HONK! Festival Preview, Round 2
In the run up to the HONK! Festival (happening this October 10-12 in Boston, MA) we’re previewing some of the performers each Friday until the festivities begin. This week, we bring you Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Hungry March Band, Himalayas, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, and Caka!ak Thunder!
RUDE MECHANICAL ORCHESTRA
From New York City, we exist to serve the efforts of progressive and radical groups and causes, playing for events that support feminism and women’s rights, the queer community, labor, the environment, social and economic justice, peace and community self-determination. We pledge to fight racism, sexism, homophobia, war and violence in all its forms, striving to bring joy and inspiration to these communities and to bring new people into radical causes. Through our music, we pay tribute to the world’s cultures and the revolutionary role music has played throughout history. Check out RMO on their website.
HIMALAYAS
In the year of the Black Horse, circa two thousand two, on the banks of the mighty Hudson River, a nameless band was born to the loving parents of saxophonist Jonathon Haffner, percussionist Jennifer Harris and bass drummer Kenny Wollesen. Endowed with the gifted ability to be mobile, electric, and acoustic, the band began its odyssey, producing sounds that inspire people to move in ways never thought possible, physically, mentally and spiritually. By March 2003 during the Love Not War parade, the band quickly reached maturity on the streets on New York City. Followed by a well balanced diet of gigs of astonishing variety, plus a constant influx of New York’s finest musicians, the band grew and the songbook filled too, mixed with a cache of original music from some of today’s brilliant composers (Frisell, Zorn, Bernstein Apfelbaum, Wilson, Mottel, Wieselman). Through the rings of its growth, many names came along to refer to “the marching band”, some sticking longer than others, yet each one reflecting the here and now. Check out the Himalayas on MySpace.
HUNGRY MARCH BAND
From Brooklyn NY, we are a community group with a membership as diverse as our music. The band is an ever evolving musical experiment influenced and inspired from Brooklyn’s backyard with Latin flavor, punk rock noise, hip hop beats and music of the streets. Put on your dancing shoes and break out the fancy threads because we’ve got the party going on – a blazing parade of flesh, blood, steel, brass and wood. We are the music of the people! More from Hungry March Band on their website.
EMPEROR NORTON’S STATIONARY MARCHING BAND
From Davis Square in Somerville, formed from the most talented deadbeats and drifters that could be rounded up, this group of raucous and rambunctious musicians will honk, wail, blow, beat, bounce, scream and serenade their way into your hearts. Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band combines the rich musical history of the circus and the vagabond peoples of Europe with the raw energy of free jazz and the irreverence and fun of today’s vaudeville.
CAKA!AK THUNDER
From Greensboro NC, Caka!ak Thunder started banging five gallon buckets with broom sticks in 2002 for a World Bank protest in Washington, DC. Since then, we’ve tightened up a bit. We have brought the funk to crowds both large and small in venues both expected and unexpected; in large moblizations such as the RNC protests in New York City, and in local spirited actions in downtown Greensboro. The rhythms we play are borrowed from Brazilian samba. Samba emerged when the music of indiginous latin american cultures mixed with that of Africans who were brought to Brazil as slaves. It is a music of resistance and it carries with it a great deal of history
Related posts:
- HONK! Fest West 2009
- HONK! Music Festival – Community Meeting
- HONK! Returns in ‘09!
- HONK! 2009 Posters and Website
- HONK! No Noise Is Illegal, Now Online
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