Since 2012, the Pittonkatonk May Day Community Celebration music festival has been a mainstay on Pittsburgh’s arts calendar.
Though it’s added food trucks and expanded the types of music it presents, one thing’s remained constant: Pittonkatonk has always been a free, Saturday-only affair, a full day on the lawn of Schenley Park’s Veterans Pavilion.
That changes this year as Pittonkatonk expands to two days, with a Friday-night concert augmenting Saturday’s lineup.
The celebration draws up to 10,000 fans each year to hear acts from across the country and around the globe. It runs largely on donations, and founder Pete Spynda said the new Friday concert grew out of a long-running fundraising dinner held the night before the main event.
This year, he said, three bands were available for the free show following that ticketed dinner.
“The stage was already set, so we thought, ‘Why not have two days of programming?’” he said.
The annual ćevapi dinner — named for an Eastern European sausage dish — nods to Pittonkatonk’s roots presenting Balkan-style brass bands. But over the past decade, the festival has incorporated a more diverse set of musical voices, from Latin American cumbia to hip-hop and beyond.
“That’s kind of how we view it now, as an international music festival,” Spynda said.
Friday’s program runs 7 to 10 p.m. The line-up includes three acts: Kaleta and Super Yamba Band, fronted by the West African-born Afrobeat and Juju singer and guitarist who played with music legends King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti; Pittsburgh's Ames Harding & The Mirage; and the nine horn players and one drummer of Toronto-based world-fusion jam band Rambunctious.
Saturday’s program, running 1 to 11 p.m., includes Pittonkatonk favorites like the Providence, R.I.-based Undertow Brass Band (formerly the What Cheer? Brigade), the Detroit Party Marching Band and Pittsburgh’s own Timbeleza alongside newcomers like Canadian Afro-Cuban jazz duo Okan and, on their first U.S. tour, post-punk trio Takaat, comprised of the rhythm section of world-touring Nigerian guitar-rock band Mdou Moctar.
Also on the Saturday bill: Col. Eagleburger’s High-Stepping Marching Band, the May Day Marching Band, 1Hood Media and the Krunk Movement, all from Pittsburgh, and Toronto’s Lemon Bucket Orchestra.
A stage is erected outside the pavilion for the event, though brass bands typically perform on the lawn.
Food trucks will vend international cuisine from African and Trinidadian to Mexican Street Feed, alongside offering from local breweries.
