Global Union unveils lineup

The world music festival returns in September

by Decider staff August 4, 2009

World music is commonly associated with middle-aged men with graying ponytails and twentysomething hippie baristas, but the annual Global Union festival has worked hard to make it safe for all Milwaukeeans the past several years. Taking place in Bay View’s Humboldt Park, Global Union has presented top-flight musicians from around the world for absolutely free for the past three years. Alverno Presents will be back at it for the fourth installment Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20, presenting artists from China, Mexico, France, India, and Ethiopia.

Saturday will include expansive Chicago gypsy punk band Mucca Pazza, Mexican skasters Los de Abajo, and pan-European group Watcha Clan. Sunday brings funky North Indian group Red Baraat, Mongolian rockers Hanggai, and Ethiopian traditionalist Minyeshu.

The A.V. Club is most curious about Mucca Pazza, which visited Mad Planet earlier this year. MP describes itself as an “astounding circus punk marching band,” and that pretty well captures its sound. The group comprises nearly 30 musicians and a few cheerleaders, dressed in bargain-bin band uniforms and wailing away on trombones, clarinets, tubas, and half a dozen kinds of drums. The music is (unsurprisingly) big and brassy and (surprisingly) experimental, jumping from a tune that could have been played after a winning touchdown to funky, Zappa-esque weirdness. The whole setup creates an engrossing ruckus that makes for a particularly fun live show.