Annual Summer Solstice celebration brings dozens of musical acts to the Bronx for daylong city festival.
Make Music New York puts music in unusual spaces

The official start of summer will bring “music” to the ears.

The Make Music New York festival set for Thursday will feature more than 1,000 free concerts across the city, including more than 35 music acts in the Bronx.

The idea is to put music in unusual spaces, said Aaron Friedman, president of Make Music.

“It’s meant to get people out in the streets together to appreciate the cultural richness of the city,” he said.

The one-day festival, now in its 6th year, will run simultaneously with similar events in more than 450 cities worldwide.

In the Bronx, the celebration will bring everything from jazz to hip hop to folk music to parks, libraries and health centers.

Among the highlights is the Balkan brass band Slavic Soul Party! set to perform at 6 p.m. at Jacobi Medical Center, 1400 Pelham Parkway. The concert, presented by Carnegie Hall, promises a mashup of Balkan and Gypsy sounds mixed with gospel, techno, funk, jazz and Latin beats.

“They’re really one of the most established, exciting bands that’s performing in the festival,” Friedman said. “It’s one of the festival’s highlights in the city a whole.”

The New York Public Library is hosting 50 concerts.

“We want to be seen not only as an educational center but as a cultural center where not only are we open to new authors bringing their books in, but to musicians and artists as well,” said Kelly Yim, of the NYPL.

In the Bronx, 21 branches are hosting music acts including the country band, Bailey Poteat, at the Baychester branch; hip hop group Kool Taj the GR8 at the Eastchester branch; jazz artist Debra Kreisberg at the Spuyten Duyvil branch; and the Latin group, Importango, at the Mosholu branch.

For details on all local concerts, visit makemusicny.org.