Is it cliche to begin something with “it was a dark and stormy night?” Probably, but for the Lotus Festival, it was raining — HARD! Kirkwood became a river and water streamed in and around the tents strategically placed around downtown Bloomington. This may have made it difficult to get from tent to tent and fully experience everything that was Lotus, but it did not deter the masses from coming out and celebrating the best in traditional and contemporary world music.

With the weather, we focused on one tent for the night and three bands.

Rupa & The April Fishes started out the evening with their agit-pop blend of French postmodern chansons, latin interpretation and celebratory explosions. They stayed close to their latest release Extroadinary Rendition along with a sampling of their upcoming release esta mundo. You can sample a new track from the upcoming album here: http://rupaandtheaprilfishes.bandcamp.com/track/free-download-culpa-de-la-luna

By the end of Rupa’s set, the crowd completely filled up the tent. Once Los De Abajo took the stage, people grabbed up what little space that was left to dance to the merengue, ska, and mariachi sounds that sometimes blurred the lines of punk rock and spontaneous chaos. The performance was energetic, powerful, and loud, really loud. Overall Los De Abajos sent out a powerful message to today’s world culture and proved that the youth were still getting restless.

And if that was not enough to exhaust you, then Bajofondo did it with their blend of acoustic tango and electronic music. This Rioplatense band consisting of members from Argentina and Uruguay brought so much energy to Bloomington that people kept piling in to catch a glimpse of the band’s sexy hip shaking sound.

Collaborating with the finest in contemporary musicians from Elvis Costello to Nelly Furtado, Mardulce became a smash success around the world. And the band has not stopped being gracious for that success, stopping after nearly every song to give thanks to the people who were in turn giving respect to them. The band jumped around, while the crowd jumped even higher and before it was all over, the stage was a festival of its own as people climbed up to dance around with the band. Most spectators had no clue that at some point, the rain stopped and the moon draped a warming glow over the Lotus Fest.

Links:

Rupa & The April Fishes: http://www.myspace.com/aprilfishes
Los De Abajos: http://www.myspace.com/losdeabajoska
Bajofondo: http://www.myspace.com/bajofondomardulce

Rupa & The April Fishes

Los De Abajos

Bajofondo