The 14th Annual Chicago Folk and Roots Festival is an absolute globe trotting adventure covering everything from Polka to Tuareg guitar, Gomgolese rumba and Latin-ska. No genre is left untouched by the vast and ambitious scope of Chicago’s legendary Old Town School of Folk Music, the renown community non-profit organization that brings us this fantastic festival every year, in addition to endless music events, classes, and entertainment throughout the year. With this their annual culmination, or climax of international and regional U.S. sounds, the city’s north side explodes with a fire cracker and soul, twanging-beat box of sounds and colors.
Sponsoring this years Nuestra Musica tent, Gozamos wants to makes sure you have the inside scoop on the best acts and the liveliest beats of the entire festival. Saturday offers an intriguing contrast of traditional sounds and innovative new blends. On the Nuestra Musica stage, Chicago boy wonders, the Latin-ska legends and sexy s.o.b.’s Vicios de Papá will be rocking out an early slot, warming out our ear drums for two days of fun in the sun. Hip-hop heads can shed their fear of folk and stick around the Nuestra Musica stage for the urban beats of Outbreak and Villaran. If you can get your kids out of bed, dressed and ready early off, make sure you drop them at the Kid Town tent for some hip-hop fun with Lyn Cole for her Mini Hip Hop workshop for tots.
Meanwhile, another of Chicago’s very own, Los Condenados Huastecos will grace the Main Stage with their central gulf of México son huasteco sound. Don’t miss out on these Chicago classics. If you’re not much of a a blue grass, or Texas rock fan, but you loved our previews of San Antonio alt-rockers Girl in Coma and the hipster-rockabily Bosco Delfrey, then you might enjoy the rustic-punk of Rosie Flores. And if you wanna leave your cowboy boots at home, preferring some proper Afro-Cuban grooves for the evening then head over to the Dance Tent, where you’ll definitely enjoy the renown collective, PALO!
If you survive the best of Saturday and are still thirsty for more stellar beats and slamming guitars then head back to the main stage on Sunday for the far-out drums of Grupo Rebolú bringing their Vallenato, Salsa, Calypso and Caribbean coast of Colombia folk prowess. If you were a fan of Terakaft’s Tamasheq harmonies and SMOD’s Mali grove then you’ll definitely get a kick out of the Touareg rock rebel, Omara “Bombino” Moctar. Like Hendrix and Santana, Bombino rings blues and soul, rock and rhythm with resistance and resilience. To top off Sunday’s festivities, get your shuffle and sway on with some fancy flute Latin jazz as Maraca closes out the festival.