Davis Square, with its hip coffee shops, bizarre statues and colorful locals, is never lacking in quirky charm.
But only occasionally do these quirks take center stage in the way they will next month during the Honk! Festival, a gathering of activist marching bands from across the country.
"Each band does their own thing [politically] — anti-war, racial equality, feminism," said Sarah Moshontz de la Rocha (LA ‘08), an alum who is helping to coordinate Tufts' involvement in the programming. "We're living in a dark time, and the bands want to be as light and joyful as possible."
Honk!, which will take place Oct. 10-12, began in 2006 thanks to the efforts of the Somerville Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society (SLSAPS) Brass Band. Tufts became involved last year, hosting a symposium entitled "Music: Festival and Politics" to help kick off the festival. The event gave band members and community participants a chance to reflect together on their work.
"Then, we decided to see if we could put together a pick-up marching band," said Deborah Pacini Hernandez, the director of Tufts' American studies and Latino studies programs. Her husband, a member of the SLSAPS band and the Honk! board, helped link the festival to Tufts.
The couple recruited students from Somerville High School as well as from Tufts' music department to march together, and the university's Social Justice Arts Initiative added a second band.
The interest shown last year encouraged the American studies program to bring in ethnomusicologist Charles Keil for its two-week Artist in Residency Program. During his time here, which has not yet started, Keil plans to recruit and train a marching band composed of Tufts students, Somerville High School students and members of ZUMIX, a Boston music and dance group.
Together, they will join the other Honk! participants to march in the spirit of this year's theme: "Reclaim the streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet." Leading this workshop will be part of Keil's career-long effort to raise awareness about the role that music can play in community and educational pursuits.
Keil will look for Tufts students who want to attend one workshop and one dress rehearsal in preparation for the parade.
"We're not limited to just musicians," Moshontz de la Rocha said. "[We work] in the spirit of making music available to everybody, in making public art."
Ian Gendreau is a graduate student of ethnomusicology who will assist Keil in running the workshops.
"Charlie's planning on doing some New Orleans stuff, as well as Brazilian Samba," Gendreau said. "We're going to teach whoever shows up how to play this music."
In addition to the marching band, teachers across campus are finding creative ways to bring Honk! into the classroom. Pacini Hernandez examined the festival in her "Urban Borderlands" class, and Anthropology Professor David Guss and Dance Program Director Alice Trexler are also integrating the festival into their respective curricula. Also, a group of students in Robert Oster Sachs' "Producing Films for Social Change" class will be filming a documentary on the involvement of ZUMIX in the programming.
Pacini Hernandez believes that Honk! is garnering increasing interest at Tufts and throughout the community.
"It's a beautiful, multidimensional event that keeps growing organically year after year," she said. "I think it's great that Tufts has the good fortune to be connected to it."
Those involved in Honk! stress its importance.
"It's amazing to see such color and vibrance in Davis — people in costumes, kids running around," Moshontz de la Rocha said. "Honk! makes you stop and be aware of your surroundings; there are wonderful things going on all the time."
Pacini Hernandez believes that Honk! is a way to combine different people and ideas in a valuable way.
"It's a way to participate in political dialogue in the public sphere through music and movement," she said.
