Bay View's the place to be this weekend, thanks to the Bay View Bash on Saturday and the Global Union Festival -- presented by Alverno College -- on Saturday and Sunday from noon until 7 p.m. in Humboldt Park.

Eight bands will travel from all over the globe -- including Germany, Nigeria, Vietnam and Iran -- to meet in Milwaukee for this free music festival.

Last year's debut event received incredible reviews and tons of praise from the community. Hence, Alverno College's David Ravel knew this was going to be a successful annual gig.

"We were blown away by the response to last year's festival," says Ravel. "Let's face it -- first year out, and understandably, nobody quite knows who we are. Still, we had a county sheriff estimate of over 6,000 attending over that weekend. And now that we're more of a known quantity and the buzz is out there, we're getting ready for a really big show."

"World Music" has the connotation of having a specific sound, but in the case of this festival, the term is used to describe boundary-less music from many different genres originating in places all over the map.

To get an idea of what to expect, here's a brief description of the bands.

17 Hippies, a band from Germany, opens the festival with its eclectic mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo song writing and Cajun tunes. Vietnam's Huong Thanh & Nguyen Le Quartet play traditional Vietnamese music. Lekan Babalola from Nigeria delivers vibrant jazz, and Zemog El Gallo Bueno plays modern Latin music.

Haale, a female musician from Iran whose style is described as "Psychedelic Sufi Trance Rock," will start off on Sunday with her signature sound that evokes both the spiritual and traditional culture of her parents' homeland of Iran, as well as the energy of psychedelic rock and roll from New York City, where she was born.

Also on deck for Sunday is Turkish clarinet virtuoso Ismail Lumanovski and The NY Gypsy All-Stars from Macedonia, Cuban percussionist Roberto Rodriguez, Algerian vocalist Maurice El Medioni and Dobet Gnahore, a singer, dancer and percussionist from the Ivory Coast.

OnMilwaukee.com is proud to be a sponsor of the Global Union Festival. For the complete schedule and more information about the bands, click here.