NYS Music 202​2

Category: Festival News

  • Adjacent Music Festival with blink-182 and Paramore Coming to Atlantic City

    The Adjacent Music Festival, a brand new festival, is going to Atlantic City Beach in Atlantic City, NJ to kick off the summer of 2023 over Memorial Day weekend on May 27 and 28.

    adjacent music festival
    Photo credit: Andrew Hutchins.

    The event is for all ages and brings over 40 bands on three stages with craft food and beverage experiences and vendors. It will take place ocean-side on the Atlantic City Beach adjacent to the world-famous Atlantic City Boardwalk featuring many artists who started their careers in the Northeast.

    The headliners for the festival are the newly reunited blink-182 and Paramore. blink-182 started rocking almost thirty years ago in a San Diego garage. They have sold over fifty-million albums worldwide, and according to the New York Times, “No punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than ‘blink-182’.” They are working on releasing their tenth studio album after reuniting the original members.

    Paramore is a rock band that formed in 2004 out of Franklin, Tennessee. They have dominated the rock charts with their singles like “Misery Business” and “Ain’t It Fun.” Their heavily awaited return has caused them to be the most sought acts to see in the rock scene today.

    The Adjacent Music Festival also has many other notable acts performing. Artists like Japanese Breakfast, who just performed on SNL last season, and Bleachers, led by six-time Grammy award winner Jack Antonoff, will be playing. Other acts include The Front Bottoms, Waterparks, Jimmy Eat World, and Turnstile.

    Tickets for the Adjacent Music Festival go onsale Oct. 27 at 10 a.m.

  • Malian Musician Oumou Sangaé to make Apollo Theater Debut on October 29

    On Saturday, October 29th, the World Music Institute present Malian musician and GRAMMY Award winner Oumou Sangaré for an incredible one-night-only performance at the world-famous Apollo in Harlem. Being one of West Africa’s most celebrated vocalists, Sangaré infuses her music with traditional African percussion, distinctive vocals, and progressive social criticism. Thus, creating a unique sound that has propelled her onto the international stage. 

    In her Apollo debut, Oumou Sangaré, “The Songbird of Wassoulou,” will perform music that spans traditional Wassoulou music. She will do this by using contemporary sounds coming out of Africa as well as songs from her recent critically acclaimed album, Timbuktu. 

    We’re thrilled to have Oumou, make her Apollo debut during our Next Movement season. Over the past eight decades the Apollo has amplified Black voices and used its platforms to create an intersection of art and activism, so having Oumou perform a range of music from Wassoulou music to contemporary sounds is exactly the kind of artistic conversation that we champion.

    Kamilah Forbes, Executive Producer at The Apollo

    Oumou Sangaré is considered an ambassador of Wassoulou, she is praised for being an activist, businesswoman and global icon. Throughout the world, her music has been inspired by the music and traditional dances of the region. She does this by writing and composing her songs which often include social criticism, especially concerning women’s low status in society. 

    Oumou Sangaé At First Edition of Harlem African Festival 10/16

    Similar to legendary performers like Grace Jones, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin, Oumou Sangaré has been praised by stars including Beyoncé and Alicia Keys for her powerful voice and unwavering commitment to the betterment of women. Sangaré infuses her music with traditional African percussion, distinctive vocals, and progressive social criticism, creating a unique sound that has propelled her career. 

    Ticket will range from $30-$75 per seating arrangement. For more information on Oumou Sangaré and to purchase tickets via the Apollo Theater, click the link here.

  • Harlem Meet Africa Festival Debuting in Marcus Garvey Park

    This Sunday, October 16, “Harlem Meet Africa,” a free-to-the-public concert will take place at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park from 3 to 7 p.m.

    Featuring numerous Harlem performers of international background, the event is being organized by Natu Camara, a Guinean singer/songwriter and Harlem resident who has performed for audiences at globalFEST, NPR’s Tiny Desk, Lincoln Center, and more. “This is a perfect time to bring music to the community and our goal is to invite ALL of New York to experience in person this community’s culture, beauty, diversity, LOVE through the healing power of music,” she said.

    Promotional artwork for “Harlem Meet Africa.”

    Along with Camara, artists on the bill include the Harlem Drum Group, led by Master Drummer Mamadou Konaté, Guinean Fulani flute player and singer Bailo Bah, Guinean singer Missia Saran Diabaté, Haitian musician Hervé Coeur, sister ballet duo Rylie and Codie, singer songwriter Lindsey Wilson, and DJ Stormin’ Norman of East London origin.

    Sunday will also see The Waiters of Happyness, a funk group composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Jerome Mitchell, vocalist and keyboardist John Adams, saxophonist Robert Aaron, bassist Nir Graf, guitarist Jamie Ambler, drummer Oscar Debé, and Lindsey Wilson as a backing vocalist.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8PfSzwA-Y4

  • Beacon Sloop Club to host Annual Pumpkin Festival on October 16

    The Beacon Sloop Club will once again host an Annual Pumpkin Festival on Sunday, October 16th at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon. The rain or shine event offers free admission to all and runs from Noon to 5pm.

    beacon pumpkin festival

    The Beacon Pumpkin Festival features Hudson Valley pumpkins of all sizes & shapes, fresh homemade baked pumpkin pie, hot pumpkin soup, hot and cold apple cider and much more available for purchase.

    beacon pumpkin festival

    You’ll also find many free children’s activities,many food and craft vendors, hula hooping, free sails on the Sloop Woody Guthrie and much more. Environmental non-profits will feature displays of local Hudson River history and the environment including information about their organization.

    On two solar powered music stages (one just for the kids), much music is on tap at Beacon Pumpkin Festival, with performers including Betty and the Baby Boomers, The B2’s, Rick and Donna Nestler David & Jacob Bernz, The Judith Tulloch Band, Last Minute Soulmates, Spirit of Thunderheart, Beacon High School Chorus Singers, Beacon Songsmiths, Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle, Bindlestick Bill, Pat Jones & Laurie Siegel, The Neverly Brothers, and Lydia Adams Davis.

    Pete and Toshi Seeger Park is located at 2 Red Flynn Drive in Beacon, right next to the Metro North Train Station.

    The Beacon Sloop Club’s boat, the Woody Guthrie, will be taking guests on free sails from the Beacon Harbor, weather permitting. The public may sign up for an afternoon sail to relax and experience the beauty, power and grandeur of the Hudson.  Sign up at the Beacon Sloop Club table starting at noon.

    The Beacon Sloop Club is an all volunteer and non-profit organization. The Beacon Sloop Club’s Strawberry, Corn and Pumpkin Festivals raises money for the public sailing program on the Woody Guthrie and other environmental education programs. The Beacon Sloop Club meets the first Friday of each month at the clubhouse in Beacon for a potluck dinner, business meeting and live music. The clubhouse is located on the banks of the Hudson River near the Metro-North train station. Everyone is always welcome.

    beacon pumpkin festival

  • All-Women F.I.R.E. Festival in Oswego Announced

    On Oct. 16, the all-women F.I.R.E. festival will take place at the Oswego Music Hall from 1-5 P.M., featuring a wide variety of artists, musicians, and businesses.

    F.I.R.E. festival

    The F.I.R.E. festival was created by Jess Novak, who performs alongside the Jess Novak band. She has performed over all over the country, recorded multiple albums, and is an award-winning journalist. The festival was created because of the frustration caused by all-men lineups at festivals.

    As a musician, I’ve been on so many festivals where women are under-represented or when they are included, are only singers. While there’s nothing wrong with amazing female vocalists, I wanted to be sure we presented more than that. I want original music writers and players. I want female-run businesses and brilliant artists to decorate the walls. I want to transform the space in an effort to show that Central New York is bursting with female talent. I also want to provide young ladies with something I wish I had when I was a kid-proof that we can do and create whatever we dream.

    Jess Novak

    The event is part of the Oswego Music Hall guest curator series where people from the community pitch event ideas to utilize the space. Novak planned the event at a downtown location back in March 2020 but COVID stopped it from happening. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do it again, but women kept coming to her asking her if she was going to plan it, and that inspired her to make it happen.

    The lineup for the festival is all women, including the vendors and businesses. Musicians include local performers Ella Drotar, Ashley Cox and Novak along with many others, and world-renowned violinist, Lydia Violet.

    Novak, who is also seven months pregnant, will be celebrating a new book and the release of a new album. Copies of the book, “Dare to Begin” will be available for sale for the first time at a public show. All ages, and people, are welcome to the F.I.R.E. festival, and admittance is $8.

  • Hudson West Folk Festival Announces 2022 Program

    The 2022 Hudson West Folk Festival, an annual Jersey City event, will run on Saturday, October 15. Taking place at the Nimbus Arts Center in the city’s downtown, the festival will span from noon to 10pm.

    hudson west folk festival
    Image from last year’s Hudson West Folk Festival. (photo found on festival website)

    The event will feature music ranging across americana, folk, bluegrass, hip-hop/funk/soul, jazz and Ukrainian folk music. Artists on the bill include Ebony Hillbillies, Leslie Mendelson, J Pope and the HearNow, Jaimee Harris, Cole Quest and the City Pickers, Ari Hest, Ukrainian Village Voices, and KJ Denhert.

    In addition to performances, the festival will involve free music workshops on improvisational singing, guidance in musical style, and Ukrainian folk songs.

    The Ukrainian Village Voices will be leading a workshop at this year’s event. (photo found on festival website)

    There will also be food and drink provided on site, as the festival is partnering with Welcome Home Jersey City to bring Afghan and Pakistani dishes from refugee chefs.

    Tickets can be bought for $35 in advance and $40 at the door on Saturday. Info regarding ticket purchases and more for the 2022 event can be found on the Hudson West Folk Festival website.

  • MetaMoon Festival 2022 Announces Lineup at Barclays Center in November

    MetaMoon Musical Festival is for Saturday, November 26 at Barclays Center, bringing in various musicians where AAPI and Asian artistic culture is front and center during the festival. A host of Brooklyn-based Asian American and Pacific Islander-founded brands including Lunar, Popadelics, Kitsby, Regroup, Frontman and Moshi will be featured, along with more bands to be announced.

    metamoon
    Advertisement: MetaMoon Musical Festival in Brooklyn, NY on Nov. 26

    Along with previously announced artists to be included in the line-up, three artists are to join the music crew: former K-Pop group, f(x), member Amber Liu, Chinese urban & soul singer Tia Ray, and Hong Kong-based pop-punk musician Tyson Yoshi. Artists to join the line-up are boy band EXO’s Lay Zhang, 9m88, Karencici, OZI, Sury Su and festival host, MC Jin.

    MetaMoon Music Festival Ad (https://www.barclayscenter.com/events/detail/metamoon-music-festival-2022)

    Brand partnerships, with this year being from Gold House, will bring food establishments that are participating with the MetaMoon Food Crawl to the music festival. The brand collaboration is to be helping support AAPI-owned businesses. Restaurants to be promoted include Nom Wah Nolita, 886, Ho Foods, Yumplings.

    EXO band’s Lay Zhang’s official music video for song, “莲 LIT”

  • The American String Quartet Comes to Cooperstown

    The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival at Cooperstown’s Christ Episcopal Church will present the American String Quartet for this fall’s performance on Sunday, October 2. The quartet will be joined by cellist Phillippe Muller and flutist and founder of the festival, Linda Chesis. 

    To set off the evening, the quartet will perform works from Haydn and Aaron Jay Kernis. The quartet has performed across all 50 states in the US and in concert halls across the world. Known for their specialty in examinations of composer’s complete cycles, audiences can look forward to the second half of the show, where the American String Quartet will be joined by Phillippe Muller to play Schubert’s cello quintet. Violinist Daniel Avshalomov said that every time the American String Quartet performs the cello quintet piece in rehearsals, they uncover more nuances in its meaning. 

    American String Quartet

    “Those who have heard this piece need no introduction,” Avshalomov. “But those who hear it for the first time will look back on the absolute inability of language to express even a shadow of this majestic work.” 

    The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival was started in 1999 by Linda Chesis. The festival specializes in chamber music, and has brought in performances from Julliard and St. Lawrence, Stefon Harris, Bill Charlap and Simone Dinnerstein, to name just a few. 

    Tickets for the show are $30 for adults and $15 for students and children. Tickets must be purchased in advance and can be bought at the music festivals site. The show will go from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

  • Big Eyed Blues Festival Returns to Brooklyn for 12 Anniversary

    The Big Eyed Blues Festival returns to Brooklyn for its 12-anniversary celebration, featuring three days of blues with established and upcoming artists on Sept. 22, 24, and 25.

    big eyed blues festival

    The Blues Festival was created by Blues singer Beareather Reddy, who resides in Brooklyn to showcase talented Blues singers and provide a venue where these artists can be seen and heard. She noticed there was a lack of Blues venues in the city, and she wanted to create a solution to the problem.

    Her passion to help keep Blues music striving, inspired her to found the not-for-profit organization, the Brooklyn Blues Society. “In some way, I feel it is my purpose to open the gateway to some and to bring others back to the realization, that Blues music is an integral part of their rich heritage,” she said.

    Big Blue Eyed Blues Festival Schedule

    Sept. 22, 7-9 P.M.- “The Acoustics” The Jalopy Theatre, 315 Columbia Street Brooklyn

    The night features Junior Mack “Exploring The Blues And The Truth”, Mimi Block, and Keith “The Captain” Gamble will play “Blues in the Key of Violin”. Michael Hill’s Acoustic Blue Duo ends the night with electric blues. The event will be live streamed and is in partnership with the Jalopy Theatre.

    Sept. 24, 7-10 P.M. “Command Performance” The BKLYN Commons 495 Flatbush Ave. Brooklyn.

    Michael Hill is the MC for the event, which features talented singer/songwriter and guitarist from Paterson, NJ, Clarence Spady. Also performing are Beareather & The Brown Liquor Sounds as well as the musical and historically focused group the Antoinette Montague Experience. Brooklyn’s own The Alexis P. Suter Band will end the night with her earth-shattering vocals and electrifying rhythm. The schedule for the evening is as follows:

    7:00 P.M. – 7:05 P.M. – Master of Ceremonies – Michael Hill
    7:05 P.M. – 7:40 P.M.– Clarence Spady
    7:45 P.M. – 8:20 P.M. – Beareather & The Brown Liquor Sounds
    8:20 P.M. – 8:35 P.M. – Break
    8:35 P.M. – 8:45 P.M. – Citation Presentation & Board Members Introductions
    8:45 P.M. – 9:20 P.M. – The Antoinette Montague Experience & Band
    9:20 P.M. – 10:00 P.M. – The Alexis P. Band

    Sept. 25, 12-3 P.M.- “A Day in the Park” The Prospect Park Boat House Brooklyn.

    The free final event is The Tilden Senior Center Drama Club presenting their version of “The Classic Blueswomen,” written by Beareather Reddy and directed by Evria Ince Waldron, in partnership with NIA Theatrical Production and The Prospect Park Alliance.

    Tickets for the events on Sept. 22 and 24 are available here.

  • Flyday Music Festival Releases Schedule, Single Day Tickets

    Flyday, a music festival community that celebrates life and creativity, spirit, heart and soul, returns to the Catskills on September 29 for three days of music, art and movement from 22 regional and national bands on two stages.

    flyday music festival

    Taking place at the 100 + acre Blackthorne Resort (with more than 80 rooms and plenty of camping and RV sites), the music over September 29-October 1 at Flyday Music Festival will include funk, fusion, electrojazz, prog, rock, jamband, bluegrass, reggae, and comedy artists. And that’s in addition to a pool and tiki bar, creek, hiking, a bar and restaurant, a playground and play fields, and even a Haunted House.

    This year, Flyday Music Festival steps out of the jam-band box and has curated a lineup for a true music festival featuring truly original, creative, and virtuosic artists in the progressive, jazz-rock fusion, and funk genres.

    flyday music festival

    Artists performing over the weekend at Flyday Music Festival include Ghost-Note, Yam-Yam, Black Rock Funk All Stars (members of Kung-Fu, Deep Banana Blackout and Schleigho, Gnarbot, Screaming Headless Torsos, ShwizZ, Ampevene, Honker, Baked Shrimp, Glass Pony, The Magnetic Pull, Level: Memory, Dr Jah and the Love Prophets, Eugene Tyler Band, Children of the Judge, Laura Leigh & Denise Parent, Sungazer, Now vs Now, and K-Weef.

    These artists and special guests will perform on two stages, side-by-side for continuous music throughout the day and night. Among vendors you’ll find Veggie Oasis, Z’licious Caribbean Kitchen, Back Barn Brewery, a masseuse, Earth Tribe artisan vendors, workshops on glass blowing, tie dye and yoga, plus art installations, black light art galleries and live painting.

    Arrive on Thursday night for a early arrival funk dance party with improv jams and special guests.

    Tickets are $115 for a weekend pass, $60 for Friday only and $70 for Saturday only. Camping costs $25 per person for the weekend (with free showers, flush toilets and a charging station), with RV passes and rooms available via Blackthorne Resort.

    If you’re a music lover and dig creative, uber-talented original bands, do not miss Flyday. Tickets available here.