HONK NYC! Festival 2016 Comes to Brooklyn This Fall

HONK NYC!, the raucous annual international street band extravaganza, celebrates 10 glorious years in 2016 with a fresh batch of riotous rhythms and jubilant jams. More than 300 musicians from 20 ensembles will march through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, and Jersey City from October 11 to October 15, presenting a cavalcade of free and low-priced performances in clubs, parks, gardens, schools, museums, and other public spaces.

HONK NYC! features a terrific selection of New York-based musicians, including:

• Slavic Soul Party, the sweetest Balkan soul gypsy funk this side of the Atlantic

• Funkrust Brass Band, a 20-piece crew bringing a unique blend of punk, disco, EDM, metal, funk, and New Orleans second-line sounds

• Maracatu New York, the city's first and only ensemble dedicated to traditional Maracatu de Baque Virado and other musical styles from the Northeast of Brazil

• Spanglish Fly, impresarios of Latin bugalú

• The Nevermind Orchestra, a psycho-jazz-grunge-brass Nirvana cover band

• Marching Cobras, a multi-city ensemble program providing opportunities for artistic expression to teens in NYC, Westchester, and Connecticut

• Frank London, a Grammy-winning trumpeter, bandleader, and composer playing klezmer and world music

• Hungry March Band, the city's legendary brass and spectacle ensemble

• Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band - the region's premiere Balkan brass ensemble

• Underground Horns - playing Afro-funk, New Orleans, Bhangra, and beyond

• Kenny Wollesen & The Tigers - Spontaneous, organic, ephemeral improvised marching music

• Kings County Pipes & Drums - Brooklyn-based pipe and drum band started as a lark in 2012 with the serious mission of having fun

HONK NYC! is proud to welcome a host of national and international traveling bands, including:

• Boston's Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, performing a wild meld of circus punk, instrumental noise, prog brass, and experimental big-band beats

• Le Fanfare Invisible from Paris, providing a joyous and noisy resistance to cynicism

• Chicago performance art music-and-spectacle ensemble Environmental Encroachment

• The endlessly energetic Le Pompier Poney Club, based in Marseille and with members from across France, Belgium, and Rome, and New York

• Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, a raucous, stomp-your-foot-and-belt-out-the-choruses, 30-member-strong New Orleans-style troupe

• And, in a very special appearance, MERASI: Master Musicians of Rajasthan, will perform on Thursday, October 13 at WFMU's Monty Hall presented in collaboration with Rob Weisberg's Transpacific Sound Paradise.

This year's HONK NYC! includes a day in Staten Island, with a HONK NYC! Pop-Up at the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, and an evening concert at Everything Goes Café. HONK NYC! will also present its 3rd annual HONK! for More Gardens Parade on the Lower East Side, co-presented with More Gardens.

An artist-run festival, primarily underwritten via crowd-funding and small individual donations, the annual cavalcade brings a sense of anarchic, joyful, participatory celebration to audiences. HONK NYC! weaves together musicians and performers from around the globe who share a passion for playing and preserving the grassroots global tradition of street music.

HONK NYC! 2016 is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and also in part by a DCA Premier Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. HONK NYC's 2016 programming is presented in conjunction with the following organizations: Ariana's List, More Gardens!, Rubulad and WFMU Radio's Transpacific Sound Paradise.

For complete festival details, including information on the Festival's closing night show, community events and school programs related to the HONK NYC! lineup, ticket sales, venue information and lineup changes, visit the HONK NYC! website, the official HONK NYC! Facebook page or theHONK NYC! Kickstarter.

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