Catch a world of music this holiday weekend
You don’t need to go to the Cape to spot great white sharks on Labor Day weekend or travel abroad to hear the soul-stirring harmonies of Balkan traditional music. Both will be on tap at the Lawn on D this weekend, along with a Saturday full of diverse arts, music and even some juggling, making it one of the cheapest and most convenient options for a holiday-weekend getaway.
The celebrations begin at noontime tomorrow with the eclectic group Dashina performing its unique fusion of world music and jazz. Fronted by three female singers who hail from Russia, Ukraine and New Delhi, India, the group came together at Berklee and has played some acclaimed local shows. Backing the singers is a seven-piece band with a world of influences; its members hail from Israel, Belgium and the Czech Republic. So you might hear a Brazilian samba with Balkan harmonies upfront, or a piece fusing jazz with klezmer music. The three singers also join voices on some a cappella folk songs from their homelands.
Families can gather tomorrow evening for the latest round of the lawn’s summer-long cornhole tournament. And for those old enough, the good folks from Tito’s Handmade Vodka in Austin, Texas, will have an adult lemonade stand set up, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the Lawn pulls out all the stops for its daylong “Art in the Park” festival, featuring some of the most exotic acts you’ll see this year — such as Diablo Glass School, which gives demonstrations and lessons in glass blowing (at noon); the Airborne Comedians, who tell jokes and juggle from atop seven-foot unicycles (at 1 p.m.); Jim Dichter, who blows giant-sized, multicolored soap bubbles (at 2 p.m.), and the Beat Bus, which leads an electronic drum free-for-all at 4 p.m. Capping the day will be one of our favorite Boston bands, Love Love. Fronted by Chris Toppin (who spent the ’90s in the much-liked pop/rock band Fuzzy) and her partner, Jefferson Davis Riordan, Love Love does a country-rock sound with memorable tunes, lots of twang and, true to their name, a good deal of heart.
If you’ve let the summer go by without seeing “Jaws,” you can catch that 1975 classic on the big screen Sunday night, starting at 8:30 — and if the movie makes you scared to go back to the beach, you’ll have a whole year for that to wear off. Events will continue through September, and the Lawn will remain open for informal family fun on the Labor Day holiday. Tickets are now on sale for next weekend’s “Tone It Up” festival, a day of fitness and bonding for women on Sept. 9.