Music lovers get worldly fix with Lotus Music Festival

Friday night marked the arrival of what some have called “the best weekend in Bloomington.”

During the subsequent 24 hours, the southern Indiana college town brimmed with music, food and customs of other cultures thanks to the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival.

Students Rebecca Schlesinger and Jillian Podgorski traveled from the University of Illinois to experience the festival.

“We are both RAs for kind of an artsy dorm, and every year we organize to bring our residents to the festival,” Schlesinger said.

Schlesinger first experienced the festival in 2010 and returned this year with high expectations.

“Last year, I really didn’t know what to expect, but when I saw the performances, my mind was blown,” she said.

“I left with a lift of respect for the musicians and the practice of their craft.”

Becky Eisinger, a second-year volunteer at the Lotus Festival, said her favorite part of volunteering was observing the wide range of culture at the festival.

“The music, of course, is great to watch, but it’s so interesting to see how people react differently to the music,” Eisinger said. “Some people stay sitting, some people dance and others try to get backstage.”

When Te Vaka, a Polynesian song, dance and drumming group performed, no one stood still.

The band is based in New Zealand with band members from throughout the South Pacific.

They used instruments such as long drums, skin drums and the acoustic guitar, all from the region.

The performance also featured hula dancers, and the men wore lava lavas — a single rectangular cloth traditionally worn as a skirt in Polynesian culture.

Opetaia Foa’i, the lead singer of Te Vaka, wore a white clam shell around his neck.
“It is called a pahina,” Foa’i said. “It was given to me by my father. It is treated the same as gold in New Zealand.”

After releasing seven albums since 1995 and travelling to 39 countries, Te Vaka experienced its first visit to Bloomington for the festival. Foa’i said he was having a great time.

“Bloomington is a beautiful place, and the people here are so down to earth,” Foa’i said.

Foa’i said he is inspired by people and history when writing his songs.
“There are so many stories that haven’t been told, and they inspire me to tell them,” Foa’i said.

Another popular act was Movits!, a hip-hop-swing band from Sweden.
Four men dressed in tuxedos, bow ties, black-rimmed glasses and black and white Blücher dress shoes took the stage Saturday night.

The group’s lead singer, Johan Rensfeldt, said they wanted to keep a modern, Rat Pack feel for their group.

“We figured our look was important,” Rensfeldt said.

“Of course, music is the most important aspect.

However, if we go to a club and perform, people may not remember our names, but someone may say, ‘I really liked those guys in the glasses and tuxedos,’ so we wanted a look people would remember.”

The group is typically comprised of a lead singer, along with a saxophonist, trombonist and DJ to give the group a unique swing-hip-hop sound.
But the band added an acoustic guitarist for the festival’s performances.

“We were at an after party one night, and Benny Goodman’s ‘Sing Sing Sing’ started to play, and that was how we all got the idea to combine swing with hip-hop,” Rensfeldt said.

“Combining the two sounds also allowed all of us to play our strengths.”
Eisinger said he was surprised at the reaction the young people in the audience had after hearing them play.

“I’ve never seen a crowd react in a way that they reacted to when Movist!! performed,” Eisinger said.

“The tent was completely packed with everyone dancing, and when they stopped playing, 30 people tried to get backstage.”

Rensfeldt said the band just wants to make people dance.

“We normally play at small venues in Sweden, and we never know what to expect,” he said.

“Some dance a little, some remain sitting down, and we didn’t know what to expect from Bloomington, either.

We had in mind a small town in Indiana. We had no idea that we would receive that kind of reaction from the crowd. Incredible.”