Celebrating Black History Month with National Music Centre: If You Believe in Love
By Senami Amosu, February 12 2025—
The National Music Centre (NMC) hosted a matinee called “If You Believe in Love” on Feb. 8 featuring Adetola “aloT of Poetry” Adedipe, LATISHA, Louis Brothers and many more for Black History Month, the annually observed commemorative month celebrating people of colour and their contributions to society. The event was a blend of music, art and black community.
Adedipe is a published poet and spoken word poet and artist who works at an art gallery as bookshop manager and a part of the programs team.
“I think art really helps people come together and … supports community because art always comes from this vulnerable place. I feel that whatever form of art that you do, it’s always coming from the heart,” Adetola “aloT of Poetry” Adedipe told the Gauntlet.
Art has always been a medium of expression for people across generations, especially to communicate a profound message. And that really ties into the reason for acknowledgement and appreciation of Black history this month.
“It’s very therapeutic … and it really gives people a release and lets people bring what’s inside outside and they get to see a visual representation of their feelings of their ideas,” Adedipe said.
Black History Month serves as a reminder for how we should live every day of the year. Roots are essential to every individual identity and it is important that people of colour are aware of their centuries-old history and how it applies to their lives in the 21st century.
“I don’t think Black History Month should just be a month where we’re just like oh, we’re just grateful to be hired or we’re just grateful to be seen. I think we should just carry that energy throughout the whole year and let people also recognize that we don’t exist only in February, we continue to exist 365 days,” Adedipe said.
Adedipe, as a former student of University of Calgary, shared her experience as a minority group.
“I remember when I came here in 2015, I think I maybe knew three to four Black people, and we weren’t even in the same program and I was the only Black person in my degree at the time which was wild to me,” she said.
“It’s important to find that community for ourselves to feel safe, to feel supported and to have people around you that will have your back and it brings a different life into you when you’re surrounded by people who have experienced life similar to you,” she added.
While the diversity our communities have provides an opportunity for individuals to branch out and meet people of different cultures and ethnicities, and invites us to learn about various people and places, there’s an unbeatable solace in a community that you directly relate with and that’s what Adedipe forged during her time in U of C.
“I started the African Caribbean Student Association with my sister and my friends back in 2018,” she said.“Our idea was really about the unity between those clubs, like taking our diversity and coming together just to celebrate blackness as a whole.”
To students who have an inclination to arts but feel unsure of themselves, Adedipe’s anecdote might bring clarity.
“I could have gone down the path of kinesiology … I got accepted to two jobs at the time and I had to really think to myself ‘What is gonna make me enjoy getting up every day?’ and to me that was art,” she explained.
Black History Month calls us to recall historical events relating to people of colour, but also to consider that in today’s age. History should not cause divisions and strife, but it should bring us together as a global community. It calls us to celebrate ourselves and one another.
More information about NMC and upcoming events can be found here.