Wed 7/22 @ 7:30PM
Wed 7/29 @ 7:30PM
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual City Stages series has become one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the summer. Each year, CMA brings in two or three musicians/bands from all over the world to perform for free on a big outdoor stage at the corner of West 29th and Church, just outside its Transformer Station location. Some fans never miss a show if they can help it and still fondly remember acts from previous years, hailing from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central and South America.
This year’s series kicks off on Wednesday July 22 with Kaleta & Super Yamba band, fronted by Afrobeat/juju legend, guitarist/vocalist Leon “Kaleta” Ligan-Majek, a Benin native who grew up in the cradle of Afrobeat, Lagos, Nigeria. He got his start in Nigeria in the 1970s and since then has made countless recording including with such towering influences as King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti. Since 2017, he’s toured with his Super Yamba Band, bringing the sounds of West Africa to the whole world.
Next week, the headliner hails from a whole different part of the world: Korea. Insun Park & Generals will show the City Stages audience that bubbly K-Pop isn’t the only music Koreans can play. The group infuses contemporary rock sounds with traditional folk Korean music and Gangnyeong Mask Dance, using guitar/bass/drums as well as flute and taepyeongso, a Korean reed instrument. They’re distinctive in. that Park is a rare woman performing the traditionally male mask dance.
Bring your chair and sit in the street or a blanket to sit on the Transformer Station lawn, or you can join the crowd that’s always dancing by. the stage.
If you’re too hyped up to go home when the concert ends, head across the street to Jukebox for the free afterparty with DJ Palaces playing an extended set of Afrobeat, juju, reggae, funk, and salsa on the back patio from 9pm until close.
clevelandart.org/city-stages-2026