Sunday, May 15th, 2022
11am – 6pm
(Rain Date, Sunday, May 22nd)
Music, Dancing, Theatre, Artisans, Food, Vendors, Crafts, and Patios!
It’s back! After a two-year hiatus, The Harvard Square Business Association is excited to announce the return of the 37th Annual MayFair happening on Sunday, May 15th, from 11am – 6pm.
This annual celebration of Spring will present four stages of live music featuring an eclectic array of genres including Reggae, Indie, Pop, Americana, R&B, Jazz, Rock, Soul, Folk, Hip Hop and more. We’re delighted to welcome reggae-rock stars, Roots of Creation to the MayFair Main Stage at 4pm. Recognized as a Top 20 artist on the Relix/Jamband radio chart, a festival staple, and an internationally touring powerhouse, RoC have been awarded “Favorite Jam Band” by Cider Magazine and “Best Band In New Hampshire” by the New England Music Awards. RoC mix their jam-reggae hybrid sound with homegrown roots, guitar-heavy rock, and lead singer/guitarist Brett Wilson’s introspective and conscious laden lyrics.
Within and beyond the festival grounds, Harvard Square’s favorite restaurants have taken to the streets with outdoor dining patios. Deliciousness awaits you, from casual to high-end and everything in between!
MAIN STAGE
11am Honest Mechanik
Susan Cattaneo and Paul Hansen are Honest Mechanik, an indie-pop duo born in the wilds of Medford, MA. Together, Cattaneo and Hansen have created a sound that has a warm folk familiarity at its core with a magnetic gloss of modern pop casually racing across the surface. It’s this combination of modern and vintage that is at the crux of the Honest Mechanik identity. Featuring quirky lyrics and ear-worm melodies, this Super Group side project has the groove of The Velvet Undeground paired with the vocal intimacy of Belle and Sebastian. Their self-titled debut album of 10 original songs feature signature dual lead vocals and close harmonies. Honest Mechanik released their self-titled album in July of 2021 and were nominated for the Folk Act of the Year at this year’s Boston Music Awards. Paul and Susan are both seasoned musicians with successful solo careers on both the local and national music scene. Paul, the tall one, considers himself “song obsessed” and has been the lead singer and creative force behind the popular band The Grownup Noise, an indie pop group that has garnered rave reviews and whose songs have been featured on popular MTV and Netflix shows. Susan, the other tall one, is a three-time nominee for Americana Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards and has won or been a finalist in all the prestigious songwriting festivals around the country.
12pm VibeCheck
VibeCheck is a band from Cambridge made up of teenage multi-instrumentalists, songwriters and producers. Playing a repertoire of indie, electro, rock, funk covers and originals, they can often be found performing in Harvard Square to raptured audiences.
1pm Los Sugar Kings
New England Music Award Winners, Los Sugar Kings is a Boston-based Cuban Roots, R&B, Rock & Reggae quartet who write, record and perform across the Northeast.
2pm Sold By Weight
Sold By Weight brings groovy voicings to a wide mix of composers. From Duke Ellington to Led Zeppelin, to Youngblood Brass to Wulfpeck and Jellyroll Morton, done with an eclectic brass handle attached, so you can carry them off into the funky NOLA-influenced bayou in your mind. Who needs guitars!?
3pm OldJack
Oldjack has been a Boston music staple for nearly two decades. They’ve shared the stage with Midlake, Langhorne Slim and The Sheila Divine. Their unique blend of rock, soul and AM gold creates a vibe both new and familiar. Their live shows guarantee a good time and have received numerous accolades including a Boston Music Award for Best Live Residency. The Harvard Square Business Association is excited to welcome their return to the MayFair stage.
Billboard and radio chart topping, award-winning, international reggae-rock sensation Roots of Creation, are a touring powerhouse. Whether on the festival circuit, performing at jam and reggae-rock favorites like Camp Bisco, Gathering of The Vibes, California Roots, Jungle Jam and Closer to the Sun, or sharing the stage at sold out shows with some of their diverse influences including Slightly Stoopid, The Wailers, and Michael Franti, reggae/rock/dubtronica band Roots of Creation (RoC) offers up a high-energy, infectious live music experience. Their mix of reggae riddims, conscious lyrics, spirited horn lines, and electronic beats makes crowds move and has their loyal underground fan base (RoC Family) and street team (Universal Soldiers) travelling the distance to pack venues from coast-to-coast.
5pm JP Honk
The Jamaica Plain Honkband is a community/activist band sowing chaos and merriment all around Boston. The mission of JP Honk is to be an open community group focused on the enjoyment of making music (mostly of the exuberant street-band style) for ourselves, for local community organizations, and for activist causes we believe in; and to be an organization with intentionally shared leadership that welcomes all and values diversity, inclusion, and transparency.
WINTHROP PARK
11:15am – 11:30am Georgiy Kent Georgiy is a graduating senior at Harvard College who studied Social Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures. His academic focus included social and political transformations in independent Ukraine since the fall of the Soviet Union. He is half Crimean Tatar by heritage and enjoys exploring folk music traditions in his spare time. Crimean Tatars are an ethnic and religious (Muslim) minority in Ukraine, indigenous to the Crimean Peninsula. Georgiy started playing the violin in Ukraine at the age of 4 and uses music to connect with his culture. |
1pm – 2pm Liars & Believers present Yellow Bird Chase – Sadly Canceled due to COVID
A clownish maintenance crew finds a magical yellow bird, and the mad chase begins. Racing over land, across the sea, and through the air, battling pirates and monsters, how far will our heroes go…without ever leaving the storage room? Leap into a world of imagination! Join Liars & Believers on an adventure of masks, puppets, and gibberish. Yellow Bird Chase is appropriate for the whole family and is fully accessible to Deaf and hard of hearing audiences.
Liars & Believers is a devised theatre ensemble. We create original live plays with music, movement, mask, puppet, video, clown, live bands, aerialists … pretty much anything we can get our hands on. We tell stories that explore what it means to be human in this world we share. Collaborating with audiences and artists of all kinds, we create theatrical works that invite you to open your heart, challenge your mind, and feast your senses.
3pm – 3:45pm The Harvard Square Roots
‘60s folk music performed by Harvard Square’s very own Dan Hogan and Jane Lawson.
Dan and Jane met on Martha’s Vineyard in 2016. Their haphazard and intermittent career as folksingers has included busking in Harvard Square and Oak Bluffs, open mics, a wedding, and occasional house concerts. Many evenings before dinner, they break out the guitar and sing themselves backward into the sixties and seventies. As for Dan, he’s been singing and playing guitar since 14. Despite several superb instructors (Peter Kairo and Bertrand Laurence to name two), he has managed to keep his proficiency at a pretty low level. But his enthusiasm and love of folk music from the ‘60s and ‘70s have somewhat made up for what he lacks in talent. A favorite of Dan’s is Leonard Cohen. Recognizing that stardom was beyond his reach, Dan found his niche as Executive Director of the iconic nonprofit Passim in Harvard Square that includes Club Passim, the successor to historic Club 47, where Joan Baez, Tom Rush, and a host of other (actually talented} folk singers got their start. He retired from that position in 2015. As for Jane, she’s a retired teacher, painter, and rank amateur singer. She’s been wailing away in the shower, in the car, in community theater productions, community choruses and church choirs for a very long time.
4pm – 5pm Will Baird
Acoustic guitarist Will Baird transforms popular songs into new arrangements with a mellow, relaxing style. His bright, resonant acoustic guitar and lush, beautiful backing tracks create a unique “full ensemble” sound. His instrumentals range from the music of James Taylor to Coldplay to U2. http://www.willbaird.com
BRATTLE PLAZA
11am – 1:30pm The Squares in the Square
Squares in the Square are a whipped up soul, RnB, jazz, and funk band with the soul of JB Jr. that can be heard performing on Brattle Plaza in Harvard Square year-round.
2pm Floorlords
The Floorlords were established in 1981 at the adolescence of the Hip Hop movement. Since then, they have played a significant role in the growth of hip hop culture, contributing wholeheartedly by helping to define and ultimately expand upon the art of breakdancing or more commonly known as “Breaking” in their community. The group focuses on bringing all five elements of Hip-Hop culture to their fans and followers through television, films, competition and performances. Some notable appearances include films “Krush Groove” “Step Up 3D” and “In the Heights”. The Floor Lords continue to rack up accomplishments from creating their own theatre show called “Floor Lore” to collaborating with sneaker company “Saucony” on an official “breakdance” sneaker.
PASSIM STAGE
11am Micha John
12pm Doctora Xingona
2pm Albino Mbie
3pm Kaiti Jones
4pm Prateek
5pm Mercedes Escobar
| Chinese American Association of Cambridge – Palmer Street |
2pm – Yazhi Guo
Yazhi is a famous suona (Chinese oboe) and various wind musicians, active on the international stage, has the reputation of “the best in the world”. He has won the ProMusicis International Award in the United States and the Best Artist Award in Hong Kong. He is a visiting professor at the Berklee College of Music, and is currently the dean of the American Academy of World Music.
2pm and 3pm – Nam Pai Lion Dance Teams with Asian American Cultural Center
Be on the lookout for the Nam Paid Lion Dance Team as they parade around the event grounds. Nam Pai Lion Dance Teams was formed to recognize, preserve and engage in the Asian culture arts of lion dancing.
2:30pm – Tao He
Tao He is a famous erhu player. She has been contracted with Expect Music (Singapore) and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In 2012, she moved to the US, where she premiered the work “The Wanderings of Sanmao” written by Huang Qiong, performed “Capriccio on the Great Wall” with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, and performed as an erhu solo in the opera “The Legend of the White Snake” written by Mr. Zhou Long.
2:30pm – Jiayu Liu
Guzheng player, current student of Berklee College of Music.
3pm – Jiayi Guo
Having transitioned to jazz piano after studying classical piano, Jiayi Guo has used her talents as a pianist and singer-songwriter to create her own original compositions.
3pm – Maika Lansing
Bassist/Vocalist
| The Harvard Ukrainian Student Society is delighted to participate in their first-ever MayFair! Please visit their booth to get some Ukrainian crafts and goods: traditional and modern handmade jewelry, paintings, stickers, pottery, books, treats, and more. Join us for fun, family-friendly activities like face painting and a silent auction. We ask you to carry on the tradition of the good people who have brought light where there was darkness, medicine where there was disease, food where there was hunger, and relief where there was suffering. All proceeds go to Plast Ukraine, World Central Kitchen, and Gostomel Animal Shelter. |