Annual Show Raises Funds for Girls Inc.
03/10/2015
By David Perry
For music majors, especially those studying performance, Mothers of Rock is just the sort of stage one seeks.
One song. Your production. A celebration of sisters in song.
Lauren Azevedo waited a year for her shot, but the 11th annual Mothers of Rock concert provided as powerful a moment as she had hoped.
“There is nothing like Mothers of Rock,” said the 20-year-old music business and music performance major from Wilmington. “I love singing opera, choir, a capella. I love to sing. Last year, I’d only just gotten here when I heard about it. There was no time to audition. So I’d been looking forward to this since then.”
Performers included UMass Lowell students, alumni and even staff and faculty. Lisa Abdallah, chair of the School of Nursing, rendered Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Each performer sang a song associated with a female singer.
Backed by a student band, Azevedo sang “I’m Going Down” by Mary J. Blige, and was one of more than a dozen acts to raise more than $1,200 in donations for Girls Inc. of Lowell, a non-profit organization that offers after-school activities for girls ages 5 to 18, encouraging independence and personal responsibility. The show, a free event staged in Durgin Hall on March 7, was sponsored by The Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA).
The student-run show featured headliner and Boston Music Awards winner Ruby Rose Fox.
And Lauren Azevedo can’t wait for the next one. “This is exactly the kind of thing I love to do,” said Azevedo. “It was fun – I love singing R&B – but it also furthered what I’m doing here. It taught you to market yourself, and with the band, I ran rehearsals. There was not a teacher there telling you what to do or what would work. We decided what it was going to be. And we had the freedom to change things up.”
“It’s fun and a night of really good music for a great cause,” said organizer Regina Alongi, a junior music business major and marketing director for Mothers of Rock.
“UMass Lowell has been really great with this,” said Katelyn Adams, program coordinator for Girls Inc. “It’s wonderful the way they support our organization and it gives us a great opportunity to bring awareness to Girls Inc. We have a bond with the university and have hired several UMass Lowell students in the past.”
Besides Ruby Rose Fox’s soulful pop/rock sound, singers offered covers by everyone from Amy Winehouse to Paramore to Whitney Houston.
“I auditioned with an Amy Winehouse song, but someone was already doing it,” says the classically trained Azevedo. “But I’m glad I ended up with ‘I’m Going Down.’ It was so fun to perform.”
When the curtain had closed, Azevedo reflected on the experience.
“I’m sort of sad it’s over.”
Sponsors included the university’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, the UMass Lowell Connector, University Music, El Potro Mexican Bar and Grill and D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches.