Music Series to Showcase Blues, R&B

The Triangle is about to get a much-needed dose of soul.

The first Soul Essentials event will take place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday at Joe and Jo's Downtown Pub in Durham.

Slated to take place twice a month at different locations, the event will be a showcase of new urban music and artists. Tuesday's affair will kick off with a free buffet, followed by a performance by Ocie, an R&B artist from Fayetteville.

The brainchild of Valerie Pratt, Soul Essentials was partly inspired by the recent Southeastern Music and Entertainment Summit, in which she was involved. SMES was organized to help the Carolinas and Virginia become a collective force in hip hop.

Pratt said the Triangle does not have enough strong outlets through which up-and-coming singers can give the gift of soul and R&B to audiences.

"Something about that music touches the soul a little bit more than any other music," she said.

For the first outing, Pratt has sent out a number of audience invitations to people she met through past connections. If Soul Essentials prospers, she hopes that word-of-mouth promotion will attract people to the events. Pratt emphasizes, though, that Soul Essentials is intended for people of all ages and races.

"I want it to be a multicultural event," she said. "I really believe that people today cannot survive in one type of culture."

If Soul Essentials becomes a success, she will take it to restaurants, bars and coffee houses all over the Triangle. Right now, she said, she is testing the waters and seeing if there is a market for what she is trying to do.

Pratt has been working with James Heyward, the owner of Madd Waxx Records in Durham and organizer of the summit, for six years -- the two interned together and collaborated on various marketing and promotional ventures.

"(Pratt is) trying to expose those artists, and people always like to hear new stuff," Heyward said. "I think it can definitely grow in the next couple of years."

Madd Waxx, which specializes in hip-hop music, will shift gears by providing soulful and bluesy songs for Soul Essentials.

Pratt and others will be present at the inaugural event and will facilitate conversation between people who either don't know each other or haven't been exposed to these genres of music.

Heyward said the combination of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, as well as the abundance of both college students and RTP transplants, has made for a progressive environment that is receptive to new sounds.

"This event is going to kick off a lot of things," Heyward said. "If we build it and develop it and nurture it, I think people will be attracted to it."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.