Mosaic music festival showcases diversity

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on June 27, 2024.

Herald file photo Chris Butcher from the HeavyWeight Brass Band performs at a past year's jazz festival.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Music lovers will have the opportunity to kick off the long weekend with the Mosaic Music festival, a free event that will combine Latin, R&B, Jazz and Blues at Galt Gardens on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Mike Prociw, board member of Mosaic Music, formerly known as the Lethbridge Jazz Society told the Herald in a recent interview that the reason behind the name change is to be more inclusive of other music genres.

“We felt like in some cases we would have performers who weren’t necessarily always traditional jazz performers or blues artists and rather than confuse people with genre-based names we felt like this would better reflect the kind of music that we offer,” said Prociw.

He added that as the city became more diverse, they saw the need to expand to be able to offer opportunities for world music to serve those who now call Lethbridge home.

In order to be able to provide the festival free of charge, Prociw said they received financial help from the Re-imagine downtown grant from the city of Lethbridge.

“This is a very important grant that provides us with the resources to help facilitate events like this. Without those kind of grants and those kinds of funding commitments it would make things very challenging, nearly impossible really.”

He added that thanks to this grant they are able to continue to offer the type of festival Lethbridge residents have come to expect from them, something that was not able to happen last year due to lack of proper funding.

“Similar to the outdoor event in the past, it continues to be a one day event. We have four artists who are going to play this year from a variety of genres,” said Prociw.

Local Jazz band Midnight Channel will be joined by Calgary artists Luis Tovar and Lynn Maric and Oral Fuentes Band from Saskatoon to offer a mixture of Latin, R&B, Jazz, Blues, Soul and Reggae to the stage.

Prociw added that those in attendance will also have the opportunity to enjoy local food trucks, beer gardens, vendors and family activities.

“We’re hoping that it can be a family event with appeal to people of all ages, music fans and people just coming to explore or going for a walk in the park, hopefully there’s something for everybody there,” said Prociw.

When talking about the importance of offering family events in downtown, Prociw said it is very important for them to provide opportunities for the community to get together, to have fun and enjoy good music.

“The downtown is an important part of the city and it’s important to keep that area alive and vibrant and bringing people down there. And as far as music, it is a similar theme of bringing people together, especially nowadays when we are seeing an increasingly fragmented society,” said Prociw.

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