Montclair was sizzling with sound on Saturday night, January 29, as dozens of musicians of all age, genre and style gathered to perform a benefit concert for Edeyo, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering children in disaster-stricken Haiti through education.
By the time the final note was played — around 4 hours after the sold-out concert started at 7:30 p.m. — and the last of Alma Schneider’s cupcakes were purchased from the “snack bar” — the event raised around $20,000 ($900 in baked goods alone!). All proceeds go directly to the construction of a school in the impoverished Bell Air section of Port Au Prince. Fundraising efforts included sponsorship by Whole Foods, which also ran a register campaign at their Montclair store. Notably, $1,600 of the total was raised by Glenfield Middle School’s House Scribner and House Miller, through their “Change is Positive” campaign.
The 2nd Annual Concert for Haiti was organized by a coalition of people and businesses, led by Cindy Stagoff and Montclair’s Mayor Jerry Fried, who together emceed the event. Fried quoted Martin Luther King, Jr. and Forrest Church summing up the evening’s mission with “the arc of history is long and it bends towards justice,” and urged the audience to strive towards “wanting what you have, being who you are, and doing what you can.”
Fried said “I truly believe that people looking back on Montclair from future generations will see these past few years of crisis as affirming all the values they hold, and that we hold here and now.” He added, “what we do to help others far away who are so much less fortunate then ourselves, shows us the crucial importance of the experience of gratitude. What we do every day to volunteer, pitch in, donate (if we have the means) and provide support and friendship to others who do the same, preserves the great community of which we are a part.”
The musicians ranged from headliners, Grammy-award winning bass player Christian McBride (above with drummer Jerome Jennings and pianist Oscar Perez) and his wife and musical partner internationally-renowned vocalist Melissa Walker to Montclair High School’s a capella glee club The Passing Notes, (of which Mayor Fried’s son, Jonah is a member).
Walker is the founder of Montclair-based Jazz House Kids, which exposes young people to jazz and nurtures up-and-coming musicians. McBride and Walker brought to the stage two Montclair high school students, saxaphonist Julian Lee and trumpet player Wallace Roney Jr., as well as Anthony Orgi from Mt. Olive High School playing baritone sax (seen below). These three rising stars more than held their own on stage.
Also in the line up (not in order of appearance) were baritone operatic vocalist Stephen Bryant, Temple Ne’er Tamid’s Cantor Meredith Greenberg, her partner Leora Perlman and Erica Lipitz singing Hebrew prayers, acoustic rock from Haiti’s Obed Jean-Louis with Ayibobo on percussion, Haitian one man show Bonga, Rob Maskin, Eva Goldfarb, Bob Mellman, zydeco band Big Mamou as well as a collective of other local musicians doing back up.
On hand to speak of Edeyo’s work were founders Unik Ernest, Michael Pradieu and Doris Pradieu who shared their vision of École du Bel-Air allowing the children of Haiti to receive educations and become a catalyst for change in their country. In a heart-felt part of the evening, letters of gratitude from Haitian children to Montclair residents were read by local school children.
This 2nd Annual concert — like last year’s semi-spontaneous post-earthquake event — was held in the sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation and was run with the help of Outpost in the Burbs. All in all, the music was fantastic, the collective energy was full of hope for the future of Haiti, and the event was a resounding success. Stagoff says that next year’s line up will be even more diverse, and she’s already working on booking a surprise performer.
For more information on Edeyo and to donate, click here.
Slide show photos courtesy of Michael Reitman.
