Introducing Barbès in the Woods, a new global music festival that pays homage to one of Brooklyn's most iconic bars. Nestled in the hills of Western Massachusetts, this day-long festival features two-stages of music with afrobeat pioneers Antibalas, Underground System, Slavic Soul Party!, and more. It's going to be the quintessential backyard festival — the sort of thing you’ve always wanted in the middle of your summer — on a pristine tract of historic farmland in Montague, Massachusetts.
Antibalas
Combo Chimbita
Underground System
Slavic Soul Party!
Anbessa Orchestra
Alsarah & The Nubatones
Stephane Wrembel
Big Lazy
Klezperanto
The Berkshire Bateria & Bossa Triba
THE BACK STORY: Barbès was once a Park Slope laundromat until two Frenchmen turned it into a bar. That bar had a back room for music. And that back room soon became Brooklyn’s favorite hang for omnivorous, authentic, non-commercial and international performances. Its been called "a cultural phenomenon” by the Christian Science Monitor and "…the vanguard of the new Brooklyn jazz scene” by the New York Times. The tiny venue hosts more than 700 performances a year. The point is: this is no ordinary bar. And this will not be any ordinary festival.
THEATRE: Come prepared for an immersive theatrical scavenger hunt put together by our friends at The Shea Theater Arts Center, Eggtooth Productions, and Fine House.
THE LOCATION: The festival is set on the former Bartlett Farm in the village of Montague: a twelve-acre tract of field, forest & river abutting the Sawmills Conservation Area and forming a natural enclosure for an intimate gathering. Music on two stages from 1PM-11PM.
The festival is made possible in part with help from our partners: New England Public Radio, Greenfield Northampton Cooperative Bank, Turners Falls RiverCulture, Montague Cultural Council, Northeast Solar, and AMR of Springfield.