By Reporter Jackson Harrup, Reporter Ty Reidy, Reporter Zhi Zhu
Dozens of brass bands from the US and around the world came together for the 19th annual Honk Festival.
Last weekend, more than thirty bands flooded the streets of Somerville with music for activism. It was a time filled with energy as bands showed their activism through their music. The sense of community Honk Fest brought was immense.
It started with a group of musicians that joined together in 2003 to participate in an Anti-Iraq war protest in Boston. They soon became a band called the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, now known as the Good Trouble Brass Band and wondered if there were other bands across the country that had similar movements.
“We found some and they responded very enthusiastically on the idea of getting together to share our music, share our principles and our tunes and just to be together,” Trudi Cohen, a co-founder of the band and organizer of Honk Fest said. She expressed it felt like the right thing to do and enjoyed making the noise in support of the anti-war movement.
In 2006, there were 12 bands from across the country and Canada that came together for the first Honk Festival, which has been going on ever since.
“The unifying idea of the festival is that it’s music that can be played on the streets without stages. The bands who come are ones that are committed to supporting social justice issues with their music,” Cohen explained.
Beverly Larkin, who's president of the band Blowcomotion from Austin, Texas, described it was their first time at Honk Fest. They’re a band that encourages adults with any skill level in music to join their band to learn and play together.
“None of us are really professional musicians, so we’re getting together to play music, have fun with our friends, learning different music styles…and we just have a blast,” Larkin said.
“For us to be able to come up to Boston we did several fundraisers, we did a lot of gigs, a little bit of grants. We raised enough money to be able to give some of our members a stipend to be able to afford our trip,” she said.
The Friday before the weekend of music for activism was full of activities for parents and kids to enjoy.
“It’s our first time for the lantern parade, but we’ve been to Honk two or three times and it’s always great hearing the music from all the different towns…and enjoy everything,” Jocelyn, a mother with her daughter, said. She expressed enjoying bringing her daughter to the free lantern making workshop and parade the festival organized. “It’s just such a vibrant, positive experience in the city.”
