What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1492257
FEBRUARY 12-18, 2023 WHAT'S UP! 7 'Music Can Take You Anywhere' MONICA HOOPER NWA Democrat-Gazette B ijoux — who prefers to use that single name — will support a mission close to her heart when she performs with the Rodney Block Collective during the Arkansas Black Music and Film Expo. "We really try to take opportunities to educate because that's kind of what's in our hearts," she says. "We're going to do segments of music during our performance that reflect Music Moves' mission, but I think it's more so because our brand is already so in alignment with that mission." Recently Bijoux and Rodney Block have been performing at schools in southeastern Arkansas through a program called SMARTS and then talking to the students about their careers and "letting them know that music can take you anywhere." For Bijoux, her journey began humbly by singing with her mother as a child. "My mom sings in church exclusively," she explains. "I grew up singing with her and around her, listening to her sing." While her mother only lifted her voice in church, she still led her daughter to sing well and produce the correct notes, Bijoux explains in a video for Arkansas Tourism. That led to a strong work ethic in the young singer. Bijoux tells What's Up! that even though she was often selected to sing solos in choir, she thought it was her work ethic alone that earned her a place in the spotlight. "I never pieced together that I might be good at singing — just that I was being a good student," she says. Growing up, she was exposed to all sorts of music — folk, classic rock 'n' roll, makossa [a Cameroonian style of urban music], country and R&B. "Both my parents immigrated here together from Cameroon, high school sweethearts — so sweet," she says. The young family was "adopted" by a couple whom she called "Mimi" and "Poppaw," who also influenced her love of music. With Mimi, she also sang hymns but started to listen to Top 40 songs from the 1940s and '50s. By the time she got to high school, she began to relate to hip-hop and R&B. "Which was life-changing, because lyrically, those songs were doing something that was so relevant," she says. By the time the young scholar attended Governor's School, she was listening to gospel music. In college, she fell in love with jazz, attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville on a partial choir scholarship and singing in the Inspirational Chorale and church choir. "I feel like by the time I got to Fayetteville, I had a complete picture of sounds and what I liked the music to sound like, what I like to hear, what I like to think," she says. Since then she's been building a career led by her passions. "If I'm not passionate about it, if I can't be authentic in any way about the art, I'm not doing it," she says. "I think I'm what a lot of people classify as a 'cover singer.' A lot of times people feel when you sing covers, you just sing the song and then you leave, but it's much more than that. For me, it's nostalgic. I feel that there's a lot of feeling and intention that you have to infuse into the arrangements and the sets and the vocal presentation. If I can't do that, I'm not interested." After the Feb. 17 performance, keep up with Bijoux at iambijoux.com and on Facebook and Instagram. The singer says that she has two EPs in drafts, but she's waiting for the "right time" to release them, "which is a nebulous and abstract concept," she adds. "But I can't shake it, and I can't just release just because it's done. It just doesn't feel like the right time. So will it come in 2023? I don't know." Bijoux follows her heart in her soul Bijoux will perform with the Rodney Block Collective during the Arkansas Black Music and Film Expo Feb. 17 at the Fayetteville Town Center. (Courtesy Photo) FAYETTEVILLE FYI Rodney Block Collective Featuring Bijoux WHO — Sultry soul singer Bijoux will join the Rodney Block Collective onstage during the Arkansas Black Music and Film Expo hosted by Music Moves. WHEN — Their performance will follow the film screenings that begin at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 WHERE — Fayetteville Town Center, 15 W. Mountain St. in Fayetteville COST — Tickets to the expo are $50 for Feb. 17 and can be purchased through a link at musicmovesar.com/event/ abmfe BONUS — Learn more about Bijoux at iambijoux.com.