On November 27 – 28, 2020, Raw Revolution Productions in partnership with NOSACONN (New Orleans South African Connection), a nonprofit that uses music, culture and the arts to engage disconnected youth and students while equipping them for future success, will host its second annual L.O.C.A.L.S’ Music Festival virtually at 7:00 p.m. via Facebook and Instagram livestream based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The festival’s return is bringing together New Orleans bred and local musicians including chart topping singer, songwriter, actress and dancer Dawn Richard as well as Alfred Banks, 21st Century Brass Band, Elliot Love, The Mario Abney Effect, Letrainiump, and Chrishira. Last year, the festival took place on the grounds the historic French Quarter site Louis Armstrong Park and highlighted artists from around the city for an eclectic gumbo mix of genres including Kevin Styles, Carter Patrick and the Telegraph Salesmen, 20 year veteran singer, songwriter and entertainer Vegas Cola as well as Casmè, who is currently being featured on the Emmy award-winning TV show The Voice. Festival founder Ryan Batiste will return this year to perform under his stage name Shaggadelic.
L.O.C.A.L.S’ Fest, an acronym for ‘Loving Our Community As Louisiana’ has an even greater meaning this time around, during a year that has been tough for most people, not only in Louisiana, but around the world. Festival organizer and C.E.O. of Raw Revolution Productions LLC Ryan Batiste says that although the nature of the festival will be different this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, he wants the city to know that the purpose of the festival has not changed. “Music remains my passion and purpose in life,” said Batiste. “A lot of people have suffered this year and now more than ever, everyone could use a little more love. This event is something that will allow us to come together virtually and enjoy something that all true New Orleanians love and that’s music. When I created this festival, I wanted to help small businesses as well as musicians and up and coming artists in our community to grow and expand their reach, fans and customer network while having fun and bringing the community together. That is still my goal so I decided to find a way that we could still enjoy the festival safely because it was very successful last year, and this is great for the community.”
Batiste comes from a family of musicians starting with his father, widely know musician and performer in the popular ‘Batiste Brothers Band,’ David Batiste along with other family members including Jonathan Batiste, who is the director over television host, political commentator and comedian Stephen Colbert’s band. With Ryan’s upbringing in the birthplace of Jazz and his family history along with the B.A. in Music he holds from Dillard University, the culture and music of New Orleans is in his blood.
Ryan launched Raw Revolution Productions LLC in 2010 in an effort to positively impact his community and the world through the gift of music.
To learn more about this year’s lineup, please visit http://localsfestnola.com. You can also e-mail [email protected] for more info on how you can enjoy the festival virtually this year or to donate to the event.
