Another band hitting up multiple festival stops this year are Toubab Krewe. The jam aficionados are a collection of incredibly knowledgable and talented musicians (as well as men with great taste in tequila).
Their music is best digested in a live setting, were foreign instrumentation is brought to life through their unique take on jamming out. Fueled by great intentions for community growth (both musically and socially), Toubab Krewe’s music has a charm and charisma to it that is only matched by their off-stage activities and projects.
We caught up with Toubab as they closed their set at Wakarusa to talk a few festivals of their own.
I see you tour constantly, What have you guys been supporting this year?
Supporting habits.
No, but seriously, we’re always supporting [Toubab’s sophomore album] Tk2. Currently we’re supporting Carnavalito—a two-day festival we’ll host in Asheville on July 13th and 14th. Also, Manifestivus in Vermont in August on the 17th & 18th. Those two productions of ours are definitely getting a lot of our attention.
Sounds busy. Tell me about Manifestivus.
We started it 10 years ago as a keg party, but then the fire pit went from a small flame to a “the neighbors are definitely notice this” bonfire. It’s a spot [in Vermont] that we had been throwing parties at for years. It’s a really nice piece of property. It was started as just a kind of party—a good ole Vermont mega kegger in the woods. Just a bonfire and 350 people. The third year is when we started Toubab Krewe; then we started to play and kind of “host” the festival. It just evolved over the years.
We like to call it a local festival with a global vibe. We like to bring a lot of top-notch artists from all over the world to this really rural area in the backwoods of Vermont. In the past we’ve had Barrington Levy, Common, Black Sheep, and many more.
When Oumou Sangaré played, there was torrential down storm. There was deep mud due to the rain, but the crowd was all hardcore Vermonters who were all ready for it. The Danville fire dept has a 10 wheel emergency vehicle and had to bring the band up through the rain and the mud to the stage. It was such a crazy thing to see it happen.
It seems like every festival is fated to rain like crazy at some point and time.
Yes, but hopefully this year the weather will be blessed for our 10 year anniversary
Who’s coming to perform this year?
Diblo Dibala—a Congolese beast of a guitarist. Rootz Underground from Jamaica, Elastic Bond from Miami… It’s been kind of become something that’s established itself as a place people know they’ll be hit with new music. We’ve been hovering around the same 2000 people. It’s a nice, small, but mighty vibe.
What about Carnavalito?
It’s at a brewery in Black Mountain, right outside of town. Total party city. They built this brewery and this place. That off of highway 70, about 15 or 20 minutes outside of town. It’s this great brewery that make this really good beer. They have a small stage inside, outside has fire pits, and the show space opens up to a 2000 capacity field; it’s a great spot to play.
What’s the brewery?
Is it any good?
Pisgah pale ale is a great beer.
In Asheville we have a brewery we like–Craggie Brewery. They’ll link up with us at Pisgah and sell kegs. $5 from every keg goes towards a project we’re a part of. We’re helping fund the building of a school. We also take a percentage of each ticket sale for the school. Last year we started to give 50 cents of every ticket, and now we’re up to donating a dollar on each ticket.
Woah, that’s a great cause! Where is the school?
In Mali, where we studied and played a lot of music. It’s really good for us to be able to help build a school there. We’re planning on doing our next record there so we’re hoping to break ground and have a big event for the school when we get there.
If you’d like to check out Toubab Krewe and know your good time is aiding a good cause, check out Carnavalito at the Pisgah Brewing Company July 13th and 14th or Manifestivus up in Vermont on August 17th and 18th.
