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(BLOOMINGTON) – The 25th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival will fill the streets of downtown Bloomington with sights and sounds from around the globe September 27 – 30, 2018.

Thirty international artists, free large-scale art installations, and events for all ages will fill 14 downtown Bloomington venues with palpable energy and an eclectic blend of global sound and spectacle. Venues range in style from the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater, to contemplative church settings, to ground-quaking floor-shaking tents, the Monroe County Courthouse, and even a pop-up video-immersion space. Music genres span continents and cultures, including Colombian marimba, Hawaiian hula, Malian desert groove, high-energy Congolese soukous, Swedish folk rock, contemporary American string music, and more.

Through music, dance, art, and food, Lotus embraces and celebrates cultural diversity. The 2018 Lotus World Music & Arts Festival lineup includes artists from Puerto Rico, Mali, Canada, China, Sweden, Colombia, Ecuador, Turkey, and beyond, plus Lotus’ first-ever artists from Somalia and Guadeloupe. Though US music fans may not yet recognize many names from the Lotus lineup, Lotus is known for debuting world-music artists into the US scene.

The heart of the Festival is the evening showcase experience on Friday and Saturday nights, when a wristband becomes a passport to explore all downtown venues from 6:00pm until midnight. Ticketed Festival events also include the Thursday Kick-Off Concert — a lively opening event featuring Malian and American music — and Sunday’s closing World Spirit Concert, where the anniversary commemorative “pin gets you in” to a celebration of old-time roots.

A complete list of artists is available below at lotusfest.org.

 

 

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