Live music will be reverberating through Kelowna once again, as local production company is bringing Okanagan hip-hop musicians and rappers back on stage as part of an online music series that caters to all music lovers.
“People haven’t had live music in a long time,” said Dustyn Baulkham, Rebellious Unicorns executive producer.
“If we don’t all make a conscious effort to make live music and keep the arts alive, when we can finally have live events in person we won’t be able to have them.”
The live performance series by Rebellious Unicorns Production Company Inc. is streaming this month’s series at the Black Box Theatre at the Kelowna Community Theatre, but the audience won’t be filled with music lovers. They will all be tuning in.
Baulkham and his team have thought of all the bells and whistles to make it feel as real as possible, even adding in the audio of audiences cheering.
On Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, Feb. 29, four Okanagan performers will be giving it their all on the stage.
“This week it’s more focused around rap and hip-hop, and a bit of rock,” said Baulkham.
“Every time we do these sets of events we try to vary it. We have had Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, we’ve had pop, some country, we try to make sure it is a diverse set of music but or plan is to do this on a monthly basis.”
For West Kelowna Rapper, DLopez, the chance to get back out on stage is immeasurable.
“It means the world to me,” said David ‘DLopez’ Mejia. “Adapt or die, we gotta do what we gotta do.”
His performance comes just ahead of the release of his album Fallen With Broken Wings, released on April 5.
“It’s about being not okay basically, it’s about depression, I talk about my cousin and how she committed suicide and how that affected the family, and I talk about the opiate crisis we have in Vancouver and East Hastings,” said Mejia.
“I talk about things we don’t talk about typically every day in hopes to say, ‘Hey it’s okay not to be alright but we are going to get through it.'”
It’s a message DLopez hopes will help ease Canadians’ rapidly declining mental health due to the pandemic.
The two-day concert begins at 4 p.m on Saturday, Feb. 28 to tune in visit Rebellious Unicorns’ website.