UPDATE 8:10 p.m.: Anna reports the organizers have CANCELED the festival due to “circumstances beyond our control.” We’ll post more information as it becomes available. -Ed.
Back before “Bohemian” was code-word for “hippie”, it was a misapplied code word for “gypsy.” This weekend’s Gypsy Tabor Festival, presented by Mehanata bar, celebrates the older meaning of the word, and with a nice beach-front breeze to boot. You can expect to find belly dancing, flute-making workshops, drum circles, movies and a ton of music, and you can expect to pay zero dollars for this free outdoor festival. And you just might see a certain Brokelynite fire dancer in action.
Mehanata, the Lower East Side bar where gypsy punk Gogol Bordello got his start, is the city’s premier venue for traditional and fusion Eastern European music (primarily Gypsy and Balkan), and the Tabor Festival booked some impressive acts, from traditional Roma performers to Sephardic-Brooklyn mish-mashes. Plus, there will be fire dancers (including yours truly, Anna Leah), workshops in music and dance and information sessions about the Roma people. The fest takes place over three days with camping at Floyd Bennett Field (an abandoned airstrip in the wilds of Brooklyn near Jamaica Bay).
Shameless promotion for Anna Leah. Photo by Stephen de Lasheras
Details on the festival used to be privileged information, but it finally entered the age of digital maps. Plus, did we mention it’s free now? Vendors will be on hand with selling food, Turkish coffee, jewelry and body art.
The first bands begin tonight at 6 p.m. DJs from the hills of Romania and Peru take over each night at 1:30.
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CAUTION: In all probability, you will get lost (my first one took me hours of walking in a circle on the beach to find, but was totally worth it).
Stay calm, and call Michelle at 845 82O 9679 to get the free trolley to pick you up at the park entrance.