Busker Fest Main Stage

He's Evanston's Mayor, and when he's not juggling everything that it takes to run a city, he also juggles fire! 

Photo Credit: Carrie Maxwell, Windy City TImes. 
Evanston Mayor and 9th Congressional District candidate Daniel Biss performing his signature fire juggling moves.

Born in India, raised in New York, and dancing in Chicago, Irfan found his passion for dance at 13 years old, discovering Popping & Breaking and training himself in those styles through his younger years. Irfan has a passion for hip-hop culture, street & social dances, and commercial dance while also training in classical styles of ballet and contemporary fusion. After high school, Irfan trained under many veteran Chicago dancers, such as Ian Eastwood, Daz Harris, and Andrew Tamez Hull. He starred in Chance The Rapper’s music video for his Grammy award winning song “Angels”, choreographed by Ian Eastwood, and also starred as a principal dancer in the Netflix musical series, “Soundtrack” with choreography by James Alsop. Irfan has taught in the Chicago Community at various workshops, company classes & studios such as Hubbard Street Dance, Millennium Dance Complex Chicago, and Visceral Dance Studio.

Five-time GRAMMY Nominee Justin Roberts is one of the founders of the modern family music scene. For 25+ years, Roberts has been creating the soundtrack to families’ lives, helping kids navigate the joys and sorrows of growing up, while inspiring parents to remember their own childhoods. His songs are the kind of get-stuck-in-your-head pop nuggets that draw comparisons to Elvis Costello, Fountains of Wayne, and Paul Simon rather than simple nursery rhymes, prompting USA Today to call him “hands-down the best songwriter in the genre. Along with his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, Justin has travelled the globe, from Hong Kong to New York, and Miami to Seattle. 

Photo credit: Todd Rosenberg

La Tosca Italian Mambo Ensemble was founded in 2014 in the neighborhood of Pilsen, Chicago by Andrea Falcone. He initiated the band to share his Italian musical roots and quickly rose the attention of musicians of different cultural backgrounds. The complete form of the band consists in an accordion/voice, a violin/mandolin, two guitars/trumpet, a bass and a drum. The little orchestra is a melting pot of Italian, American, French and Polish souls and the songs presented are a consequence of a collective memory, combined with individual musical sensitivity and initiatives. Repertoire performed is from the 1850’s to the 1950’s from Italy mostly, but also French gypsy jazz, Tango, Neapolitan classics. This musical period has seen the beginning of audio recordings, the effervecense of Jazz, the end of tonal classical music, the exaltation of folk music, the birth of Tango , the rise of Gypsy jazz and the creation of the iconic Neapolitan singing.