NPR

Aklasan Fest, the only Filipino punk festival in the U.S., celebrates its return

Aklasan, which means "Rise Up" in Tagalog, celebrated the return of the only Filipino punk festival in the U.S. after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.
Mango, of Mirrored Fatality, performs at the seventh annual Aklasan Festival in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022.

While the San Francisco Bay area was focused on the larger Outside Lands festival, where mainstream punk band Green Day took the main stage earlier this month, 3 miles south, in the city's South of Market neighborhood, a smaller minority of predominantly POC and queer folks gathered at Bindlestiff Studios to enjoy the seventh annual Aklasan Fest. The punk scene as we know it is usually a space dominated by cis white men, but in true punk fashion, Aklasan Fest prioritized the often unheard and unseen voices of punk, creating an inclusive space

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