05/11/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/11/2022 08:26
CHICAGO-Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) celebrate the return of six of the City of Chicago's iconic free summer music festivals with today's announcement of lineups for three of Chicago's most beloved summer events starting in June:
Admission is free. Schedule highlights enclosed with full details and updates online.
Save the dates for three more DCASE music festivals later this summer and fall; lineups to be announced in the coming weeks:
For more information about City-funded "Chicago Presents" community events and other City-permitted neighborhood festivals and special events, visit Chicago.gov/DCASE. Details about the rest of the Millennium Park summer season - including Summer Workouts, Summer Film Series and more - will be announced soon. (For Grant Park Music Festival information, visit GPMF.org.)
Celebrating the influence of this spirited genre born in our great city more than 80 years ago, the 2022 Chicago Gospel Music Festival presents a powerful lineup of top talent. Hosted by Inspiration 1390's Sonya Blakey and DeAndre Patterson.
Experience a family-friendly day in Millennium Park at the free festival featuring music that touches the soul from traditional choirs to contemporary urban sounds mixed with Hip-Hop, House, Pop, and R&B. This family-fun day is bound to unite all people from all walks of life to celebrate and experience joy.
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With a diverse lineup celebrating the blues' past, present and future, the Chicago Blues Festival celebrates the world-renowned Chicago Blues legacy. In addition to Millennium Park, for the first time the festival expands citywide, bringing top musicians into two south and west side neighborhoods that birthed Chicago Blues-Austin and Bronzeville.
Also new this year, the festival hosts a "Women in Blues"showcase on the Jay Pritzker stage June 12 curated and performed by an extraordinary group of Blues musicians paying homage to Blues legend Mary Lane. Full schedule below; details on the website.
Jay Pritzker Stage - Schedule
Visit Mississippi Juke Joint Stage - Schedule
Rosa's Lounge (South Promenade stage)
Emcee: Tony Mangiullo
Daily showcase of Chicago Blues legends and emerging artists that have called Rosa's Lounge home over the last 38 years.
Jay Pritzker Stage - Schedule
Visit Mississippi Juke Joint Stage - Schedule
Rosa's Lounge (South Promenade stage)
Emcee: Tony Mangiullo
Daily showcase of Chicago Blues legends and emerging artists that have called Rosa's Lounge home over the last 38 years.
Jay Pritzker, Millennium Park - Schedule
Visit Mississippi Juke Joint Stage - Schedule
Rosa's Lounge (South Promenade stage)
Emcee: Tony Mangiullo
Daily showcase of Chicago Blues legends and emerging artists that have called Rosa's Lounge home over the last 38 years.
Jay Pritzker - Schedule
Visit Mississippi Juke Joint Stage - Schedule
Rosa's Lounge (South Promenade stage)
Emcee: Tony Mangiullo
Daily showcase of Chicago Blues legends and emerging artists that have called Rosa's Lounge home over the last 38 years.
Thursday, June 9
Friday, June 10
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The 10-part music series features a wide variety of music from established and emerging artists at the iconic Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Highlights include DakhaBrakha, a folk Ukrainian quartet that combines avant-garde, traditional and contemporary sounds; a tribune to Charles Stepney "one of the underrated heroes of Chicago soul music" performed by a new, large ensemble; Grammy nominated Afrobeat artist Femi Kuti; acclaimed hip hop and Nueva Canción Chilena artist Ana Tijoux; Afro-Cuban rockstar CIMAFUNK; Jeff Tweedy of Wilco with opening act from Chicago's The People's Music School, and more. Lineup below; details on the website.
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force - Globally renowned Nigerian Afrobeat saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and activist. The eldest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo (Ransome) Kuti, he has expanded the genre's reach to embrace elements of punk, electro, and hip-hop. His new album 'Stop the Hate' features his son Made Kuti, carrying on the tradition once again.
HAT - Moroccan born artist presents audio-visual show that remixes traditional musicians from across the world onto a big screen, shaping them harmoniously into new electro beats.
Abigail Washburn - A singing, songwriting, Illinois-born, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player every bit as interested in the present and the future as she is in the past, and every bit as attuned to the global as she is to the local. Washburn pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody's ever heard before.
Samantha Crain - A Choctaw singer, songwriter, poet, producer, and musician from Oklahoma. She is a two-time Native American Music Award winner.
CIVL (Chicago Independent Venue League) - Co-curated show, artists TBA.
DakhaBrakha - Global folk-fusion quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine that expands upon fundamental elements of sound and soul and combines them into a musical alchemy they call 'ethno-chaos.'
Chicago Immigrant Orchestra - A 12-piece ensemble that consists of members of the Chicago immigrant community, representing musical traditions from all over the world. Originally founded in 1999 as part of DCASE's first-ever Chicago World Music Festival.
Jeff Tweedy - Best known as the founding member and leader of the Grammy Award-winning American rock band Wilco, Jeff Tweedy is one of contemporary music's most accomplished songwriters, musicians, and performers.
The People's Music School - Led by professionally trained faculty, students receive intensive tuition-free music education, The People's Music School transforms and empowers young lives. Serving students and their families in the Uptown, Albany Park, Back of the Yards, and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods.
Hip Hop: A Child of Blues, a special Blues to Hip Hop Commission with hip hop producer "Coolout Chris" and Blues drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, creating a program musically onsite to connect blues to hip hop.
Kinsey: A Memoir by Roy Kinsey: Chicago born and raised, Roy Kinsey is a black, queer-identified, rapper, and librarian.
Ana Tijoux - The New York Times points to her as the Latin American response to Lauryn Hill. Her music dialogues to the sound of hip hop and Nueva Canción Chilena. A feminist and activist in her lyrics, she denounces social and cultural deficiencies.
Gabriel Garzón-Montano - First generation American to French and Colombian parents, Gabriel weaves tapestries of sound that defies genre fusing hip-hop regatone, contemporary music.
GRAMMY Chicago Chapter Co-curated Show - Artists TBA
CIMAFUNK - An Afro-Cuban rockstar who brings out the best in Cuban rhythms and traditions, and infusing sounds and styles from Africa and the U.S.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Seven sons of jazz great Phil Cohran from the south side of Chicago carrying on his musical legacy, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's musical style ranges from hip hop to jazz to funk and rock.
Charles Stepney: Out of the Shadows, a tribute to "one of the underrated heroes of Chicago soul music," Stepney contributed to the sounds of Muddy Waters, Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Earth, Wind & Fire, and more. For this special event at Millennium Park, Stepney's legacy and music will be brought to light, celebrated and performed by a new, large ensemble called Rotary Connection 222 under the musical direction of bassist & bandleader Junius Paul, with creative direction by The Stepney Family and International Anthem.
Black Monument Ensemble, a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work that represents the richness and diversity of Black artistic excellence in Chicago.
The Millennium Park Summer Music Series is made possible by the Millennium Park Foundation. DCASE programming is supported by the Chicago Transit Authority.
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Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to enriching Chicago's artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago's non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City's future cultural and economic growth, via the Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City's cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors. Visit chicago.gov/dcase.
DCASE programming is supported by the Chicago Transit Authority.