DROM World Fest

30 acts from around the world will be joining the Drom World Fest 2021 for a six day online benefit event that will take place from March 26th to March 31st. Artists will include such Drom alumnae as Arturo O'Farrill, Ibrahim Maalouf, Snarky Puppy, Al di Meola, and more, representing over 13 countries including Colombia, Cuba, Macedonia, Spain, Syria, and Turkey. The event is curated by Serdar Ilhan and Mehmet Dede, and will be hosted by Frank London and Jenn Jade. 

Sets will include video shot exclusively for this festival, as well as vintage sets from Drom and other stages. Each day will feature two sets, repeated for different time zones, one at 2:00 pm EST, the other at 8:00 pm EST [See full list of participating artists and set times/dates below].

The Festival will be free to view on Youtube, in conjunction with a voluntary GoFundMe tip jar to defray costs and support the venue and the artists. Even though NYC music venues are scheduled for a limited April 2nd reopening, many venues will be unable to afford the costs of reopening at such limited capacities. 

"It has become very very difficult to stay open through the pandemic in NYC with no continuous income and rising expenses,” explains Serdar Ilhan, Drom's co owner and curator of Drom World Fest 2021. “Last summer we pushed very hard to engage local musicians to play and keep our staff employed; first by creating an outdoor sidewalk series in front of our venue and then re-opening at 25% capacity indoors. But it didn’t work. Now, with reopening just around the corner, we’re hanging on, but we haven’t a penny left to re-open at a limited capacity. If we do not get some urgent cash in April through the SVOG or PPP, many of NYC's independent venues will close for good. " 

“The Drom stage has been silent since last March,” adds festival co-curator Mehmet Dede. “Despite our many attempts to re-open and the uncertainty all around, we are still hanging in and waiting for events to safely resume. Earlier this year, Drom was awarded the prestigious 2021 globalFEST Impact Award. This recognition of our work in the last thirteen years came at a bittersweet moment when live events are on pause.


That said, the music plays on and in the spirit of celebrating our diverse community of artists and audiences, we are proud to produce this extraordinary festival, to celebrate better times ahead.”


Stream Drom World Fest 2021 on 
http://youtube.com/dromnewyork