By Saida Maalin

Norco College student musicians and alumni hosted a five hour virtual concert for the community on May 22. 

The concert featured 21 Norco music students who played genres ranging from country, hiphop, folk, metal, rock and alternative.

Featured artists included Kalie Jade, Damian Navarro, Farris, Emma Dark,  Just Crystal and Old Scores, all who performed on “Beneath the Surface,” an album by 38 Norco student musicians.

“Norco Music is a vibrant community of student artists from Norco College who truly support each other,” said Brady Kerr, music industry studies instructor. We are so grateful that in a time of social distancing, our community could come together and create a livestream, interactive, virtual concert.” 

“We had multiple genres represented,” he said. “Norco Music has a very diverse student population, so we wanted to represent that as much as possible.”

The Associated Students of Norco College, in collaboration with Norco ESports Association and Norco Music, decided to do a virtual concert titled “Quarantined: Bedroom Sessions” due to COVID-19.

 “‘The Bedroom Sessions’ took just over two months to plan, record, produce and organize,” said Kerr. “It was such a success, that if possible, we’d like to do another one in the fall,” said Kerr. 

The concert was hosted on Twitch, a live broadcast platform that was free and open to the public.

“We had 446 unique viewers, 100 unique chatters, 1,287 live views and maxed out with 87 viewers in a single moment,” Kerr said.

After their individual sets, each performer conducted a live interview. 

“I’m incredibly proud of everyone involved,” Kerr said. “It took a lot to make this happen. Not only the performers themselves, but all the behind-the-scenes work that went into making it a success.” 

To listen to NOMU studio album “Beneath the Surface”, visit http://www.norcomusic.com/music.