SECRET PLANET 2026
This year’s edition doubles as a celebration of immigration and
the profound impact it has had over musical cultures the world
around.
Immigration is the original cross-pollinator and one of the most
powerful engines of cultural evolution - fostering new musical styles
that are the product of hybridization brought in by multiple waves
of immigrants, a truth embodied by NYC whose multiple identities
are a combination of cultural imports and cultural cohabitation.
As this rich ecosystem is today being brutally attacked, we will keep
promoting and celebrating its richness.
Artists all play a 30 min set
7pm: MARTHA REDBONE (folk, blues, and gospel)
8pm: SANGAT (Qais Essar & Sonny Singh)
8:45: MARIA MAZZOTTA (from Puglia via the Balkan)
9:30: MARACA BRUJA (Colombian gaita & folklore)
10:15: DOGO DU TOGO (Psychedelic Afrobeat)
11pm: GILI YALO (Ethio funk)
11:45: CHEO Y LOS CONSENTIDOS DE LA CASA (Salsa con guitarra)
** DJ MODRUMS all night **
7pm,
MARTHA REDBONE
Martha Redbone’s Guardian Spirit: The Words of bell hooks is a glorious musical celebration of bell hooks’ Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place, a fusion of sound and image, history and innovation, inspired by their shared homelands in the mountains of Kentucky. Martha with longtime collaborator Aaron Whitby, her 9-piece ensemble pay homage to bell hooks’ vision of a world beyond stereotypes and boundaries with gospel, jazz, blues and mountain hollers. A work in process commissioned by Apollo Theater New Works, Martha Redbone’s Guardian Spirit: The Words of bell hooks is a call to remember, to resist, and to reclaim.
8pm
SANGAT (Qais Essar & Sonny Singh:
The two musicians draw on centuries-old texts, often from the Sufi and Sikh traditions, to make music that embraces unity at a time of great division." - WNYC"
[The] tension between exuberance and introspection imbues the music with depth and intrigue." - Bandcamp Daily
Weaving together the ancient sound and haunting melodies of the rabab, a 2,500 year-old instrument from Afghanistan, with bold trumpet lines and anthemic Punjabi vocals, Qais Essar and Sonny Singh ground their music in ancestral wisdom and usher us into the future with their uplifting new sound. Drawing inspiration from hundreds of years old mystical poetry from the Sikh, Sufi, and radical bhakti traditions, their music centers oneness and connection in times of increasing division and hierarchy.
8:45
MARIA MAZZOTTA
Maria Mazzotta - vocals & percussion; Cristiano Della Monica – percussion; Ernesto Nobili - guitars
Maria Mazzotta is one of the most emblematic musical personalities of Southern Italy. She first made her mark as the singer for the legendary Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and while her singing is still deeply rooted in Southern Italian traditions, her inquiring mind has since led her to collaborate with musicians from totally different backgrounds - from Balkan music, to provençal polyphonies, psychedelia and post-rock. The power and sincerity of her singing is truly spectacular, and her performances are mesmerizing affairs. Her new project incorporates the contemporary bite of noise rock to her very personal take on traditional singing from Puglia - creating a new kind of folk music for the 21st century.
9:30
MARACA BRUJA
The NY based Colombian collective researches and performs traditional Gaita, the afro-indigenous music from the Bolivar region of Colombia and ancestor of cumbia. Maraca Bruja was formed in 2019 as a way to explore the music and relate it to the immigrant experience. They traveled as a group to San Jacinto, holy land of gaita music, to attend the National Gaita festival and study with local musicians including master Rafael Perez Garcia.
Maraca Bruja channels the essence of the music which is the product of a culture of resistance where tradition is passed down orally and each generation uses this passed down knowledge to connect with their roots and contextualize their present experience.
10:15
DOGO DU TOGO
“A vibrant, psychedelic journey filled with brass, retro synths and hard-hitting Afro-rock beats"★★★★★
Emerging from Lomé, Togo , Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band is a collective of top Togolese musicians led by Massama Dogo, aka Dogo du Togo, who are putting Togolese music on the map by blending psychedelic rock and afrobeat into a sound Dogo calls the "Alagaa Beat."
Combining Togolese festive and ritual rhythms, hypnotic voodoo melodies, and lyrics that speak to a new generation of young Africans with a message that resonates globally, Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band embodies the heart and soul of modern Togo in its music.
The Alagaa beat (Alagaa means trance in Ewe) and Dogo's melodies are anchored in Togo’s rich cultural history, based on traditional rhythms and unique pentatonic scales known as Mina or Mami, derived from the music of the local Vodún religion and traditions that permeate everyday life in Togo.
11
GILI YALO
Gili and his band combine traditional Ethiopian music with soul, funk, psychedelic and jazz music, steered by Gili’s charismatic voice, with lyrics in both English and Amharic. The music embodies Gili Yalo’s journey, which took him and his family from Ethiopia to Sudan on foot and then Israel where they were granted refugee status.
Gili Yalo’s music draws from the traditional Ethiopian music he grew up with but has been now filtered by New York City’s kaleidoscopic reality and an musical crew that isn’t afraid of bringing new flavors to an old story.
Gili Yalo - Vocals / Ran Livneh - Bass / Marco Bolfelli - Guitar / Micha Gilad - Keys / Joseph Daniel Yount - Drums / Sean Smith - Trumpet
11:45
CHEO Y LOS CONSENTIDOS DE LA CASA
Los Consentidos is the latest groove-laced project from Cheo Pardo (Los Amigos Invisibles) - a funked-up guitar-driven take on Salsa Dura.
Cheo has assembled an all-star crew of the city’s hottest Latin players to cook up a high-octane blend of salsa, boogaloo, cha-cha-cha, and bolero — all filtered through wah-wah pedals, space echoes, fuzzy guitar solos, and a deep, unshakable groove.
Their debut album, recorded live at Nublu, captures the heat, sweat, and sabor of their wildest nights — reimagining classics from Joe Cuba, Willie Colón, Eddie Palmieri, Mon Rivera, and more. Each track is a tribute and a reinvention, breathing new life into the old- school with a cosmic twist, and opening the doors for a whole new generation to feel that sabrosura in their bones.
