Global Union returns to Bay View’s Humboldt Park

Global Union, a free festival of world music and culture, returns to Milwaukee’s beautiful Humboldt Park on Saturday, September 15. This is the seventh year Alverno Presents has brought this day-long concert to Milwaukee audiences. Artists from Central Europe (by way of New Orleans), Tunisia, Mexico, and Sweden will travel to Milwaukee for Global Union, a day that celebrates individual expression and global commonality. Several food and merchandise vendors will also be on site. The concert is from noon – 6 p.m., and will go on rain or shine.

Global Union’s lineup includes:

Panorama Jazz Band – 12:30 p.m.

MC Rai – 2 p.m.

Rana Santacruz – 3:30 p.m.

Movits! – 5 p.m.

Besides jazz, Panorama Jazz Band has brought a New Orleans approach to various genres of folkloric music from around the world – especially Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. Despite the growing popularity of electrified and synthesized music, these young musicians prefer the sounds of the clarinet, alto saxophone, trombone, accordion, banjo, tuba and drums.

 MC Rai is a native North African musician born in southern Tunisia, a place known for poetry, groovy African beats, and traditional Chaabi folk music. After moving to the United States in 2000, MC Rai fused sounds from the West with his deep-rooted Eastern culture. He gained attention from North American audiences for his infectious voice, fiery stage presence, and multi-cultural lyrics.

Rana Santacruz grew up in Mexico City and came of age in a musical world informed by MTV, where all styles of music are accessible like never before. Santacruz writes and sings the songs, in addition to playing accordion and a variety of stringed instruments. To flesh out his tunes, he enlisted a cast of a dozen versatile musicians who add a folk and neo-classical flare with violin, cello, sax and jaw harp as well as traditional Mexican mariachi instruments like guitarrón, vihuela, trumpet and tuba.

The Swedish hip hop/swing band Movits! is making their way through the music world, aiming for the top of the charts. After appearing on “The Colbert Report,” their album climbed to number one on both iTunes and Amazon, despite the fact they sing in Swedish. Growing up in the most northern part of Sweden, Johan and Anders Reinfeldt, brothers and band mates, began developing what would later become Movits!. The duo turned trio when the Reinfeldt brothers were joined by saxophone player Joakim Nilsson.

Alverno Presents  

Alverno Presents, the performing arts series of Alverno College, is celebrating its 53rd year.  The series has innovated beyond our history as the longest running, continuous arts presenter in the city, to our niche of presenting contemporary dance, world music and jazz and an array of performance events. Alverno Presents shares the school’s mission by ensuring broad access to and participation in learning, experiencing and developing the arts for the learning community of Alverno, and our community as a whole.  For more information on Alverno Presents, special projects, media reviews and more, visit alvernopresents.alverno.edu, contact Alverno Presents Director David Ravel at 414-382-6150, or e-mail david.ravel@alverno.edu.