The DUMBO BID has announced its 18-week free family-friendly performance series from June 2 until September 29 that encompasses a broad range of musical genres including salsa, R&B, jazz, and classic rock, together with some emerging indie bands and performances by modern dance companies. Concerts and events take place on Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. under the Manhattan Bridge Archway in DUMBO.
JUNE 2 | LOS HACHEROS
Modern-day torchbearers of the Golden Age of Latin music, Brooklyn-based ensemble Los Hacheros revives folkloric styles like son montuno, guaracha and salsa, often combining them with Bomba.
JUNE 9 | MARY C AND THE STELLARS
Mary C’s performances with her band The Stellars continue to electrify and energize crowds with their unique mix of soul and rock, highlighted with a blend of pop, blues and funk.
JUNE 16 | LYNETTE WILLIAMS
Harlem-based singer-songwriter Lynette Williams creates music that is at once tragic and joyful, quiet and mighty, reserved and abandoned. She previously sang background vocals for Lauryn Hill and is also is on her track “Consumerism”.
JUNE 23 | BEAT KAESTLI
Internationally acclaimed vocalist, songwriter, arranger and producer Beat Kaestli has appeared in renowned clubs such as The Blue Note, Birdland, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The Jazz Standard and The Stone and at festivals worldwide, performing in both solo engagements and alongside acclaimed artists. Beat’s music encompasses his own spin on classic songs, influenced by his jazz roots.
JUNE 30 | GREG HUMPHREYS ELECTRIC TRIO
Brooklyn-based guitarist by way of North Carolina, and former leader of the bands Dillon Fence and Hobex, Greg Humphreys collaborates with bassist Matt Brandau and drummer Keith Robinson to form his Electric Trio.
JULY 7 | CONJUNTO GUANTÁNAMO
Ambassadors of Cuban folklore, Conjunto Guantánamo, founded in 2003, unites the precision and cadence of traditional Afro-Cuban music with the raw energy and edge of New York City’s unique nightlife. Led by founder Ulises Beato, along with Pepito Gomez, Sebastian Natal, Carlos Mena, Oscar Onoz and Mauricio Herrera, Conjunto Guantánamo brings the origins and essence of what music lovers today know as salsa, performing at festivals, dance parties, and venues throughout New York City.
JULY 14 | JANKA NABAY AND THE BUBU GANG
Sierra Leonean singer Janka Nabay considers his work a letter to Sierra Leoneans, as a call for them to remember the roots of their culture. He is a firm believer in the power of music to enact social change, singing in Sierra Leone’s common language, Krio, as well as his native tribal language of Temne, and in English and Arabic. Together with his six-piece band the Bubu Gang, he modernizes traditional bubu music into hypnotic dance music.
JULY 21 | BLUE VIPERS OF BROOKLYN
An early jazz, swing, and blues band, the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn—composed of acoustic guitar/vocals, upright bass, homemade washboard percussion, trumpet and saxophone—blends a repertoire of witty songs from the 1920s and 30s, New Orleans and Dixieland, classic Blues, R&B and Western Swing together with original tunes and four-part vocal harmony.
JULY 28 | TIGUE
One half new music ensemble, one half art-rock band, Brooklyn-based trio TIGUE unites homegrown ethos with conservatory precision. With musical influences spanning eclectic contemporary, pop and avant grade, TIGUE approaches its role of a performing ensemble with a unique fluidity through collaboration in multi-disciplinary work.
AUGUST 4 | MADAME T AND THE STAR LIGHTS
Cabaret and jazz singer Madame T, otherwise known as Tanya Rynd, collaborates with the Star Lights—Julie Delano and Miz Stephanie (vocals), Kevin Vertrees (keyboard), Mark Farnsworth (drums), Gary Wang (bass), Curtis Brewer (guitar), and Jim Wildman (trombone). Together they present a set of whistle blowing train songs, sizzling summer swing and high camp performances, combining projections, dance and performance art.
AUGUST 11 | HARLEM SWING DANCE SOCIETY
The Harlem Swing Dance Society is the premiere organization that shares the history of Lindy Hop and Swing Dance.
AUGUST 18 | M.A.K.U. SOUNDSYSTEM
M.A.K.U Soundsystem embodies an active quest for identity through sound and bodies in motion, and puts on a party for all who attend their concerts. M.A.K.U’s distinctive sound juxtaposes traditional Colombian percussion, drum-set, synthesizers, electric bass, guitar and sizzling horns, creating an explosive performance filled with unshakable grooves together with lyrics that speak about everyday realities that encompass love, hardships, culture, and the immigrant experience, with a positive, spiritual and sometimes humorous spin.
AUGUST 25 | MILONGA WITH ADAM AND CIKO
Adam and Ciko are unique to the North American tango scene, and have had the opportunity to study with teachers from all over the world with very different ideologies, which has fostered their own approach to dance and dance instruction.
SEPTEMBER 1 | WHITE WAVE DANCE / ONIIN DANCE COMPANY
WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company strives to inspire audiences through multi-dimensional dance productions reflecting themes and philosophies both modern and timeless. Teatro delle Celebrazioni’s contemporary dance company, Oniin Dance Company, based in Bologna, Italy, was founded by dancer and choreographer Daniela Rapisard in 2012. Choreographers Daniela Rapisarda and Alessandro Vacca continue to imagine a lively style which utilizes new motions full of dynamism, technique, and harmony, breaking academic clichés, and enhanced by seven skilled dancers.
SEPTEMBER 8 | BELLATONIC
Millennial jazz-lounge group Bellatonic, featuring vocalist Cara Dineen, combines revamped jazz together with crowd-pleasing pop hits, hipster classics, and the greatest R&B classics of the past century from artists such as Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, Robyn, Aaliyah, Tom Waits, Björk, Oasis, Radiohead, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
SEPTEMBER 15 | BROWN RICE FAMILY
Guided by a strong belief in life’s natural flow, Brown Rice Family gives listeners a distinctively organic World Roots Music experience, encompassing reggae, hip-hop, dancehall, afro beat, jazz stylings, rock, Brazilian, Latin, and funk music. Comprised of eight members hailing from Japan, Jamaica, Haiti, Nigeria, South Africa, and the US, the members’ diverse national backgrounds set the stage for a musical journey that straddles ancient and contemporary global sounds.
SEPTEMBER 22 | AVA LUNA
Brooklyn-based indie art funk septet featurres a structured set of art funk and R&B-infused songs, Infinite House.
SEPTEMBER 29 | VJ FARKAS (GLOWING BULBS)
VJ Farkas is a member of Glowing Bulbs visual artists group, which evolved from the underground techno scene of Budapest in the early 2000s. The group employs diverse techniques and media to bring to life an entire environment, treating light as a tool to fill spaces and surfaces with content, and projecting images.
