National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Indiana's annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival—one of the biggest World Music festivals in North America—will ring in its thirteenth season with performances from over 25 musical artists from around the world. The festival, scheduled for October 5-8, will transform the town of Bloomington in a multicultural extravaganza, with ticketed and free concerts on multiple stages, as well as processions and culinary, dance, visual arts, workshops and family-friendly events (don't miss the Tibetan butter sculptures or Tibetan sand mandalas!).

According to the recently-released lineup, the 2006 festival will feature artists from Brazil, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, England, France, Ireland, India, Italy, Mali, Mexico, Peru, Serbia, Sweden, the U.S., Tibet, the Tuvan Republic, and more, including Indian slide guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya, Tuvan "throat-singing" ensemble Huun-Huur-Tu, and American "gypsy-punk" rockers Balkan Beat Box. The festival will kick off with a performance from Swedish neo-folk group Väsen (pictured) on Thursday, October 10th.

A complete list of the artists performing at the 2006 Lotus World Music & Arts Festival follows below. For more information on ticketing, showtimes and other festival events, please consult the Lotus Festival Web site.

2006 Lotus World Music & Arts Festival Artists:

Balkan Beat Box
Bonsoir Catins
Debashish Bhattacharya
Carpathian Folk Quartet
Contracantos
Rob Curto's Forró for All
Curumin
Sogbety Diomande
Fiamma Fumana
Fingal
Golem
Huun-Huur-Tu
Inca Son
Issa
Kal
Yungchen Lhamo
Mamadou Diabate Ensemble
Nomo
Ollabelle
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Catherine Russell
Swåp
Uncle Earl
Väsen
VIDA Reunion
Yerba Buena
Les Yeux Noirs