Then-IU sophomore Marni Bassichis dances to the music of Pro Midget Mafia, a ska group, at Rhinos All-Ages Music Club in 1997. The band performed as part of the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. The Whirling Devishes perform during the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2004 at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre in Bloomington. The group performed a Sema Ritual which was influenced by Turkish customs and culture. Los de Abajo's horn section sings background vocals in the Mallor Clendening Grodner & Bohrer tent in 2009 at the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. The political band got its name from a Mariano Azuela novel of the same name about the Mexican Revolution. Then-high school student Myra Swoape listens to Laura Love during a concert in 1997 at Dunn Meadow in Bloomington. Love, an American Afro-Celtic singer/songwriter, performed for free as part of Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. The Kunsun Ensemble dances in the streets during the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2005. The dance group from Ghana was one of more than 30 acts performing at the multi-day event. Attendees dance during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2007 in Bloomington. Dozens of acts from around the world, including from Israel, Scotland, Argentina and Portugal, performed at the annual event. The Kali-Ma Fire Troupe dances during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2010 in the middle of Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington. The annual event featured acts from around the world including Russia, Mali, India and Haiti. A boy is carried by the crowd at Balkan Beat Box's performance during the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2007 in Bloomington. BBB, an Israeli group, played Mediterranean-influenced music. Movits! perform during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2012 in Bloomington. The band sang hip-hop and swing music and originated from Sweden. Hanggai lead vocalist Hurcha reaches toward audience members during a performance at the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2012 inside the Ivy Tech Community College Tent in Bloomington. Hanggai offered a blend of traditional Mongolian music and modern. The Raya Brass Band helps lead a parade down Kirkwood Avenue during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2017 in Bloomington. Attendees were free to join the band with an assortment of colored flags as they marched the streets of Bloomington. Daniela Vergara plays the bass guitar with Las Guaracheras at Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2024 at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington. The all-female Latin music sextet formed in 2017 in Colombia. Alsarah & The Nubatones perform East African Retro-Pop during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in 2016 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in Bloomington. Alsarah is a Sudanese-American singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Fabian Fontenelle plays the hand drum during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival on Sept. 26, 2025, in the First Christian Church in Bloomington. Fontenelle was an original member of the American Indian Dance Theater.
PHOTOS: Lotus Festival through the years
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