Navy Pier’s Latinxt Festival Brings Vibrant Art, Engaging Performances to Celebrate the Latinx Culture

CHICAGO— Navy Pier is pleased to announce the lineup for the fifth annual LatiNxt music and arts festival starting at 2 p.m. on both Saturday, Aug. 6 and Sunday, Aug. 7. Visitors can enjoy cutting edge music from the Latin American diaspora at this free, family-friendly festival.

The festival features local, national and international artists exploring new ways of connecting traditional Latin music with modern sounds. Music performances will take place at Navy Pier’s Lake Stage, Beer Garden and Wave Wall with an array of artisan vendors.

The 2022 LatiNxt lineup includes performances by Silvana Estrada – a renowned young Jazz vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Estrada is called “one of Mexico’s greatest young talents and vocalists” by KCRW’s José Galvan. She is the new voice of a movement of independent female artists who have characterized Latin Alternative music over the past decade.

Meridian Brothers – a contemporary neo-tropicalista group –  will be performing traditional Colombian music such as vallenato, cumbia, Bullerengue, ‘palenquero’ sextet format, and ‘Gaita’ format. The roots of the group can be found in the ephemeral Ensamble Polifónico Vallenato project, where its members dedicated to experiment with influences from.

Guatemala native Rebeca Lane – a who experienced the effects of dictatorships and disappearances in her country – will take to the stage . She has released five studio albums and toured extensively in Europe, Latin America, South America and the United States. In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, she released his EP album “Llorando Diamantes”. Her new album, “Florecer,” was written in the midst of her pregnancy and postpartum, therefore it explores her process as a woman and as an activist in this process.

The dynamic duo – Reyna Tropical  – are composed of Mexican natives Fabiola Reyna and Sumohair will be performing as well. The group is a mix of tropical diaspora and their own unique sound and writing. Reyna Tropical merges their passion for social justice and community organizing with the space and opportunities that they can create through their music. As the bands tagline, “Queer Love & Afro-Mexico,” is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to issues connected to the environment, inclusive of Indigenous rights, Afro-Mexican rights, missing and murdered indigenous women, and the many injustices that live in and in between the spectrum of Queer Love & Afro-Mexico.

Nino Augustine is a singer, producer and songwriter Born in San Miguelito barrio, Panama City, Panama. With the history of his Afro-Latinx precedenters, he found himself growing roots in Atlanta, and infusing the southern hip-hop rapper motif into R&B, dancehall, reggaeton beats with tones of Panamanian plena.  

Doctor Nativo Guatemala’s Doctor Nativo is one of Central America’s most exciting new talents. His music layers Mayan spirituality, social activism, and folk wisdom over a propulsive sound combining reggae, cumbia, hip hop, and pre-Columbian instruments.

The festival is co-curated by Future Rootz, a collective of Latinx music curators, artists, taste-makers, and socio-cultural instigators. Their work represents a borderless artistic intersection that draws from the past while reaching for the future. LatiNxt explores the music that emerges from and within these cultural dichotomies and through performance and exchange, strengthens connections, increases exposure and champions a more robust discourse between forward-thinking Latinx artists across the Americas.

Full Line Up of LatiNxt Festival:

Saturday, Aug. 6

At the Beer Garden:

• 2 p.m. – Future Rootz (Chicago)
• 4 p.m. – Quinto Imperio
• 5:30 p.m. – Nino Augustine (Panama)
• 7 p.m. – Reyna Tropical (Portland/Los Angeles)
• 8:30 p.m. – Doctor Nativo (Guatemala)
• 10 p.m. -Mamicana Gyrate (Chicago)

At the Wave Wall Staircase:

• 2 p.m. – Xochi G
• 4 p.m. – La Gata Clandestina (Chicago)
• 6 p.m. – La Colocha (Chicago)
• 8 p.m.- Jennifer Fauxxpez (Chicago)

MC Logan Lu will be hosting on Saturday.

Sunday, Aug. 7

At the Beer Garden:

• 2 p.m. – The Ponderers (Chicago)
• 2:45 p.m. – Adan Diaz (Chicago)
• 4:15 p.m. – Rudy de Anda (Chicago)
• 5:45 p.m.- Meridian Brothers
• 7 p.m. – DJ Iggy (Chicago)

At the Lake Stage in Polk Bros Park:

• 5:15 p.m. – Rebeca Lane (Guatemala)
• 6:45 p.m. – Silvana Estrada (Mexico)

MC Logan Lu and Melissa Dupre will be hosting on Sunday.

Note: All artists and dates are subject to change.