"KING" Keonté Beals
CBC Communications | Posted: September 22, 2020 2:54 PM | Last Updated: September 22, 2020
Musician Keonté Beals performed two songs from his home studio for East Coast Music Hour
Talented. Successful. Driven. Keonté Beals is just 23 years old, but he already has an impressive musical resume. He put out his first full-length album this year, and won the African Nova Scotian Music Association's Artist of the Year Award. How'd he get there?
"I'm a representation of my community of North Preston."
Beals recently sat down (virtually, that is) with East Coast Music Hour's Bill Roach for a conversation about his album KING, his love for his hometown, and being a Black man in 2020. He also treated listeners to two live recorded performances from his home studio.
KING Keonté
KING is about identity and letting go of stereotypes. Beals says he wanted to name the title track, and the album, KING because of the word's power within the black community.
"Speaking in my own personal experience, throughout the Black community all across the globe, we use the terms King and Queen to address one another. Just kind of acknowledging our ancestral roots from our native land, Africa, and bringing power to the fact that we are kings and queens of many riches."
Beals says much of the album is about letting go of toxic masculinity and embracing showing emotion. He wanted to show people exactly what a king is.
Growing up in North Preston
For Beals, embracing emotion comes naturally thanks to growing up in the tight-knit community of North Preston, N.S. His childhood was the living embodiment of the common phrase, "it takes a village".
North Preston taught me about love. A sense of love and community. Growing up, we used to call all of our elders Aunt and Uncle. Everybody was family. - Keontè Beals
The heart of that family was church. Beals joined the junior choir by age six, although back then he was too shy to perform any solos. In fact, his own mother didn't quite believe he was really singing up there. She thought he might just be mimicking the motions. He proved her wrong when he worked up the courage for a solo at age 16.
Now, those values come through in his work. "That's a big part of my music. How I express feeling and emotion, and how I'm able to touch somebody. I learned all that from my upbringing."
Beals says when people are quick to judge North Preston based on negative stereotypes, "it's kind of sad."
"People who automatically go to what's negative or what they've seen that's negative about North Preston, don't know North Preston," he says. "They haven't really met anybody from North Preston, they definitely have never been here to North Preston, and they don't even really care to take the time to do those two things."
Where to catch Keonté Beals next
Although live in-person shows are off the table for most musicians these days due to COVID-19, you can catch Keonté Beals performing via live stream on Thursday, September 24, as part of Neptune Theatre's Fly Again Telethon.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.