Bilal rocks Sol Fusion

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SOL BROTHER NO. 1: Bilal performs at Sol Fusion on Thanksgiving eve.

(photos by Shannon McCollum)

Sol Fusion, the international love fest/get-your-back-up-off-the-wall jam helmed by lifestyle aficionados J. Carter and Kenny Burns, hit yet another crescendo last week during its fifth anniversary celebration. Voted Critics’ Pick for Best Club Event by CL in ‘05 (click here to read the review), Sol Fusion is a cool blend of artists, musicians, creative cuties, down-home homies and on-point crowd controllers such as DJ Kemit. With soul maestro Bilal riding shotgun, this was one event everybody and their mama’s mama will tell the grandkids about.

See, Bilal ain’t your average singer. He’s emotive. His live set is a mixed bag of personal narrative and an extreme exercise in sonic freedom digging in the crates of jazz, blues, hip-hop, R&B, alternative and musical expressions yet to be named. And with a distinct voice moving from falsetto wails to baritone-inflected blues, every woman in earshot was wooed. But Bilal is more of a blue-collar soul star than the ego-driven star all too commonplace in the industry. His appeal rests on a marriage between witty lyrics dripping with lived experience and a toe-tapping/head-nodding rhythm section causing body parts to shake. Though he covered classic tracks such as “Love Poems” and “Fast Lane,” his performance of the foot-in-your-ass track “Sometimes” brought down the house (almost literally) as a possessed Bilal slammed mic stands and gave his electric piano a beating only Ike Turner could appreciate.