CINCINNATI – Released in 1962, and at that time, with music from the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Louis Armstrong at the Cincinnati Carthage Exhibition Park, the Cincinnati Music Festival has one of the largest and oldest R-B festivals in the country.
The effort to keep the party culture alive in those dubious times is nothing less than a labor of love.
“Letting this weekend go by with nothing would have been heartbreaking for everyone,” said marketing and public relations director Fran DiBattista of the Cincinnati Music Festival.
Festival makers make it virtual, inviting local artists like Lauren Eylise to perform.
“To be a part of anything as a musician, to contribute with the same as my idols, I have no words for that,” Eylise said.
She said she was delighted to be part of the legacy of the musicians and singers who have performed at the festival in the past.
“Maxwell, Charlie Wilson, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, I feel chills when I do,” Eylise said.
He said it’s vital that local artists worry about the festival.
“We grew up here, ” said Eylise. “We learned legends from Cincinnati. It’s amazing. I’m grateful, they’re grateful, but it also makes me feel, “Oh, it’s time for us to be here.”
Locals who have addressed the festivals to a level beyond are somehow headlined.
“Honestly, speaking humbly, I think it’s great, ” he said. I said, “That’s good.”
Eylise will star in two songs from his new album, which was behind the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to share some of this new music,” he said.
The component of this year’s exhibition is the award.
“It’s loose online for other people to see,” DiBattista said. “We feel, right now, in those times, that everyone wants anything to encourage us. We were looking to locate that sense of community.
The exhibition not only shows local artists: the city will miss the profits generated through the music festival, so the online page encourages local grocery shopping with all kinds of discounts on festival weekends.
“We’re telling people, ‘Just run a company to support,'” said Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, city councilman in Cincinnati.
To listen to all the Cincinnati Music Festival performances, adding Eylise’s pre-recorded event, which will be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. On Friday, the program’s website.