Events

Play along as Honk! activist street band festival returns to Somerville and Cambridge

Over 29 street bands are performing this year.

The 19th annual Honk! Festival is coming to Somerville and Cambridge in early October. Greg Cook

By Lindsay Shachnow

1 minute to read

The 19th annual Honk! Festival is returning this year in early October with a wide variety of musical and activist events in Somerville and Cambridge.

The Honk! Festival has over 29 bands this year — coming from as far as Brazil, as well as many from New England — to perform unplugged in Davis Square and Harvard Square.

The festival, which has been held every October since 2006, is “inspired by a commitment to social change through music,” according to a press release.

The festival starts Friday night with a lantern parade in Davis Square neighborhoods and a band showcase. On Saturday, the bands take over Davis Square for a music and dance party. And on Sunday, local community groups, artists, and activists working for a variety of progressive causes join the brass bands for a parade from Davis Square to Harvard Square along Mass Avenue.

The Honk! participants for 2024 include:

aNova Brazil, Boston, MA
Artesian Rumble Arkestra, Olympia, WA
Babadan Banda de Rua, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Berkshire Resilience Brass Band, Lenox, MA
Blowcomotion, Austin, TX
Brass Balagan, Burlington, VT
Brass Solidarity, Minneapolis, MN
Dirty Water Brass Band, Boston, MA
Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, Somerville, MA
Extraordinary Rendition Band, Providence, RI
Filthy FemCorps, Seattle, WA
Forward! Marching Band, Madison, WI
Funkrust Brass Band, Brooklyn, NY
Good Trouble Brass Band, Somerville/Cambridge, MA
HONK Family Band, New York, NY
Hungry March Band Brooklyn, NY
Leftist Marching Band, Portsmouth, NH
May Day Marching Band, Pittsburgh, PA
New Orleans Musicians 4 Palestine, New Orleans, LA
Providence Drum Troupe, Providence, RI
Rara Bel Poze, Boston, MA
Rude Mechanical Orchestra, New York, NY
School of HONK, Somerville, MA
The Bread & Puppet Circus Band, Glover, VT
The Jamaica Plain Honk Band (JP Honk), Jamaica Plain, MA
The Party Band, Lowell, MA
Undertow Brass Band, Providence, RI
Yes Ma’am Brass Band. Austin, TX
Young Fellaz Brass Band, New Orleans, LA

Lindsay Shachnow

Lindsay Shachnow covers general assignment news for Boston.com, reporting on breaking news, crime, and politics across New England.

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