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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, M ay 26 ,2 02 2 | 8 WHAT'S HAPPENING WATERLOO Exhibits, events, festivals, live music and more - find out at waterloo.ca/CreateWaterloo IN-PERSON EVENTS ARE BACK! FESTIVALS June 11: Open Streets July 1: Canada Day August 1: Day of Play September 24: Lumen ON-GOING PROGRAMS Art Market Night Lights Campfire Movies in the Park CreateWaterloo Create_Waterloowaterloo.ca/events Canadian hip-hop sen- sation Haviah Mighty is performing at the Kitche- ner Public Library on May 28 as part of the Mel Brown Music Festival & Sympo- sium. I connected with Na- than Stretch, KPL's com- munity development man- ager, curious to know how a library -- a typically pret- ty quiet place -- became a venue for hip-hop. "We really feel like we caught lightning in a bottle here," said Stretch. "KPL has a knack for platforming artists and au- thors on a steep upward tra- jectory and Haviah Mighty is a perfect example of this. Since booking Haviah a month ago, she has played the Aud with the Arkells, was featured on CBC's q, dropped a single featuring Shad, and became the first woman to win a rap album/ EP of the year for her mix- tape "Stock Exchange" at the Juno Awards" earlier this month. The event at KPL will be "A Night of Blues, Rock & Funk, World Afro Reggae and Hip-Hop" that also in- cludes performances by Glenn Morais & The Mojo Train, Ekhaya, Muleak, Quinton Barnes, and Ela- quent. "This concert is a cele- bration of emergent and es- tablished Black artistry in Waterloo Region, and as a community development team at KPL, we have been anticipating this show for months," said Stretch. "We were in constant contact with Carlos Mor- gan and Sam Nabi as they thoughtfully curated the artists for the event, and we have been honoured to host hip hop artist and educator Jon Corbin in Heffner Stu- dio as he runs hip-hop workshops for Black youth in the weeks preceding the Mel Brown Music Festival & Symposium. And Heffn- er Studio staff are especial- ly big fans of Haviah." Stretch said how the up- coming Haviah Mighty concert is modelled after a performance by Blue Ro- deo's Jim Cuddy at the KPL a few years back. "It was before I started working at the library and I was blown away by Central Branch's Reading Lounge as a venue," he said. "Jim Cuddy was rocking that night, and it was such a cool place to see a show, and it even felt a little bit transgressive. There was an energizing tension be- tween my normative un- derstanding of a library as a place where you are sup- posed to be quiet, and then listening to a band play loud music among the stacks. So the Haviah Mighty concert, where we're pulling out all the stops for this event -- pro- fessional staging, sound, lighting, catering -- will benefit from the good work of the library staff who came before me and those who are still here lending their expertise." I told Stretch how excit- ed my podcasting co-host Sara Geidlinger and I are for the opportunity to re- cord a three-episode spe- cial of our "Bonn Park" podcast all about the Mel Brown Music Festival & Symposium, happening over the weekend of May 27-29, and how we plan to capture the unique vibe of the KPL as an alternative concert venue. "It really is a stunning and convenient venue, and these shows only come around every so often," said Stretch. "It's shaping up to be a pretty special night." That night, nobody will be shushed. For tickets and more info about the Mel Brown event, visit www.melbrownfestival.ca. Marshall Ward is a freelance writer and artist. Check out his award-win- ning podcast "Bonn Park" with Sara Geidlinger on Apple Podcasts, Insta- gram, Twitter and Face- book. BIG NIGHT IN STORE FOR LOCAL LIBRARY OPINION IT WILL BE 'A NIGHT OF BLUES, ROCK & FUNK, WORLD AFRO REGGAE AND HIP HOP' WRITES MARSHALL WARD MARSHALL WARDColumn Canadian hip hop artist Haviah Mighty became the first woman to win a rap album/ep of the year for her mixtape "Stock Exchange" at the Juno Awards recently. She performs at KPL on May 28 as part of the Mel Brown Music Festival & Symposium. Yung Yemi photo