{"id":7788,"date":"2018-06-21T07:25:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T11:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=7788"},"modified":"2018-06-21T07:46:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T11:46:36","slug":"boston-art-music-soul-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/06\/21\/boston-art-music-soul-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Art &#038; Music Soul Festival Showcases Afro-Centric Culture And Imagines A New Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m tired of people talking. You\u2019ve just got to do it,\u201d says Catherine Morris, founder, curator and executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bamsfest.org\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Art &#038; Music Soul Festival<\/a>, which debuts from noon to 8 p.m. this Saturday, June 23, in Boston\u2019s Franklin Park. <\/p>\n<p>With musical and spoken-word artists performing on two stages at Playstead Field along Pierpont Road, plus live art, graffiti painting, food and vendors, the free festival \u201caims to promote, connect and celebrate Afro-centric culture, heritage, and contributions to the American fabric as expressed through art, music, food and entertainment with a global community.\u201d In doing so, they\u2019re looking to reimagine the possibilities and future of Boston\u2014by making it happen, by serving as a model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have over 20 artists and more than 90 percent of that lineup is local,\u201d Morris says. \u201cI\u2019m excited for people to see what Boston has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wdODuw5SZnE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The lineup ranges from R&#038;B to funk to soul to spoken word to fusion, beginning with headliners Kindred the Family Soul, Aja Graydon and Fatin Dantzler\u2019s wife and husband neo soul duo from Philadelphia. Rising local rappers include STL GLD (two-time Boston Music Awards Hip Hop Artist of Year Moe Pope\u2019s partnership with producer The Arcitype), Oompa, Latrell James (pictured at top performing at the 2017 Boston Music Awards), and Billy Dean Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Morris describes singer Valerie Stephens as \u201cNina Simone meets hip-hop\u201d and Niya Norwood as a \u201cpowerhouse soul singer.\u201d Spoken word artist Jha D is the founder of &#8220;If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It,\u201d which launched eight years ago as the first monthly open mic in Boston dedicated to the voices of the LGTBQIA communities of color. And then there\u2019s Dzidzor Azaglo, Ballad, DJ Bobby Bangers, Marcela Cruz, Alonzo Demetrius &#038; The Ego, Tamara Goldinella, Dom Jones, The Lightworkers, Rex Mac, RickExpress, D. Ruff, Sam Trump, and The Woo Factor Band.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll those artists are independent, because that\u2019s who we support. \u2026 We\u2019re looking for artists who are on their way, will be on their way, or are already there,\u201d Morris says. \u201cIndependent artists, they don\u2019t have to worry about being shaped by a label. \u2026 You get raw emotion where people are at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/arRAJcqHY-E\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/wonderlandlandfanclub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don&#8217;t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The Boston Art &#038; Music Soul Festival\u2014or BAMS Fest\u2014is organized by a 3-year-old, volunteer run nonprofit offering event curation and workforce artist development. The festival\u2019s title expresses their interest in people \u201cmind, body and soul.\u201d Morris says, \u201cPeople are looking to be connected in a kindred way and in that process my thing is be yourself. If you can be yourself, your soul opens up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The festival is also their answer to the challenges of making culture in Boston because of systems and policies, city departments that don\u2019t talk to each other, racism and sexism and classism and abelism, the favoritism and lack of funding that often frustrate artists and event producers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can easily be separated and segregated. I\u2019m trying to make sure a festival like this brings people together,\u201d Morris says.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4GmtjfJ1fzI\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A lot of cultural events are pushed to Boston City Hall, she notes. \u201cYou\u2019re forcing people to go where they\u2019re not traditionally welcome anyway. That creates risk and tension.\u201d Instead, she\u2019s programming in Franklin Park, \u201cground zero for black arts and entertainment.\u201d The park is \u201cone of the largest green spaces that\u2019s accessible to everyone and not everyone knows about it. \u2026 This space is for everybody, it doesn\u2019t discriminate. You should come use it more often.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morris wants BAMS Fest to return year after year and grow\u2014more stages, more days, \u201cto encourage people to see how this gem in your backyard can really be done with a Boston twist to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morris says, \u201cI want to see the day where there\u2019s less of a bad attitude of what Boston doesn\u2019t do and there\u2019s more hope and attitude, bragging of what it\u2019s accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/wonderlandlandfanclub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don&#8217;t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7369\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7369\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w-1024x760.jpg\" alt=\"Oompa performs at Hojoko at the Verb Hotel, May 18, 2018. (Greg Cook)\" width=\"900\" height=\"668\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w-1024x760.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w-768x570.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w-370x274.jpg 370w, https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/picCliffNotezVerbHotelHojoko180518Oompa_1199w.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oompa performs at Hojoko at the Verb Hotel, May 18, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI\u2019m tired of people talking. You\u2019ve just got to do it,\u201d says Catherine Morris, founder, curator and executive director of the Boston Art &#038; Music Soul Festival, which debuts from noon to 8 p.m. this Saturday, June 23, in Boston\u2019s Franklin Park. With musical and spoken-word artists performing on two stages at Playstead Field along [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,101,119],"tags":[37,400],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7788"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7801,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions\/7801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}