By Mary Whitfill, News Correspondent
Giving local student musicians the opportunity to collaborate with other artists and show off their most recent work, the Boston Students Art Network (BSAN) will host its first Student Showcase on Sunday, Nov. 11. Students from Boston area schools will come together to demonstrate their talents and hard work to the community.
“Part of the Boston Student Arts Network’s main mission is to help showcase student talent,” founder and 2011 Northeastern graduate Kelly Soule said. “We feel like there aren’t enough resources for bands, solo musicians and student groups to use to find places to perform without organizing gigs themselves. We want to provide artists with a chance to share their talent and passion with the community, and provide the community with the opportunity to see these groups outside of their schools.”
The event will feature nine groups and solo performances by artists from nearby colleges including Berklee College of Music, Emerson College and Tufts University. Originally scheduled to perform, the Northeastern University Downbeats, a co-ed a cappella group, pulled out of the showcase at the last minute due to a lack of attendance expected among members.
The Rare Occasions is a four-member indie rock group made up of students from Berklee and Tufts. One of the more experienced bands participating in the showcase, The Rare Occasions won last year’s Tufts Battle of the Bands, affording them the opportunity to open for Guster, Lupe Fiasco and White Panda at the school’s annual Spring Fling.
“We decided to do the BSAN student showcase because, as a student band, we sometimes get annoyed with the exclusiveness of the Boston scene. We see ourselves on the same tier as the top local bands on the scene, but since we are relatively new, it’s hard to get booked with these bands,” Rare Occasions co-founder Brian McLaughlin said. “We saw an opportunity to play with the best of the college music scene, and took it.”
The Rare Occasions just released a music video for their song “Miss Mary Mack,” which is now available on YouTube. The band is expecting to record new music this winter.
Also from Berklee comes UnderGround Mantra, an instrumental and experimental hip-hop trio. Carmine Mattia, Tyler Schwartzman and Pepe Hildalgo started by making new arrangements of popular songs, influenced by classic rock, blues and hip-hop styles and have since developed their own distinct sound.
“Currently the band is trying to experiment with different genres like blues, rock, hip-hop, and feel good music,” UnderGround Mantra manager Nicole Walsh said. “The band was looking to participate in events that had a good number of participants that were college students. This experience will allow us to collaborate with artists from different schools and meet people who play music but are also studying other majors. We also exited to connect these schools together through the infectiousness of music.”
UnderGround Mantra has released two albums, “Something Kind of Smooth” and “The Woods,” available on SoundCloud and iTunes. Both CDs will be available for sale at the showcase with no set price – all the band asks is for a donation to Hurricane Sandy relief, a cause close to the hearts of the New Jersey natives.
Breaking apart from the group dynamic, Nicki Morris, a sophomore at Emerson College, is one of only two soloists who will take the stage next week. One of the least experienced artists set to perform, Morris is looking to expand her audience beyond her close friends and family to break into the Boston music scene.
“I saw this as a chance to share my work with a larger audience, hoping that the audience will enjoy my work and want to see more of it,” Morris said. “I have done a few showcases at my school, but nothing too substantial. This BSAN showcase will be one of my first performances for the larger Boston audience.”
Morris’ music stands apart from the rock and instrumental themes of The Rare Occasions and UnderGround Mantra with a more “oldies” and sentimental feel.
“I sing all sorts of things, but the music I write is very much like 1950s, 60s love songs,” Morris said. “I like doing covers, but have a few original songs as well. Think Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and Amy Winehouse all rolled in one.”
Rather Be Giraffes from Brandeis University, eZ BreeZ from Boston College, Tufts B.E.A.T.S and The Dirty River String Band from Tufts, Dark Matter from Bridgewater State University and the Rampage Show Choir from Suffolk University will also perform. Tickets to the showcase can be purchased online for $5, and the event will take place at Limelight Stage and Studios on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m.
Student artists across the Boston area can join BSAN for free at bostonstudentarts.org. The first annual Boston Student Film Fest will be held in Spring of 2012, and BSAN is looking into creating peer review sessions to allow artists to share “in progress” projects and receive feedback.
