Popular Tsilhqot’in hip hop duo Beka Solo and Rich Mac will teach a free songwriting workshop for youth Wednesday, May 3 at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre.
The workshop called Break it Down Hip Hop is designed to engage youth of all ages in the art and soul of finding their voice, performing and learning what it takes to create their own music, said Venta Rutkauskas, co-ordinator of the Community Arts Council of Williams Lake which is co-sponsoring the event as part of Youth Week activities.
She said Solo and Mac will introduce the concepts of songwriting as well as demonstrate their own crafted songwriting and production skills.
“Beka and Rich performed for a CACWL event last fall, and we definitely wanted to work with them in the future,” Rutkauskas said.
“Their positivity, authenticity and talent were clear to all of us.”
She said one talented participant in the workshop will receive a recording session with Solo and Mac for showing up and shining their light at the event.
The free Break It Down Hip Hop workshop takes place at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre from 4 until 9 p.m. and includes free pizza at the dinner break.
Interested participants are asked to register by contacting Rutkauskas at williamslakearts@gmail.com or by phone at 250-790-2331.
Both Beka and Rich have been engaged in music since their youth and have spent the last two years fine-tuning their craft.
They have now collaborated on 30 new tracks waiting to be mastered.
One of their video productions was screened this winter at the first annual Cariboo Chilcotin Film Festival held at the Gibraltar Room.
Beka pursued a diploma in professional recording arts in Vancouver, while Rich has been involved in hip hop locally and in Fort Nelson, where he was a part of Dene Storm Studios for nearly a decade.
The duo knew each other in high school in Williams Lake, and reconnected in Vancouver while Beka was studying music production.
Beka produces all of their music and lyrically the pair have fused their cultural and spiritual beliefs to raise awareness and Indigenous pride.
“Growing up, I figured out what was important,” Beka says in their extensive biography.
“An awareness that we are more alike than different, the spiritual aspect of life.”
On their track We Pray, Beka and Rich urge the listener and their peers to awaken to their personal responsibility, meditate for clarity, and dig deep to make their dreams come true.
Living from the heart, they both intentionally lean away from associations with partying or thug mentality often prevalent in Hip Hop.
“We’re making a choice to rap about positive subjects,” Beka states.
Search Beka Solo and Rich Mac on Youtube. Listen to Dene Storm Studios on www.reverbnation.com.
The arts council is providing the workshop in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District, with funding provided by the City of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Regional District via the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society and the BC Arts Council.
For more information about arts council’s Soundscapes project go to their website at www.williamslakecommunityartscouncil.com.