The Encontro Street Band Festival is an unabashed celebration of street band music – by street bands, for street bands, and has successfully filled Glasgow’s Merchant City with music & colour on three incredible weekends in 2017, 2018 & 2019. An exciting co-production between Oi Musica and Glasgow’s notorious SambaYaBamba, the festival celebrates street and carnival music of all persuasions. We invite a plethora of UK and international bands to descend on Glasgow’s Merchant City, featuring all flavours of street drumming, carnival brass, marching band, New Orleans jazz, Afro-Brazilian percussion, straight up samba and more – bringing the spirit of hot dusty streets at carnival time right into the heart of Glasgow! We are delighted to per part of Merchant City Festival in Glasgow, a UNESCO city of music.

2019 Line-up:

Baybeat Street Band (Morecambe), Baque Luar (London), Brass, Aye? (Glasgow), Bassface (Edinburgh), Carnaval Transatlântico feat. Fabio Allman (UK / Brazil), DROM (Belgium), Grandma Staflash & The Furious Grandads (Edinburgh)Harbingers Drum Crew (Edinburgh), La Timbala presents La Tiñosa (Scotland + Manchester), La Tromba (Chile), Orixa Bloco (Leeds), Runaway Samba (Durham), SambaYaBamba & SambaYaBamba Youth Street Band (Glasgow), Streetorchestre Eigen Hulp (Netherlands), Toeters en Bellen (Netherlands), Tenth Avenue Band (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and The Encontro Pick-up Band (from everywhere!!)

Stay in touch with the festival via Facebook here