“I felt loved. It felt so good to be in this room,” Co-chair of Juneteenth Muncie Dorica Watson said. “The music was amazing… we couldn't wait to be here.”

Watson was just one of dozens of Muncie community members in attendance at Kirk Whalums’ concert Friday, Feb. 16 at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. 

The event hosted by Real Black Excellence (RBE) drew in a crowd despite the weather, with Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour in attendance. Before the show began, Ridenour spoke on stage about not just the importance of community events, but the importance of RBE as a whole.
After a short speech from the creator of the organization, Stephen Hargrave, and Executive Overseer Robert (Rob) Ewing Jr., the concert began.

The show lasted for two hours and showcased Whalum alongside members of his band. The group all came together to play their respective instruments and dance along to the music while showcasing themselves individually through solos. 

The music resonated and moved across the audience, with many opting to stand up and dance along. Along with this, the crowd frequently sang and cheered on Whalum as he played. 

“We’ve been feeling this, he’s expressing the music of our soul where we’re from. That’s our Black History Month, that’s our music, that’s our people,” Hargrave said. 

Within the audience was mom Christina Hossom and her son, 12-year-old Conner, an aspiring saxophonist donning a saxophone graphic T-shirt. 

Hosso has been playing the saxophone for just the last couple of months but said he wants to take his future career with the instrument farther than Whalums.

During one portion of the show, Whalum made his way into the audience and gave Hosso a fist bump.

“It was really fun and exciting,” he said.

Hosso is just one of many audience members who left the concert feeling inspired and loved by the environment. This is something Hargrave connected to the overall idea of community which he tries to promote within RBE.

“This audience is so diverse. You see all kinds of religious people, black people, white people, you see everybody. This is the community of Muncie/Delaware County coming together,” Hargrave said.

The importance of Whalum’s appearance in Muncie was not overshadowed either as Ewing said it’s not often that ‘big’ artists visit the city.

More importantly, Ewing said RBE achieved their goal of bringing people together for a night of celebration.

“We just wanted to do something big for our city,” Ewing said. “We just wanted to start the year off with something real positive and something that brings the people together.”

Contact Trinity Rea via email at trinity.rea@bsu.edu or on X @thetrinityrea.

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