global roots

The Cedar’s 14th annual Global Roots Festival

2024 FESTIVAL DATES:

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD - WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH

(ARTISTS TBA)

Free. Family Friendly. Featuring Fresh New Global Voices.

With a successful return in 2022 after three years off, The Cedar Cultural Center proudly presented our signature Global Roots Festival once again — returning to an annual celebration! Last fall, this beloved event occupied The Cedar’s hall, embodying our mission to promote intercultural appreciation and understanding through the presentation of global music and dance. The festival offers accessible, free, and family friendly opportunities to hear innovative and unique artists from across the globe, right here in Cedar Riverside, Minneapolis!

Explore last year’s lineup for each night below! And save the date for this year’s festival this fall!

MONDAY, sept. 25 | NIGHT 1

ANA EVERLING AND HOUSE OF WATERS

Night one of Global Roots Festival kicked off with Ana Everling and House of Waters! Originally from Moldova, but now Chicago-based, Ana Everling opened the festival with her haunting singing, sharing music inspired by Romanian folklore. To close the night, House of Waters took the stage with a wildly indescribable fusion of genres and musical traditions the world over. With Max ZT revolutionizing the hammer dulcimer and Moto Fukushima constantly innovating on bass, they shared songs from their new album released last fall via Snarky Puppy’s GroundUP label.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 | NIGHT 2

MADALITSO BAND AND ETHIOCOLOR

Night two of Global Roots Festival featured Madalitso Band and Ethiocolor! Originally Malawi street buskers, Madalitso Band blended Chichewa and Ngoni ceremonial music into irresistible bliss, getting audiences moving and grooving to the guitar, suitcase bass drum, and babatoni. Hailing from Addis Ababa, Ethiocolor (led by the legendary Melaku Belay) shared ground-shaking Ethiopian Azmari culture through song and dance. Though we’ve had Fendika and Melaku before, we were excited to welcome the full Ethiocolor ensemble for the first time! With Belay leaping into motion and Ethiocolor laying down intoxicating funk grooves on traditional instruments; they created palpable joy in every second, clearly showing that everyone on stage and around it were exactly where they wanted to be.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27 | NIGHT 3

LA PERLA AND WAAHLI

Night three of Global Roots Festival closed out with La Perla and Waahli! La Perla, a trio of Colombian women, created bombastic, percussive music with tight vocal harmonies by weaving gaitas, hand-drums and folk singing together. To wrap our festival, Montreal-based Waahli took the stage, mixing Haitian influences from his early years into his tri-lingual hip-hop, rapping in French, English, and Creole. Audiences danced all night long to their irresistible grooves and celebrated a lovely finale to this year’s festival!

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

SPECIAL SUPPORT FROM

Ethiocolor is part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc.

Goals of The Global Roots Festival

  • Provide Minnesotans the opportunity to hear live music rooted in traditions from around the world

  • Educate audiences about cultural difference in our increasingly diverse state

  • Give Minnesotans of a variety of backgrounds an opportunity to connect with their cultural roots

  • Facilitate opportunities for intercultural interaction, education, and collaboration

  • Position The Cedar as a homebase for international artists visiting the region

  • Learn from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musicians and youth in our community who we partner with to curate and guide performances and programming.

MEDIA SPONSORS

CONCESSIONS SPONSORED BY SUMMIT BREWING

FREE TRANSPORTATION TO GLOBAL ROOTS FESTIVAL SPONSORED BY METRO TRANSIT

THANKS TO OUR 2023 GLOBAL ROOTS FESTIVAL FUNDERS

Thank you to everyone who celebrated the return of The Cedar’s Global Roots Festival two years ago from September 26-28, 2022! We had four wonderful acts on the lineup: Puuluup, QWANQWA, Heart of Afghanistan, and Roopa in Flux. It was amazing to welcome you back to this beloved annual event.

Check out our 2022 recap video >>