Outside the box returns after a year hiatus

Author: Photo courtesy Outside the BoxBenkadi Drum & Dance.

After making a splash in 2013, the Outside The Box Music & Arts festival took a year off in 2014 to “find the right formula,” says festival founder, philanthropist and arts enthusiast Ted Cutler in a recent conversation with the Banner.

“First of all, it was a tremendous success in 2013. We learned an awful lot about what had to be done, how to better it, how to try to make it sustainable and all those things. That’s why we gave ourselves a rest. We wanted to find the right formula. There was no other reason except that we wanted to make it great again.”

The free music and arts festival — which began this past Tuesday on Boston Common with the Puppeteers Cooperative, the Boston Circus Guild and Marcus Santos’ Afrobrazil, among others — was designed to entertain and inspire through performances from local, national and international arts organizations of all genres. The performing arts festival features a culturally-diverse slate of more than 100 acts, including family-friendly performances, interactive arts activities, a showcase of musical artists along with dance troupes performing on three stages through Sunday, July 19.

The array of international talent marks a key difference in this year’s festival, compared to its 2013 debut. It was very important to Cutler to include artists who represent countries from around the globe. “We’ve built a big international section that will be on all of the stages all of the time.”

Author: Photo courtesy Outside the BoxLinda Peck, A Matter of Balance Cirque.

Cambridge-based Paa Seck Diery is one such artist. He’s the lead vocalist, drummer and composer of the Paa Seck Diery Band. Hailing originally from Senegal, West Africa, Paa Seck and his band will perform the music of M’balax, the popular club and dance music of his native country, on the Tremont Street Stage at 4 p.m. this Friday. Paa Seck says he looks forward in his upcoming performance to “making everybody happy and to sharing my music

On Saturday, popular Cape Verdean singer Neuza De Pina will appear on the Park Street Stage at 6:30 p.m. The singer, who previously only performed in restaurants in Cape Verde’s capital city of Praia, has managed to conquer fans both at home and abroad with her debut album Flor di Bila.

In addition to providing an entertaining festival Cutler hopes to provide a quality event that offers something for everybody. “The whole purpose of this is to make sure that everybody in the city is able to see it; that everyone in the state is able to enjoy it. We want to make sure that the people who can’t afford it are able to come. We don’t charge for anything. It’s open to the public and we want them to come.”

The festival is peppered throughout with dance performances, including the b-boy and b-girl dance crew The Floorlords (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.), the multicultural dance organization Jo-Mé Dance Company (Sunday at 3 p.m.), and the Tony Williams Ballet also on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. The non-profit organization, Boston Bhangra presents Boston Bhangra & Bollywood at 5:40 p.m. on Sunday.

Author: Photo courtesy Outside the BoxAll Hands Drumming.

Meanwhile, Country 102.5 FM presents Grammy award-winner Kacey Musgraves on Friday, who appears with country music singer-songwriter Austin Webb, and Cam, one of Nashville’s newest breakout performers.

The Berklee College of Music and the New England Music Awards (NEMA) also have formed partnerships with Outside The Box. Berklee presents the “Berklee Block,” a line-up that includes students and professors that runs Wednesday through Sunday on the Park Street Stage at 1 p.m. The NEMA partnership brings five performers to the festival, featuring individuals or groups who recently were nominated for or won a NEMA award.

From NBC to world

Last-minute additions to the schedule are winners and former contestants from NBC’s The Voice. Making his Boston debut is 2015 the season 8 winner, 16-year-old Sawyer Fredericks. Joining Fredericks onstage are Jermaine Paul (who won in 2012) and former contestants James Massone and Ria Eaton, both from Massachusetts. They hit the Beacon Street Stage on Wednesday, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Closing out the festival on Sunday are performances on the Beacon Street Stage by Boston Landmarks Orchestra at 2:15 p.m. and singer / rapper Shea Rose at 6:15 p.m.. At 12:30 p.m. Soulsha, an eight-piece collective that combines Scottish, West African and funk music, will play on the Tremont Street Stage. Performing several songs in Scots-Gaelic and in English, the collective includes musicians: Galen Fraser on fiddle, hand percussionist Lamine Touré, tenor saxophonist, Dylan Sherry , Jake Galloway on trumpet, Riley Palmer on drums, mandolin player Jordan Santiago-Mandolin, bassist Charles Berthoud, and Elias Alexander on vocals, bagpipes and low whistle.

Alexander is absolutely thrilled that Soulsha is making their first appearance at the festival. “I’m really excited in part because it’s a free festival, it’s very public, it’s on Boston Common and it’s a festival that involves all kinds of different genres and all kinds of different modes of human expression. I’m really looking forward to that because I think that this music that Soulsha is making can appeal to a lot of different people, a lot of different people with different tastes and backgrounds. And, so I’m really excited to bring it to a very public place like Boston Common.”