ONEONESIX Giving Young Northland Musicians a Platform to Shine

The Raw Sessions by ONEONESIX and Beagle Radio gives young Northland musicians the opportunity to showcase their music to an online audience. In an interview with ONEONESIX we find out more about this initiative and how its supporting young emerging artists all while celebrating Youth Week and NZ Music Month.

How are you celebrating Youth Week given we are still in lockdown mode?

ONEONESIX and BeagleFM have been working on running the Raw Sessions for our second year. We had created a plan for either level 4 or level 3 scenarios but luckily we’ll be in level 2. It’s a live streamed music gig featuring talented young people from Te Tai Tokerau. We’ll be streaming sessions throughout May on Thursdays and Fridays, featuring soloists, bands and MCs who are 20 years and under to celebrate NZ Music Month. 

Tell us a bit about your Raw Sessions initiative? 
We’ve invited rangatahi from Whangarei and Te Tai Tokerau to bring their music to our online audience. The musicians are paid, and their songs are professionally streamed & recorded at ONEONESIX along with an interview with each of them.

Have you had a lot of interest from rangatahi?
We’ve had some great young artists return who took part last year and some new ones too. We’ve still got the capacity for a few more so we are still hoping more people will hear about it in the next week or so who we can schedule at the end of May. It’s been trickier to get the word out being in Level 4 this year. 

How many are participating?
We are aiming for sixteen bands or soloists over NZ Music Month and we have a great technical support crew of four.

Where can we hear their music?
You can listen live on Beagle Radio which you can stream from anywhere in the world. Tune in here; https://beagleradio.co.nz. You can also watch a video stream of the performances https://oneonesix.nz/live

Can you tell us what some of your plans for youth are post lockdown?
Our main focus at the moment is about Raw Sessions and connecting with emerging musicians to help strengthen pathways for them and also create a bit of a peer support network. We’d also like to attract some more regular DJs who are under 20 as well who are keen to have a weekly radio show. After May as we navigate the next few months through level 2 and 1 we’ll be reconnecting with schools to find out how we can offer more networks and opportunities for young people. We’re looking forward to continuing to collaborate with Northland Youth Theatre. 

Where can the public find out more about the Raw Sessions?
Check out our Facebook page (ONEONESIX) and www.beagleradio.co.nz 

Anything else you would like to add? 
Please tune in to beagleradio.co.nz or watch live at onesixsix.nz/live this week Friday May 15th 2020 from 6-8pm. We hope we’ll be able to host a small audience by the end of May for the final sessions. 

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