Challapalooza

Boston's Jew-ish Music Festival

Lincoln Park, Somerville, MA

About Challapalooza

  • Details
  • Venue
  • Organizers

Challapalooza is Greater Boston’s Jew-ish Music Festival. It's going to be a giant celebration — a full day of live music by fantastic local Jewish musicians, with delicious food from Jewish & kosher food trucks and fun in the park for all ages.

Lincoln Park

Our beloved Lincoln Park is the home to many a cherished local event, from School of Honk to hanging out on shabbat. Come lounge in the grass, play frisbee and listen to the music!

Volunteer Led

Challapalooza is an all volunteer run effort, spearheaded by Akiva Jackson of Moishe House Somerville, with amazing amounts of help from a dedicated group of volunteers, including Heila Precel, Allison Moore, Alison Arnold, Jacob Smith, Jackson Mercer, and many more. Please join us, we always need more people, both for planning and day-of volunteering.

The Music

Neta Weiner & Oys to Men

Neta Weiner is a boundary-pushing artist from Jaffa, currently based in Boston, whose work fuses spoken word, hip-hop, and traditional Jewish sounds into a vibrant, genre-defying performance. As the frontman of the acclaimed band System Ali, Neta’s multilingual lyrics weave together Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Yiddish, creating a powerful tapestry of identity, resistance, and community. His music is both deeply personal and fiercely political — a call to connection through rhythm and truth.

At the festival, Neta will perform with his new project, Oys to Men, a multilingual, Boston-based klez-hop ensemble that blends klezmer and hip-hop with urgent local storytelling.

Itay Dayan and His Band

Itay Dayan and his Band are a Boston based group that has been performing around the East Coast for the last few years, pretty much wherever you can think of. From nightclubs to synagogues – they’ve played there. With a combination of klezmer (traditional Jewish music) and Middle Eastern Pop music, their shows are energetic parties with lots of humor and dancing.

Nat Seelen & Friends

Nat Seelen is a clarinetist, composer, and founder of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music, known for his work with the internationally acclaimed Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band. With deep roots in klezmer, jazz, and classical music, Nat brings a sharp, soulful sound and bold creativity to every stage he plays.

Stay Tuned for More Musicians

Big Brass, Rock Bands & A Capella are coming!

Beth Bahia Cohen

Sam Tygiel

Lee Zangari

Marni Loffman

Jackson Mercer

Alice Marbach

Mattias Kaufmann

David Zabner