The 26th annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival returned to Bloomington during the Sept. 26-29 weekend. The festival’s goal is to explore different cultures through music and art. This year, 28 artists from around the world came to Bloomington to perform.
Each day brought a different line-up of performers. Here’s a quick recap of the four days at the LotusFestival .
Thursday, Sept. 26
The festival began with a performance at 7 p.m. in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The main act was the Çudamani group, which has musicians and dancers hailing from Bali. This group made its way to Bloomington as a part of their current U.S. tour.
Its setup welcomed drums, gongs and xylophones, which reverberated notes throughout the ornate theater.
The large ensemble played while a dancer moved to the beat of delicate pittering, making for a cohesive, collective and synchronized movement.
The next concert portion was free and started at 9 p.m. in Dunn Meadow.
Freshman Leilanu Jackson, majoring in environmental management, just started interning for Lotus and said even though she hasn’t experienced the festival, she enjoyed seeing how the community comes together.
“It’s a lot of teamwork, and it’s actually really cool to see how many people care about this,” Jackson said.
At 9 p.m., Huckleberry Funk opened for 47Soul. Huckleberry Funk is a Bloomington-based band that serves up jazz covers such as “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse, funky original songs and innovative social commentary through rap.
Lead vocalist Dexter Clardy’s catchy rapping focused on social frustrations and how to enact a new and more forgiving mentality, but he also displayed a hopeful message of positivity about the future.
“Don’t give up on what you care about,” Clardy said to the audience.
47Soul hit the ground running at 10 p.m., blending electronic Middle Eastern dance beats infused with some English. They put an original spin on traditional Arabic music by the use of words such as “yalla” meaning to hurry up in Arabic, while also adding beat drops.
Walaa Sbait, one of the band members, got a ruse out of the crowd after he rhetorically asked, “Are you alive? Are you with us?”
Friday, Sept. 27
The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival continued throughout the warm Friday evening. As the sky became darker, the lights up, down and around Kirkwood Avenue and the town square shone brightly onto the tents housing different acts and performances.
One such performance was in the Needmore Coffee Roasters and Hamilton Lugar School tent at the corner of College Avenue and Sixth Street. The band Frontera Bugalú hails from El Paso, Texas and combines folk with cumbia, a Latin American folk genre.
The band’s frontman, Kiko Rodriguez, talked about his transition from performing punk rock to “border folk” music.
“I started off as a punk rocker — played guitar all my life,” Rodriguez said. “I decided the most punk rock thing I could do was play this music no one appreciates anymore.”
Now rocking the accordion for Frontera Bugalú, Rodriguez was joined by six others on stage, including co-founder and keyboardist Joel Osvaldo, as they performed their eclectic music to an enthusiastic crowd. The music surrounded the town square as the bass drum echoed loud notes.
On the opposite end of the town square, on the corner of Walnut Street and Kirkwood Avenue, street magician Kristian Charles fooled those of all ages with magic tricks. Charles made an effort to entertain not only through his magic, but also through his on-the-spot stand-up.
“Sir, uncross your arms. I’m not going to steal your nipples,” Charles joked toward an audience member in between tricks.
Charles’s final trick left those watching in awe as he turned three foam balls hiding under three metal cups into six oranges and two cantaloupes.
As the crowd dispersed following Charles’s last trick, Kirkwood Avenue continued to bustle with hungry patrons perusing food trucks lined up along the street. And for those who didn’t buy a ticket but still wanted an eccentric taste in music, there were performers along the streets, including a seven-person percussion group featuring a Harley Quinn cosplayer playing a goblet drum.
As its show came to a close, Rodriguez from Frontera Bugalú reminded the audience of the importance of joining other cultures together, just like the Lotus Festival has continued to do for the past 25 years.
“Humanity unites no matter where they’re from,” Rodriguez said.
Saturday, Sept. 28
The third day of the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival began with several free events, including group yoga sessions, ice cream socials and a workshop celebrating the bilingual culture of the US-Mexico border.
Attendees of the festival were treated to numerous international food trucks lining Kirkwood Avenue, including options such as Pili’s Party Taco, La Poblana and Swakin Stir Fry.
Also on Kirkwood was the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, where three music showcases from 7 to 11:45 p.m. The IU Marching Drumline also paraded down Kirkwood Avenue that night, ending their performance at the Monroe County Courthouse around 9 p.m.
Festival events occurred at many of the churches that line the streets of Bloomington. The First Christian Church, located on Kirkwood Avenue, had four events beginning at 6 p.m., including the group Yandong Grand Singers of China, indie folk music and the Finnish group Kardemimmit.
The First Presbyterian Church on Sixth Street housed a Mariachi band in addition to Korean percussion and traditional bluegrass music.
Swedish Swing Music, Latin and Portuguese dance music could be found in the First United Methodist Church on Fourth Street, as well as the French group Guilhem Desq playing the hurdy-gurdy, a stringed instrument dating back to the 10th century.
“Every single one of the groups that performs here is significant,” said Micah Fleming, who volunteered at the information booth. “They’re world class talent, they travel to perform all over the world and it’s really unique that they come to Bloomington every year.”
Sunday, Sept. 29
Lotus came to a strong close at its final concert at 3 p.m in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as Steam Machine performed bluegrass music and upbeat, folky tunes.
The band consists of fiddler AJ Srubas, banjo player Aaron Tacke, guitarist Rina Rossi and bassist Abby Layton.
Introducing the band was Tamara Loewenthal, the Lotus Festival’s new executive director, who has worked for the Lotus Festival for 25 years. Loewenthal boasted about the festival and pointed out how “when you look around it’s something original.”
“The music’s gonna be so great you’re actually probably gonna dance in the corners,” Loewenthal said.
One of the aforementioned dancers, Leslie Burke, said her friend had bought her a weekend pass for her birthday. She has been in Bloomington for 25 years and had volunteered for the Lotus Festival around 20 years ago.
“Dancing is more than just a weekend hobby, it’s more of like a spiritual experience sometimes,” Burke said. “It’s like therapy.”
Steam Machine brought eclectic tunes with a mixture of harmonic voices to produce a twangy, cheery sound. Srubas, Tacke and Rossi hovered around one microphone, while Layton was as close as a bass player could get given the sheer size of her instrument. They referred to their covers as having been “steamed,” which is an allusion to their name.
The band was not shy of giving interesting historical backing and anecdotes before each song, as well as credit where credit was due to Midwestern music, bands and artists.
Steam Machine was later met with a standing ovation from the crowd.
Burke said he appreciates the fact that Lotus exists in the world.
“Just because there’s nothing else like it where you can have this beautiful mix of Americana and world music in the same place," Burke said. "And I just feel lucky that I live here.”
