HONK NYC!’s HONK The Vote! October 9-19 Across New York City

Featuring: Melvin Gibbs, Slavic Soul Party, Babadan Banda de Rua, Ad Hoc Brass Band, Funkrust Brass Band, The Villagers Brass Band, Brass in a Box, Super Sonic Second Line, Off the Bar Brass, Batalá New York, Mambembé NY, Quenia Ribeiro and More!

Eleven Days of Free and Affordable Brass Events

Celebrating the Act – and Art – of Political Engagement

Performances Across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan

HONK NYC! celebrates the act – and art – of political engagement at HONK The Vote!, from October 9-19, across a number of venues in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Participate in the democratic process with joy, action, and conviction, and collaborate with your friends and neighbors to make the world you want to see!

We are proud to announce we are programming eleven full days this October, including:

HONK! Pier 84 – our festival ends on Saturday, October 19 with a huge free afternoon of global brass and percussion, parades, crafts, and workshops for all along our waterfront. Presented in partnership with our friends at Hudson River Park.

Crossings – presented by HONK NYC! and Brooklyn’s Loove Labs, featuring GRAMMY-nominated composer and musician Melvin Gibbs, Groove Collective co-founder Josh Roseman, and more on Friday, October 11.

HONK! Harlem – an opening night blowout on Wednesday, October 9 with an opening parade leading from Marcus Meets Malcolm Open Street to Shrine in Harlem, with afro-mineiro music from very special guest project from Brazil Babadan Banda de Rua, Ad Hoc Brass Band, Criss Cross and more.

Bikes n’ Brass – tour three of NYC’s boroughs on your own two wheels, enjoying the energetic sounds of contemporary brass music at every stop. Presented in partnership with Social Cycling NYC on Thursday, October 10.

HONK Family Band Open Rehearsal– take that trumpet and conga drum out of your closet and show them some love at our community class on Wednesday, October 16. Experience an expansive evening for musicians of all ages and skill levels, led by HONK Family Band musical directors.

HONK The Vote! Programming Details

Wednesday, October 9 at 7PM

HONK! Harlem with Criss Cross, Babadan Banda de Rua, Mambembé NY, Ad Hoc Brass Band

at Shrine World Music Venue, Harlem

Free

HONK! Harlem with us on Opening Night! Parade the sidewalks of Harlem, led by Mambembé NY‘s samba reggae rhythms, from Marcus Meets Malcolm to the SHRINE for a joyous evening of raucous global brass – including the NYC debut of Babadan Banda de Rua, plus cutting-edge musical improv led HONK NYC!’s Musical Director, Elijah J. Thomas.

Since 2018, Babadan Banda de Rua (Babadan Street Band) has been a vibrant presence in the alleys and streets, theaters, cultural spaces, and carnivals of the great Belo Horizonte area, in Brazil. Their mission is to create an afro-mineiro sound while emphasizing the need for aquilombamento (communitarian connection based on the historical model of Quilombos) and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.

Mambembé NY, a vibrant and dynamic ensemble, masterfully fuses the pulsating rhythms of drums with the infectious grooves of samba reggae, creating a sonic tapestry that celebrates, preserves, and expands the rich heritage of Afro-Brazilian percussive music. Rooted in the cultural melting pot of New York City, this diverse group draws its members from across the globe, embodying the true essence of the city’s multicultural spirit. Each musician brings their unique perspective and cultural background to the mix, resulting in a harmonious blend that transcends geographical boundaries.

Ad Hoc Brass Band is a New Orleans style brass band based in Brooklyn, NY that started back in April 2021 just as the world started to open up. It was started by trombonist Dave Joseph and percussionist Marc Basch who were on the hunt to emulate the sounds of some of their favorite 2nd Line and NOLA Club ensembles. Ad Hoc Brass was the house band and jam leader for the JAMbalaya-NYC events hosted at The Big aLICe Barrel Room in Industry City, Brooklyn.

FOR THOSE PARADING

6:30pm: LINE UP at Marcus Meets Malcolm Open Street, 120th btw Marcus Garvey Park & Malcolm X Blvd

7pm: Festival Opening Parade through Harlem ending at SHRINE with Mambembé NY. 

FOR THOSE GROOVING AT SHRINE

7-8pm: HONK Family DJ Hour

8pm: Ad Hoc Brass Band

9pm: Babadan Banda de Rua

10pm: Criss Cross open improvisational jam, led by Elijah J. Thomas

Thursday, October 10 at 7PM

Bikes ‘n Brass with Babadan Banda de Rua, Brass in a Box, and Special Guests

at Columbus Circle -> Long Island City Waterfront -> Ft. Greene Park

Free

Tour three of NYC’s boroughs on your own two wheels, enjoying the energetic sounds of contemporary brass music at every stop. Presented in partnership with Social Cycling NYC.

SCHEDULE

7pm — Columbus Circle | Babadan Banda de Rua

8:45pm — LIC Waterfront | Brass in a Box 

Time TBD — Ft. Greene Park | SPECIAL GUESTS

Thursday, October 10 at 10PM

BONK! at Barbès with Babadan Banda de Rua

at Barbès, Park Slope

What happens when street band music comes inside? Enjoy a special dose of our favorite brass and percussion artists honking their hearts out with original tunes, slamming solos, and untethered experimentation. This special HONK NYC! Festival edition features guest artists Babadan Banda de Rua, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, playing a distinct fusion of local brass and Afro-Brazilian musical traditions from their home state of Minas Gerais.

Friday, October 11 at 6:30PM

HONK + Loove Labs Present Crossings with Josh Roseman + Friends, Melvin Gibbs’ People Moving, Babadan Banda de Rua, BIXology

at Loove Labs Annex (6:30pm-7:30pm) and Loove Labs (8pm-10:30pm), Williamsburg

$10 Suggested Donation

Crossings is a meeting of the minds between HONK NYC! + Loove Labs, in collaboration with musicians Melvin Gibbs and Arto Lindsay with a special intro live from Rio. Christen Loove Labs’ new space on N12 with music, procession, improvisation and ritual. Big music & big sounds! Explore the music of the Americas and beyond, paying homage to the rhythm’s African origins.

Trombonist Josh Roseman was a co-founder of the acid-jazz dance band the Groove Collective in the 1990s and the legendary underground club night Giant Step. A versatile sideman, he has played with Dave Holland, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, Jason Moran, the Skatelites, the Roots, John Zorn, Medeski Martin & Wood, Me’Shell NdegeOcello, and the late Lester Bowie, as well as leading his own bands.

Melvin Gibbs is a Grammy-nominated composer, musician, artist, and writer, born, raised, and currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y. A prolific veteran of the New York music scene, he was part of the No Wave radical rock-funk-jazz band Defunkt in the 1980s and the Rollins Band in the 1990s. He has been called “the greatest bassist in the world” by Time Out New York and was 2019 winner of JazzTimes‘s Critics Poll in the category Electric Bass.

BIXology is a project celebrating the music of Bix Beiderbecke, led by Skyler Hagner. Commissioned for the 2023 HONK NYC! Festival, BIXology performs original arrangements of Beiderbecke’s tunes and other early jazz favorites. Eschewing note for note recreations of the originals, Skyler Hagner’s fresh orchestrations and arrangements inspire 21st-century feet to jump and jive to his swinging takes on Beiderbecke’s dynamic compositions. The tight ensemble work and hot solos will keep your toes tapping – come dance with us!!

FOR THOSE PARADING

6pm: Line up at Loove Labs Annex (238 N. 12th St.) for a parade (leaving 7:30pm) through Williamsburg with special guests L Train Brass Band

AT LOOVE LABS ANNEX

6:30pm: BIXology

AT LOOVE LABS

8pm: Babadan Banda de Rua

8:30pm: Melvin Gibbs’ People Moving

9:30pm: Josh Roseman + Friends

Saturday, October 12 at 2PM

Samba Saturday with Melvin Gibbs, Mambembé NY, Quenia Ribeiro, and Babadan Banda de Rua

at Herbert Von King Park, Bed-Stuy

Free – All Ages

HONK NYC!’s first-ever Samba Saturday presents the music and movement of Brazil and beyond, with our Master Makers’ Tables open for those who want to get their craft on. Presented in partnership with Herbert Von King Park and the NYC Parks Department at the Almira Kennedy Coursey Amphitheatre.

SCHEDULE

Special Guest Conductor Melvin Gibbs appears throughout the day!

2pm: Mambembé NY

2:45pm: Babadan Banda de Rua (1st Set)

3:30pm: Samba Workshop with Quenia Ribeiro

4pm: Babadan Band de Rua (2nd Set)

Saturday, October 12 at 7:30PM

HONK + Rubulad Brass-tastic Blow Out with Funkrust Brass Band (Album Release), Stoop Kidz, Boxcutter Collective, Babadan Banda de Rua, and HONK Family Band

at Rubulad (Secret Location), Williamsburg

$18-$25

HONK + Rubulad’s 11th Annual BRASS-TASTIC BLOWOUT! Celebrating the release of Funkrust Brass Band’s new album, Make A Little Spark.

Funkrust Brass Band is an NYC-based, 20-piece post-apocalyptic disco-punk brass band founded in 2015 that plays all original music with megaphone vocals, heavy tuba bass lines, thundering percussion and searing brass melodies. Their explosive live performances feature full band choreography, signature wasteland/glam uniforms and LED lighting effects. The band mixes post-punk, disco, EDM, metal, and funk with Balkan brass, filtered through the medium of a massive street brass band with a punk rock sensibility.

Stoop Kidz is a Brooklyn based Brass Band, drawing influence from second line New Orleans music with a modern twist. Serving up hot disco/pop covers and original music, aiming to spread joy thru fun dance music! Featured in The New York Times and Gothamist.

The Boxcutter Collective is made up of seven core members who met while working at the Bread and Puppet Theater and bonded over their shared passion for waving things around and pretending that the things are talking. This is called “puppetry,” and it is a highly respected artform in every culture except this one. Their work addresses current political movements drawing inspiration from anti-fracking activists, efforts to unionize workers, anti-war demonstrations, decolonization thinkers, abolitionist strategists, and others. They have toured internationally and performed at venues across New York City including La Mama Experimental Theater Club, Coney Island USA, Amant Arts, El Clemente Cultural Center, Rubulad and at the Jalopy Theatre. They are currently working on an anti-capitalist sci-fi puppet musical, Dimension Zero, which will premiere in full in 2025. 

The HONK Family Band is a multi-dimensional community ensemble created to connect musicians, sound-makers, dancers and spectacle-doers across the city. Led by Elijah J. Thomas, HFB aims to support and uplift HONK! NYC’s work of highlighting and advancing global street band music in as many forms as possible, through “music-making, pageantry, audience participation, and education.”

FOR THOSE PARADING

7:30 Meet at Maria Hernandez Park for a Procession with HONK Family Band to Rubulad

FOR THOSE HANGING IN RUBULAD’S MAGICAL GARDEN

8pm: HONK Family Band

8:30: Babadan Banda de Rua

9:30: Boxcutter Collective

10pm: Funkrust Brass Band

11pm: Stoop Kidz

Sunday, October 13 at 4:30PM

Crash New York: EAST VILLAGE with Hungry March Band

at Tompkins Square Park

Follow Hungry March Band on a pub crawl across the East Village to end at Lucky on B to celebrate HONK NYC! co-founder Sandra Glazer’s Birthday!

Sunday, October 13 at 1PM

HONK! Sunnyside with Super Sonic Second Line and Off the Bar Brass

at 46th St. B/T Queens Blvd. and Greenpoint Ave., Sunnyside

Free – All Ages

Follow our HONK! bands, Pied Piper-like, through the fabulous gastro fest that is Taste of Sunnyside! Taste of Sunnyside will return to Queens for its 14th year on Sunday, October 13th, featuring over 50 local restaurants and a block party on 46th Street between Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue. This annual neighborhood fest will include live music, a local artists exhibition, family-friendly activities, and the opportunity to walk around the community while sampling bites throughout from Sunnyside’s top eateries.

SCHEDULE

1pm: Off the Bar Brass

3pm: Super Sonic Second Line

Monday, October 14 at 10PM

Sitting in with The Villagers Brass Band

at Shrine World Music Venue, Harlem

Free

The Villagers Brass Band is a New York City based brass collective fusing the bustling sounds of New Orleans’s Basin Street with today’s Top 40 chart toppers. This eclectic group brings energy, authenticity, and raw brass POWER to every stage and performance, whether it be on the streets of New York or in one of the city’s many acclaimed live venues.

Tuesday, October 15 at 9PM

HONK! Happy After Hour with Slavic Soul Party!

at Barbès, Park Slope

$20 (Back Room)

Every Tuesday FOREVER at Barbès at 9pm, Slavic Soul Party takes over the back room of Barbès, infusing the air with their delicious sound. This HONK-Tober, HONK NYC! co-hosts the soiree at Barbès…Tax Extension Deadline Day! Join the HONK NYC! team for a drink, a dance, a delectable moment shared at Brooklyn’s pre-eminent oasis of sound.

Fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, Roma accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz chops: Slavic Soul Party! is just what it says. Brash and strong as slivovitz, these nine musicians have forged a virtuosic new brass band music in the heart of New York City; they have held their Tuesday bacchanal for now 18 years – and it has become a destination for locals and brass band fans from around the globe. John Carlson & Kenny Warren (trumpet), Peter Hess (sax/clarinet), Peter Stan (accordion), Tim Vaughn and Adam Dotson (trombone), Ken Bentley (tuba), Matt Moran and Chris Stromquist (go/snare/perc).

Wednesday, October 16 at 6PM

Open Rehearsal

at McCarren Park, Williamsburg

Free

Take that trumpet and conga drum out of your closet and show them some love at our community class led by our musical directors on Wednesday, October 16th. Experience an expansive evening for musicians of all ages and skill levels! PLUS, enjoy an introduction to “IndofunKonduction.” Loosely based upon the principles of the great Butch Morris’ original Conduction methods, trumpeter Indofunk Satish leads a highly simplified method of Conduction all can follow.

Thursday, October 17 at 10PM

HONK! The Full Moon Cabaret with Brass in a Box

at Secret West Village Mansion, Manhattan

$20 (THE WAKE)

What happens when Brass meets Burlesque? HONK NYC! brings the brass to Full Moon Cabaret on Opening Night. Full Moon Cabaret, the cheekiest burlesque in Berlin, debuts in NYC on October 17th with The Blood Moon, an immersive 1920s burlesque séance, starring Vicky Butterfly from London. HONK NYC! co-hosts the after-party at the secret mansion. Enjoy the 1920s immersive acts while Miss Maybelle and the Jazz Age Artistes play ragtime gems and stay for Brass in a Box!

THE BLOOD MOON

One hundred years ago in 1924, silent film star DELORES LA MARR was found dead in her lavish NYC hotel suite. Rumours swirled over her strange and unexpected death at the age of 29. Was it a suicide? Was she murdered by a jealous lover? Join us on the Blood Moon for a sinful 1920s séance to resurrect the spirit of Delores La Marr. 

THE WAKE (After Party)

10pm: Miss Maybelle and the Jazz Age Artistes – 1920s immersive acts continue throughout this set

10:30pm: Brass in a Box – Everybody dance!

Friday, October 18 at 1PM

Crash New York with Brass Monkeys!

Location TBA

Check the festival website and socials for details!

Saturday, October 19 at 1PM

HONK! Pier 84 with Batalá NY, La Manga, N’s Horns, COBU, Bloco from da Block, and HONK Family Band

at Pier 84 at Hudson River Park, Manhattan

Free – All Ages

It’s a Hudson River HONK! at Pier 84 as we close our festival along the majestic river separating NYC from the USA. Enjoy global brass and percussion traditions, including Japanese Taiko, New Orleans Second Line, Brazilian samba reggae and carnival music, Colombian rhythms and Jazz. Family workshops include HONK NYC!’s Master Makers’ Table, Double Dutch, Face Painting, bike decorating, and more! Co-Presented with Hudson River Park.

Batalá New York is the premier all-women, Black-led, percussion ensemble, activating partnerships, community building, and cultural awareness, bringing high-energy performances to the people of New York City through an engaging blend of cultural education and joyous entertainment. Our music, instruments and costumes are primarily from Salvador da Bahia in the northeast of Brazil.

La Manga is a cultural identity laboratory created by a collective of women artists that is inspired by the spirit and ancestry of cultural manifestations from the Caribbean coast in Colombia. Honoring Black and Indigenous oral traditions; connecting with the power of tambores Afro-Colombianos (Tambor Alegre, Tambora and llamador) and celebrating life through storytelling and bailes cantaos. La Manga was featured at The New York Times and has performed at Joe’s Pub, Nublu, Moma PS1, Museum of the City of New York, Museum at Eldridge Street, Queens Theater, Bronx Music Heritage Center, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and Arrebato Queer Party.

Pat Oleszko makes a spectacle of herself—and doesn’t mind if you laugh. With elaborate costumes and props, she creates performances, films, inflatables and spatial events. She has worked from the popular art forms of the street, party, parade, and burlesque house, to the fields, mountains, trees and seas, from the Museum of Modern Art, Documenta, the Olympics and King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, to Artforum, Ms, Esquire, Playboy and Sesame Street Magazine. Oleszko has been amply rewarded for her diverse efforts bringing home the beacon with the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim, a DAAD (Berlin), several Tony nominations, multiple NEA’s, NYFA’S, a Jim Henson Grant, and the Bessie, a NY Dance and Theater Award for Sustained Excellence.

Cobu was created in 2000 by Yako Miyamoto, a veteran member of the Off-Broadway hit STOMP. An all-woman ensemble expressing the splendor, beauty, and strength of Japan, Cobu has performed in Madison Square Garden for the NBA halftime show, Shakespeare in the Park, and We the Peoples at the United Nations. Listed as one of the 30 shows to see by Time Out NY, Cobu won the Wella International Trend Talent Award, the Audience Favorite Award at Fringe Festival, and the Grand Prize of the K-Pop Dance Contest K-ollaboration.

Forget your average “kiddie” show! Bloco from da Block brings the sights, sounds and moves of Brazilian carnaval to Brooklyn and beyond. Specializing in an interactive, family friendly performance in the rhythms of Brazil and NYC, Bloco from da Block creates accessible, intergenerational and inclusive art with all of those who wish to jump into the parade.

SCHEDULE

1pm: Opening Parade with HONK Family Band, featuring Grand Marshal Pat Oleszko as Helen Highwater

2pm: Bloco from da Block

3pm: COBU

3:45pm: N’s Horns

4:30pm: La Manga

5:30pm: Batalá NY

About HONK NYC!

HONK NYC! brings the tradition of global street band music and spectacle to audiences everywhere — in parks, at clubs, in schools, and especially out in the streets. Started at a dinner party in 2007 by members of legendary Brooklyn street ensemble Hungry March Band, HONK NYC! has flourished into a year-round, artist-run organization. HONK NYC! makes events that reclaim, reuse, and redefine public space. We connect communities through music-making, pageantry, audience participation, and education. We celebrate the power and vitality of street performance, and support the artists and musicians who preserve and transform these global traditions. HONK NYC! is part of the global HONK! United: a network of activist and community-based street bands and spectacle makers, who are redefining popular traditions of brass and percussion music. For more information, visit https://www.honknyc.com.

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