Meet the bands performing at CRASHFEST 2020

FELA! The Concert, a 10-piece band from the hit Broadway show, brings to life the electrifying music of Fela Kuti, the founding father of Afrobeat. FELA!, the Broadway musical based on the life and music of the Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti, won Tony awards for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design of a Musical, and Best Sound Design of a Musical. FELA! The Concert is a concert version of the musical, featuring original costumes and members of the cast backed by an exceptional 10-piece Afrobeat band. The closest you can get to an actual Fela Kuti performance in 2020, the production remains faithful to the charismatic champion of human rights, one of the world's most celebrated musical rebels.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA creates music that is boldly modern yet respectful of her Malian roots. Her live performances “scream with energy” (NPR), and her stage presence was called “hypnotic” and “captivating” by Rolling Stone. She has been nominated for two Grammy awards, one for her critically acclaimed Fenfo in the Best World Music category and the other for her collaboration with UK based electronic music duo Disclosure on the song “Ultimatum” in the Best Dance Recording category. As a singer, actress, songwriter, and activist, Fatoumata covers respect, humility, love, migration, family and how to build a better world for our children in her music. “Don’t sing just to sing,” she emphasizes, “sing to change things, to make things better.” She recently performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall with David Crosby, Snarky Puppy, and others for an evening of topical protest. She has also recorded with Bobby Womack and Herbie Hancock; assembled a West African super-group featuring Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangaré, and Toumani Diabaté to record a song calling for peace in her troubled homeland; climbed aboard Damon Albarn’s star-studded Africa Express which culminated in her sharing a stage with Sir Paul McCartney; and performed with countless other esteemed musicians such as Omara Portuondo, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Habib Koité, Roberto Fonseca, and Rokia Traoré.

BOKANTÉ, featuring members of Snarky Puppy, is a super group spanning five countries across four continents whose sound reaches from the delta to the desert. Bokanté, which means ‘exchange’ in Creole, was founded by bassist and Snarky Puppy mastermind Michael League and is fronted by vocalist Malika Tirolien, who is originally from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. They are joined by two-time Grammy-winning guitarists Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti (also from Snarky Puppy), percussion legend Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon, Sting), pedal and lap steel virtuoso Roosevelt Collier (Lee Boys, Karl Denson), and percussionists André Ferrari (Väsen) and Keita Ogawa (Banda Magda, Yo-Yo Ma). They come together to create a diverse ensemble rich in groove, melody, and soul. Bokanté also performs with a purpose, blending musical worlds to convey an urgent message of social awareness against the rising tide of exclusion and human indifference. “Unity was paramount in the formation of this group,” observed League. “Though the ensemble is multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-generational, we all feel connected as musicians and people. And in combining our different accents I feel that there is a strangely common and poignant sound, one that can reach and relate to listeners around the world.” Bokanté has released two recordings, last year’s critically acclaimed debut, Strange Circles, and this year’s White Heat, with collaborators Jules Buckley and Metropole Orkest, which was just nominated for a 2020 Grammy for Best World Music.

CHA WA is rooted in traditional New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian music mixed with funk and soul. Combining the thumping sousaphone bass beats and interlocking riffs of a New Orleans brass band with the rituals, moves, and garb of a Mardi Gras Indian troupe, Cha Wa brings a blast of soul straight out of New Orleans. Founded by the sought-after New Orleans drummer Joe Gelini, Cha Wa celebrates the enduring power of the Mardi Gras Indians, a tradition born in the late 1800s when African-American men first marched in Native American dress for carnival. Various tribes have created dozens of chants and songs over the decades, and Cha Wa adds a blazing jolt of celebratory energy to the tradition. Experts trace the origin of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition to French and Spanish rule, when enslaved Africans gathered to let off steam while celebrating their heritage at Congo Square in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. Processionals of the richly costumed Indian “tribes” are led by “spyboys” or lookouts, along a parade route. Cha Wa named its 2018 Grammy-nominated album Spyboy in tribute to this essential custom. The group has just released a high-energy, funk-laden new single “Wildman.” Pop Matters describe the band as “a grand gumbo of singing, chanting, intoxicating rhythms, and some deep funk grooves that are simply impossible to resist.”

MEET THE BANDS - FOUNDATION ROOM

The venerated Afro-Venezuelan singer BETSAYDA MACHADO and her band La Parranda El Clavo play traditional party music that is sure to get everyone dancing.

Mozambique-born Berklee grad ALBINO MBIE creates a unique Afro-Pop and Moz-Jazz sound that incorporates sounds from Mozambique, the U.S., and around the world.

With an unmistakable, freewheeling style, LOS CUMPLEAÑOS mixes tropical Colombian rhythms, heavy grooves, and psychedelic sounds into an energetic, danceable, one-of-a-kind musical experience.

MEET THE BANDS - RESTAURANT STAGE

IMMI & THE MAHOOTS put a Boston underground twist to pop and folk music from Assam, India.

Internationally-acclaimed EZEKIEL’S WHEELS KLEZMER BAND brings passion, virtuosity, and contagious energy to every performance.

ATLAS SOUL is a multiple award-winning band performing original music rooted in the North African traditions and organically punched with funk, jazz, and hip-hop.

MEET THE ARTISTS - BUMP OUT STAGE

Boston’s-own hip-hop dance sensations the Wondertwins

Moroccan dancer Soumaya MaRose

Soles of Duende are a dance trio based in the rhythms of tap, flamenco, and Kathak