Location: The yard of Baltimore City Public Charter Montessori School at 1600 Guilford Ave., Lanvale Street between Guilford and Calvert, and the Guilford Hall Brewery

For over twenty years, the Baltimore Rhythm Festival has been welcoming attendees to a free event that brings people together, inspires, and changes lives. The 2021 Baltimore Rhythm Festival returns September 18th from Noon until 8 PM outside at the Baltimore City Public Charter Montessori School 1600 Guilford Ave. and on Lanvale Street in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Guilford Hall Brewery will also host workshops during the day, and an evening concert featuring master drummer Weedie Braimah. 

We share a variety of performances, workshops, and experiences, from drum circles to hip hop dance, Balinese chanting to Latin Jazz, and beyond, on two stages and our workshop space. Along with Baba Ras D highlighting our children’s area in the yard, here are our main offerings: 

YARD STAGE Balt. Montessori Public Charter School Yard 

Opening Blessings with Ari Brasil + Ama Chandra 

Drumming for Wellness with Katy Gaughan

Bele Bele Rhythm Collective

Urban Artistry

Bali Cudamani  

STREET STAGE Guilford Ave. and Lanvale Ave.

Omnia Azar

Farafina Kan Next Gen

Janelia Soul

Ama Chandra

WORKSHOPS Guilford Hall Brewery Upstairs

Lauren Kelly-Washington – BLiS Movement

Kofi Dennis

Weedie Braimah: Djembé Evolution: Americanbé

Moziah Saleem

PACAC Drumming and Afrobeat Dance 

EVENING CONCERT Guilford Hall Brewery Upstairs

Orlando Cotto Quartet

Weedie Braimah and Hands of Time ft: Malarie Moore, Atiba Rorie, Amadou Kouyate and Menes Yahuda, and many other notable musicians. 

All performances and workshops are free and open to the public. The festival is a short block from the Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle Red and Blue Routes, and the Penn Station transportation hub. Parking is plentiful around nearby Penn Station. Vendors will offer healthy and delicious food, and vendors include distinctive cultural goods and fashion, community organizations, and some of the finest drum crafters in the region (and beyond). We encourage attendees to wear masks on site, and to be vaccinated or recently tested to minimize the chance for coronavirus transmission. Most of the festival is outside. We adhere to City mask policy for our inside events. 

“Few indeed are spaces that bridge difference in a spirit of appreciation and respect; the Rhythm Festival is such a space. People show up and are at their best. Goodwill flows. For a day, Baltimore experiences what it could be if we could value one another as we value ourselves. And for the kids that attend, a note is struck in their lives of what things could be like.” said Festival co-organizer and co-founder Rory Turner. 

The Baltimore Rhythm Festival produces, presents, and supports the collective joy of rhythm-based arts through programs and services centered on our annual festival. We are committed to diversity, inclusion, outreach, and respect. We invite a culture of artistic growth, participation, education, and connection for our community and its members, helping our city sustain individual and collective well-being.

The Baltimore Rhythm Festival is a program fiscally sponsored by Fusion Partnerships. Beginning in 1995, The Baltimore International Rhythm and Drumming Society (BIRDS) hosted an annual Rhythm Festival. It was an event that brought communities together to recognize and celebrate the power of rhythm to connect. Since 2014, the Baltimore Rhythm Festival revives, renews and reinvents the spirit of the BIRDS festivals. We are proud to receive support so far this year from the William Baker Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation, the Performing Arts Center for African Culture, and dozens of individual donors and friends.

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