Barbés in the Woods returns this summer for its first post-pandemic edition on Saturday, August 21st. The festival, now in its third year, brings the international and experimental sounds of iconic Brooklyn music venue Barbés to a bucolic, outdoor setting in Western Massachusetts. This year's festival includes two U.S. debuts and six homegrown acts direct from NYC and the Berkshires.
Barbés in the Woods 2021 Lineup:
☼ Liraz → U.S. DEBUT. One of the most unlikely musical stories of the year — Israeli-Iranian singer Liraz’s Zan project — is a love-letter to Tehran from Tel Aviv. The actress turned musician assembled her latest album using clandestine recordings sent by Iranian musicians (many of them women). Her retro-Persian electro-pop, deeply inspired by Googoosh and pre-Revolutionary Iranian dance music, is penned in Farsi and has amassed a huge fan-base in Tehran — where women are still forbidden from performing in public. She was just named Artist of the Year by Songlines.
☼ Son Rompe Pera → U.S. DEBUT. From the outskirts of Mexico City, the Gama brothers have reconfigured folkloric Mexican marimba into a misfit instrument for cumbia-garage-punk. With working class roots and a musical intuition honed by busking for years with their father, the family band swing effortlessly between cha-cha-cha, psychobilly, and cumbia.
☼ Arooj Aftab. The Pakistani NYC-based singer, freshly bathed in media praise for her album Vulture Prince (one of the Best Albums of 2021 by TIME, the Guardian, and Pitchfork), will perform her Sufi-inspired, indie-burnished compositions with members of her ensemble (including Gyan Riley and Darian Donovan Thomas). Co-presented with Antenna Cloud Farm.
☼ BIGYUKI. At the vanguard of NYC’s jazz scene, Masayuki Hirano’s recent accolades include a tour with Kamasi Washington, a guest appearance with Ms. Lauryn Hill, and composition credits in the latest Tribe Called Quest album. The keyboardist’s trio, heavy on the low end and incredibly hard to categorize, takes over the grove stage for two sets throughout the day. Co-presented with Antenna Cloud Farm.
☼ Kaleta & Super Yamba Band are fronted by Afrobeat and Juju veteran Leon Ligan-Majek a.k.a. Kaleta. The singer/guitarist from the West African country of Benin Republic lived his adolescent life in Lagos, Nigeria where Afrobeat was born. Kaleta's guitar chops earned him decades of touring and recording with Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Lauryn Hill and more. Kaleta has been leading Brooklyn's Super Yamba Band since 2017. Their debut album Mèdaho draws on the group’s shared reverence for the raw, psychedelic sounds of '70s afrobeat.
☼ Los Cumpleaños NYC's Los Cumpleaños play classic era Cumbia, Porro, Son Caribeño, Salsa Criolla and Bullerengue from Colombia with the energy of a downtown punk rock band washed in a sea of cutting-edge psychedelic new wave synths & wild style retro organ sounds.
☼ Mamie Minch Mamie Minch is a longtime staple of New York’s acoustic blues scene. Listening to her sing and play is like unpacking a time capsule of American music that’s been stored in her 1930’s National steel guitar for decades and filtered through a modern femme sensitivity. Mamie’s newest release Slow Burn is a collaboration with drummer/producer Dean Sharenow that sees her traditional influences stretch out, turn up, and get deeper, groovier, funkier.
☼ Berkshire Bateria The Berkshire Bateria Escola De Samba is a number of talented performers that include drummers, dancers, singers and melodic instrumentalists. The group performs a wide variety of music from Brazil, including hot samba rhythms and cool bossa nova jazz.
