Halifax hosts the first music festival with an all-black lineup in August

A new music festival with an all-black lineup of artists is coming to Halifax this summer.

Crescendo Fest will run for two days, with a conference on August 4 at the Light House Arts Center and the concert on August 5 at Parade Square. Both events are free to attend.

The festival was created to “turn up the volume of black music artists,” according to the event’s website.

Organizer Micah Smith, who is also a member of the Atlantic chapter of Women in Music Canada and on the board of North Preston’s Future organization, spoke with Jeff Douglas at Main Street Nova Scotia about how the event came about.

Their conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity and length.

Can we talk about the inspiration for Crescendo, why you felt this was something that really had to happen?

Being involved with music most of my life, I have had the amazing opportunity to perform on several stages with my cousin Reeny Smith and her sister Haliey. We get to work with Matt Anderson and Joel Plaskett and so many other great artists.

What caught my eye is where are the other black artists? I know there are plenty of black artists who are great in this city, in Nova Scotia and in Atlantic Canada. Why don’t they get these opportunities? Why isn’t anyone coming in to do artist development with us?

The development of artists is very important to get on these big stages. If I see a problem, I like to come up with a solution. If no one else does it, I have to do it.

What I find odd is that it hasn’t happened before. Did someone yell at you, “No, no Micah, you’re crazy for taking this on?”

I have had one negative response. The answer was, “Isn’t that the responsibility of ANSMA, the African Nova Scotian Music Association?” And I’m like, why is it the responsibility of one organization that we have to take care of an entire county full of black people who are underfunded and understaffed? How can we just impose that on top of everything else they have to do? Why are we limited to one box? Let’s expand the box. Let’s roll several boxes so we have all these opportunities for this group of people.

Let’s talk about the program, some of the people we’re going to see perform at Crescendo this year. Who can we look forward to?

Reeny Smith always puts on a great show and sometimes I get blown away on stage. She went from singer to songwriter to producer now and she’s really made a name for herself, and I just want the whole world to know this name: Reeny Smith.

We also have a newer artist. She has been writing songs for many years: Maggie Andrew.

We love Maggie here.

Maggie is a fireball. I met Maggie a few years ago and when I found out she was doing the Black Vibe Showcase she was like, “This is going to be my first showcase. I’m super nervous.” And being the person that I am, I’m like, “Step by step, make sure you have rehearsals, make sure you feel really confident when you get on that stage.” Seeing her progress and feeling so confident now, I’m excited to have her on this stage and give her this opportunity.

I also know you’re taking Michie Mee for an interview. Talk about that, and why that was important to include in this inaugural Crescendo.

I strongly believe that in order to know where I am going, I must know where I come from. This year is hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, and I thought, “How can we highlight that in our Crescendo Fest?” You have multiple artist suggestions with Maestro Fresh Wes and there’s Kardinal Offishall, so many other men who have dominated hip-hop in Canada. I’m like, “Let’s do something different. How about a woman, the queen of Canadian hip-hop?”

So we reached out to her and she’s just so excited to come. I’m excited for the hip-hop artists, especially to hear her perspective, her journey from being born in Jamaica but raised in Canada and just making a big name for herself.

Here in Nova Scotia, the black community is the oldest, I think. So it’s kind of the place to do it.

Yes I am from the community of North Preston and we have been here for over 300 years. There were a few different migrations and the music was one thing that was definitely passed down through those generations and it was about time we celebrated that.

There are a few workshops. Can you tell us about that?

So we’re going to have a creative collaboration panel and that’s going to talk about how collaborating can be so huge for your career. Sometimes we like to keep to ourselves and work, but you never know what can happen when you team up with a Zamani or one of these artists.

Then we have an export panel. Everyone wants to leave Nova Scotia, but how do I do it? We are therefore delighted to have a programmer from the United States from the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut. His name is Malakhi Eason.

We have Katrina Lopes, who is from Nova Scotia. She just does great things with KL Management for our artists. For Music Week and ECMA, she comes in and does a mentoring program, so it’s really great to have her here.