Montpelier, not to mention Wollongong, Australia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo in Brazil, and imminently, HONK!BC in Vancouver, Canada. The result has been the creation of a truly international network of engaged and engaging street bands, ready to build community, reclaim public space, and support progressive causes everywhere.

Our Festival this year will include all the features that have compelled thousands of participants to return year after year — Lantern Parades on Friday; continuous performances all day in Davis Square on Saturday; and the venerable HONK! Parade on Sunday, followed by a full afternoon of HONK! performances in Harvard Square. In addition, there will be political themes, actions, and performances throughout the Festival.

Because of HONK!’s international expansion, we have once again journeyed south of the equator to bring a band from Latin America: Unidos do Swing is a Brazilian brass band that mixes traditional US jazz with the Brazilian carnival tradition to create a spectacle of music and dance that beckons you to participate. After performing at HONK! Rio, they were so inspired that they went back to their home city of Sa