(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What’s it like to perform at Jazz Fest for the first time? A local musician shares her experience. [1] ['Khalil Gillon', 'Minh Ha', 'More Khalil Gillon', 'More Minh Ha', 'Verite News', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-04-26 Shawan Rice and her band opened the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s Congo Square stage to an intimate crowd on Thursday (April 25), filling the air with funky guitar riffs and soulful horn sections. At one point, Rice spoke to the crowd before singing, “Flamingo Magic,” a song from her album “Fever Dreams” released in 2023. “It just touches on a specific feeling that I get when I first lock eyes with someone I haven’t had the pleasure of knowing and my mind starts reeling,” Rice told the crowd. While there are several acts that have plenty of experience playing the festival, like Irma Thomas, Big Freedia and the Brass-O-Holics, New Orleans-based Rice, 29, is one of several artists making their debuts at the city’s largest outdoor music festival. After the hour-long performance, she said it was everything and more that she imagined it would be. “I feel like there’s a set of arms, big arms wrapped around me, holding me so tight and making me just feel like I’m in the middle of a refuge. I’m just exactly where I want to be,” Rice said after the performance. “And I just would have never thought when I was 20 years old and got a wild hair to come to New Orleans that I would be able to make a little home here and create a little band and just be able to share my music and do my thing.” Rice’s performance was respite for her, but there was a lifetime of preparation leading up to that moment, which included a busy schedule of gigs the week leading up to the festival. The lead up to Jazz Fest Last Friday (April 19), as the sun set at the lantern-lit courtyard of the Royal Frenchmen Hotel and Bar, Rice and her band breezed through a three-hour set to a packed crowd. It was the first time she was performing with the band she’d eventually play with at Jazz Fest. One of the songs they played was the 1974 R&B classic, “Be Thankful for What You Got.” One thing that Rice is thankful for is the experience of playing at Jazz Fest for the first time. Rice said Jazz Fest and festival season bring a “globally optimistic vibe” to New Orleans whenever they come around. “To be able to participate in that, I’m beyond elated,” Rice said. But Rice said she almost didn’t answer the call from one of the organizers of the festival when they called to invite her to perform. “I was just getting ready to leave my house, I had some errands to run and I had a phone call. I didn’t recognize the number and I was like, ‘Oh, should I answer it?’” Rice said. She did eventually answer the phone but asked to take a message before she realized the caller was affiliated with the festival. “It was this hilarious moment where she’s like, ‘Well, we’re trying to invite you to play if you let us’ and I said ‘Oh my gosh, I would love that,’” Rice said. ‘I was just happy to be there.’ Rice is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but has called New Orleans home for the past eight years. She began her singing career in Pennsylvania at 14 years old, at a free event organized by one of her friends to make music accessible and create a community for unhoused individuals. “It was so scary to be on stage but I was also just so happy to be there,” Rice said. But long before that experience, though, Rice was introduced to the world of music. When she was seven years old, Rice’s godmother showed her music from Alicia Keys and it instantly inspired her to pursue songwriting, she said. Along with Keys, Rice said the other musical artists that have had a long-term impact on her are Amy Winehouse, Marvin Gaye, Etta James and Donny Hathaway. Rice’s music is a mix of the soulfulness and feel of R&B and the rhythms and percussion of neo-soul, made popular by artists like Erykah Badu and Maxwell. She has released four EPs of original compositions. After her Jazz Fest performance, she only had hours to rest up and prepare for another show later that night at the Bombay Club in the French Quarter. She performs almost daily around New Orleans at various venues and is in the studio working on new music. Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2024/04/26/whats-it-like-to-perform-at-jazz-fest-for-the-first-time-a-local-musician-shares-her-experience/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/