ONLINE: Madison World Music Festival

×

Expand

Jamie Ambler

Natu Camara

Until the pandemic is under control, it's not entirely safe to travel (nor are Americans welcome in most places), so here's a way to experience the world's music while snug in your pod. The Wisconsin Union Theater presents a robust schedule of international performances and related workshops. Artists include the Wisconsin Dells Singers, Jordan's Farah Siraj, Guinea's Natu Camara (pictured), and Haiti's Lakou Mizik. Tune in to experience the talent and remember the world that exists outside your own house and yard; sign up for streaming info and find the schedule here. Friday's events will stream here; find Saturday here.

press release: The Wisconsin Union Theater’s free Madison World Music Festival will bring an online multicultural music experience to patrons Sept. 11-12 with live and recorded performances and live workshops. The 2020 Madison World Music Festival lineup includes the following:

Sept. 11

Workshops: 1 p.m. workshop with Natu Camara; more details to be announced; 3 p.m. Mordovian dance workshop with OYME; 5 p.m. Ho-Chunk Nation dance, music and education workshop, titled “Living in Two Worlds,” with the Wisconsin Dells Singers

Concerts: 7 p.m. Ho-Chunk Nation drumming and dance by Wisconsin Dells Singers - live performance; 7:45 pm. Finno-Ugric folk music set to electronic beats by OYME; 8:30 p.m. Guinean native, soul, afro-rock, and afro-pop by Natu Camara

Sept. 12

Workshops: 1 p.m. Jordanian music and instruments workshop with Farah Siraj; 3 p.m. children’s workshop on Haiti and Haitian rhythms with Lakou Mizik; 5 p.m. Afro-Cuban rhythms workshop with Rebulú

Concerts: 7 p.m. Afro-Cuban, Latin music by Rebulú - live performance; 7:45 p.m. Jordanian music by Farah Siraj; 8:30 p.m. Haitian music by Lakou Mizik

“The Madison World Music Festival is a way to learn about the world while enjoying incredible performances. This year, the performances will come to wherever our patrons are,” said Esty Dinur, Wisconsin Union Theater community and campus relations director and Madison World Music Festival artistic director. “In addition to online performances, for the first time in the Madison World Music Festival’s history, we are providing workshops with all Festival artists.”

The Madison World Music Festival has celebrated cultures from around the globe for 17 years.

“While a year ago we could not have predicted an online Madison World Music Festival, we have still found a way to celebrate world music and dance and support artists,” Dinur said.

The Wisconsin Union Theater presents this festival in collaboration with the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee, which, together with 10 other WUD committees and six clubs, promotes and runs more than 1,000 events throughout each year.

This festival is made possible with support from the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Middle East Studies Program at UW-Madison.

In holding the Madison World Music Festival, the Wisconsin Union Theater joins other Consortium of World Music Presenters members in a month-long, online festival of global music featuring concerts, presentations and panels, called Global Music Month. Global Music Month 2020 combines more than 15 U.S. and Canadian festivals and presenters’ events under one banner for a celebration of international music.

The Wisconsin Union Theater team made the decision to hold this year’s Festival in an online format for the health and safety of patrons, Festival artists from around the world, and team members. The Theater team continues to evaluate what changes may need to occur related to the 2020-21 Wisconsin Union Theater season and will provide information about the season soon.

For more information about the Madison World Music Festival, including how to sign-up to receive information about the Festival workshops and concerts, visit union.wisc.edu/madison-world-music-festival.