Off the Vine: Creative Wellness' Live Music Event
Philadelphia is a place for artists. Music can define a person, a neighborhood, a moment in time, and as part of our efforts to keep our finger on the pulse, Forbidden Fruit hosted Off the Vine, a live performance arts series featuring Philadelphia musicians. The event thrives on giving a place for the community to discover and engage with artists in real time.
Partnering with Two Locals Brewing, a West Philly bar and performance venue, Off the Vine gave performers the chance to spread their music in front of a local crowd. This year, the event had it's second iteration- this time, at the Green Room, Forbidden Fruit’s west Philly wellness pop-up. On August 8th, new artists from around the community took the stage and performed for their peers. To look back the success of these events, we sat down with some of last year’s performers to talk about their connections with their own art, where they live, and what comes next.
Though the promotion of their own music was, of course, an important opportunity for the performing artists, each was very clear about their connection to Philadelphia and its music space.
“I'm just super privileged and blessed that the people of this city took me in.”
Said Lucas Geniza, also known as the singer, songwriter, and producer Lukey. He speaks glowingly of his connection with the city and how it feels to be involved in communal events like Off the Vine. “Every aspect of Philly music has always taken to me like family. It feels super nice… I'm surrounded by so many greats and so many people who have been doing it for a while and I'm also participating in it. I just feel perpetually a student.”
Geniza, who grew up in Pennsylvania outside the city, found himself at ease and supported when he moved into Philadelphia a decade ago. His sound, primarily rooted in R&B and pop, is a product of the heavy emphasis he puts into the creative process. “A lot of how I write is definitely what I feel at the moment.” Geniza described. “I feel like [my music] is all multifaceted, multi-nuanced, but at the very core it's an unapologetic representation of me.” He felt able to release this as he performed his set, a testament to the connection that live music fosters- for audience members, but performers, too.
Philadelphia as a source of musical inspiration was a notion echoed by every Off the Vine artist. Percussionist and R&B performer Nadir Williams was raised and found his musical voice in Philadelphia churches. His sound, which was created in the Philly scene and influenced by classic local groups like the Roots, is something he considers a point of pride. A pride that extends to the ever changing music scene of his city. “Philly is becoming a bit of a melting pot when it comes to music. People have always come here. It's like, ‘all right, Philly is the new place to be’.” He explained.
For Williams, the reemergence of the city offers an incredibly interesting opportunity for upcoming artists. “I think it's time that we come together and we have more eclectic shows. You have some people from the rock scene represented, you have some people from the house scene represented, you have some people from the rap scene represented, you have some jazz musicians or some live musicians in there.” He said of his vision. “That's the way that we turn Philly back into a music city.” It was for these reasons he found Off the Vine to be such a relevant space for local artistry.
Nadir’s experience of finding his place in the local music community was a shared sentiment among many of the Off the Vine artists. Jasmine Cassell, a Jersey-born singer-songwriter reflects similarly on the familial aspect of being a performer within the city’s scene. “I think it's still community based, family based. You'll see the same musicians playing for different artists.” She explained. “I kind of like that, that as well as doing their own thing, we stick together and play together and put each other on to different things.”
Cassell’s journey into music started with her work in producing, which opened her eyes to her own potential of creative arts. “I was working at a production studio and I just realized what I had access to there. And so just knowing that I had a lot of access to cameras and lighting and staging, I think my mind was able to just take it there.” Since then, she’s delved into a plethora of music genres, featuring R&B as well as rap influences in her sounds.
“I think I'm just a dreamer in general.”
Off the Vine was created for exactly these purposes. Philadelphia has a tight knit-music scene, one that fosters relationships and growth as part of a community, and Forbidden Fruit was proud to see this event series become part of that. We spoke to Yori Awoyadé, a Philly artist known for her experimental sound centered around looped vocals and pianos, as well as even more experimental sounds like rainsticks. She also shared her sentiments on her journey into the music scene, and meeting like-minded artists. “I started talking to people, I started supporting people's organizations, and that got me into the art scene.”
From there, Awoyadé began to hone her voice as more of an artist making statements. "Artistic expression and liberation go hand in hand. A lot of people have something to say about wanting to embody change, which comes through creativity and art.” For her, finding her community also meant finding a way to express her thoughts and opinions, particularly from the lens of politics or activism. “I don't know if my work is necessarily radical, but definitely experimental. Most of the music I do is improv and I don't really have plans for putting anything on streaming platforms because there's just a lot of things to do with that that are very negative…I'm learning more and more about technology and its effects on the environment.” Her music is tied very closely with her opinions, and expressing the depths of herself, a common theme among her contemporaries.
Off the Vine in tandem with these talented artists was a spot of collaboration, of self-expression and a place for creatives and locals alike to experience the power of performance. The stories behind the work of the showcased artists is only the tip of the iceberg for the ability of performance art to have an impact. We witnessed this same real, raw energy for this year’s Off the Vine event- which moved to the Green Room, and took place on August 8th. The newest batch of performers brought the same creative power, and the same connection to the city and community they reside within.
This year’s iteration was done as a fundraiser for Forbidden Fruit’s upcoming creative wellness festival, Root 2 Fruit. This festival turns the Cira Green rooftop into a wellness destination- and will feature local talent very similar to Off the Vine, again using local artistry as a way to engage the city with its performers.
The community is full of talent and teeming with artists, all with stories as interesting as these. Forbidden Fruit is proud to bring their work to you.
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