Respect Festival 2023 — A Celebration of Humanity

The Respect Festival is an annual two-day and evening musical and multicultural event, and this year kicks off with a ceremonial and meditative tone.

Rangamatir Baul, led by Rina Das, from West Bengal, India, begins the outdoor gathering on Saturday afternoon, June 17 th .

Rina Das is considered the “Queen” of Baul music and Baul music is called the “soul of Bengal” meaning it is needed to have a good society – it is not a religious music, but a spiritual music taught to the musicians by their gurus, and at its heart, the music is a celebration of humanity; it is said to be about “self-discovery,” so knowing yourself is the essence of Baul music. With or without the yoga mats, this could become a transcendental meditation experience for all.

Headlining Saturday is Adedeji, delivering a healthy dose of Afrobeat, the trademark sound of Nigeria, in the tradition of the late Fela Kuti, though “he” lives on via his sons Femi and Seun.

Afrobeat is a get-up-and-dance music bringing together West African traditional music and its rhythms with influences of jazz and soul, especially James Brown, plus a strong political punch.

Another notable group on Saturday is Al Bilali Soudan from Timbuktu, Mali. This is Saharan dessert blues, a slow trance music performed by a multigenerational band of master musicians.

Also on the program for the first day are musical artists from Europe, including Corina Sirghi si Taraful Jean Americanu from Romania, and Damir Imamovic from Bosnia and Hercegovina.

On Sunday, the program begins with still more African music: Dur-Dur Band from Somalia. This group brings a high-energy funky Afro-dance party to make sure that no one is still sleeping.

Following this group, the Meral Polat Trio is a European act from Holland, led by vocalist and songwriter Polat, with a sound influenced by Kurdish folk but also modern jazz and rock. Polat’s lyrics are in Kurdish, Turkish, Greek and Farsi, all cultures that influence their music profoundly.

Another highlight on Sunday is the Kastrup Quartet, led by percussionist Guilherme Kastrup (based in Sao Paulo, Brazil), and apparently he has some Danish roots. Kastrup brings together Brazilian and African roots music for his own more experimental and modern sound aimed at reawakening our humanity. They have a samba soul approach with electronica for a full impact.

Closing the festival is KUTU with members from Ethiopia and France. Led by a pair of young Ethiopian female vocalists, this is the cross-over ethno-pop sound that gives the West European music scene its most distinctive world-music flavors, and it is a pure alternative to techno.

Overall, the groups for this year’s Respect Festival represent most continents and with a universal appeal to community, celebration and multicultural awareness for our mutual survival.