Not every singer can do justice to an anthem like “Killing Me Softly” in a live performance. That song is hallowed grounds for those who grew up in New Jersey in the 90s.
But Jay Jfre’s cover was one of the highlights of last weekend’s Music City festival. The students from Orange’s Rosa Parks Elementary School, who were scheduled to perform next, were crowded around the stage, mesmerized at her vocal acrobatics.
“My music is a fusion of all different cultures — and a homage to black music,” the East Brunswick-born singer, whose real name is J.B. Darby, told Essex Review after finishing her set. “It’s important for the younger generation to see the influences we see.”
This year was Music City’s 10th year and although some things have stayed the same — both veterans performers and elementary school students are invited to perform — the organizers implemented some big changes to celebrate the anniversary. A massive $500,000 grant from NJEDA helped fund for the first time a raised stage and tricked-out sound systems that came at the insistence of one of the organizers Isaiah Conte.
“The quality of the sound and the way it projects across the city is going to be on a different level than the previous years,” said Douglas Farrand, festival co-director.
In 2016, Dr. Mindy Fullilove, who cofounded the University of Orange, is credited with coming up with the idea for a music festival as an extension of the themes in her landmark books on urbanism like Root Shock and Main Street. Musicians like Farrand, Cesar Preta, Ray Sikes, and Margaux Simmons were already involved with the nonprofit and became part of the inaugural organizing team, along with University of Orange cofounder and Executive Director Molly Rose Kaufman. The same team is still intact with a few new additions.
In the first two years, the festival was held at the University of Orange’s headquarters at 35 Cleveland Street, but the pandemic forced Music City into the outdoors and it has been that way ever since.
“That was a big breakthrough for us — when we took the festival outside and designed a music festival that integrated into the structure of the city and helped bring attention to the challenges that the city’s facing,” Farrand said.
When Farrand talks about challenges, he is speaking about a city that has struggled with disinvestment. But rebuilding a city requires investing not just in real estate developers, but also in its hometown artists, he said. That’s why rap ensemble called RealMusic and Caribbean-style band called Young Picassos have become repeat performers along with students from Orange’s public schools.
Farrand believes that many local artists and musicians feel they have to leave Orange in order to have a career in the arts. The festival is an opportunity for many Orange-born artists to come back and perform before a hometown crowd. That has certainly been the path for Presa and singer-songwriter Jhette Lafond who both left Orange for Jersey City .
“Orange is such a melting pot and that’s what makes it so special,” said Lafond, who is part of the organizing team and performed with Presa under the stage name Jhette.
Another part of the festival is that performing artists get compensated a fair wage. “I think because of the kind of society we live in, we’re disconnected from the idea of what goes into making a piece of art or music,” Presa said. “It’s a skill that someone’s had to develop over time.
“We had young musicians finishing their set, getting a check, and telling us “This is so cool, I’ve never been paid to play my own music before,’” Farrand said.
One of the highlights was an impromptu rap performance by Ray Sikes precisely because it was so unexpected. He wasn’t one of the festival’s 17 headliners but stepped on stage between performers and won over the crowd. One of the speakers blew during his rendition of his song so he decided to perform it a cappello.
“I used to skateboard home the AMC movie theater in Essex Green because they used to give us late shifts from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.,” he told the crowd. “I wrote this when I was skateboarding home.”
