Camp S.O.U.L. offers students insight to black music, culture

A new pre-college program offered underrepresented high school students the chance to learn about and demonstrate black music and culture last week.

This is the first year of Camp S.O.U.L. (Students Obtaining Unique Musical Levels) at IU under the leadership of professor Nathanael Fareed Mahluli, director of the IU Soul Revue.
Underrepresented high school students from Indiana participated in a weeklong camp and offered a free concert Friday in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

Camp S.O.U.L. was founded seven years ago by former IU Soul Revue Director Tyron Cooper. His vision for the camp was to focus on the historical, theoretical and performance components of black music and culture, according to an IU News press release.

The pre-college program is integral in introducing students to the music of African-Americans in a highly structured and academic environment, but it is not only about the music. It is also a vehicle that allows participants to experience university life. Students are strongly urged to explore college as a viable option for their lives. Music is merely used to motivate and encourage college attendance. The camp has been a starting point for several students becoming enrolled as IU students, according to the press release.

“Camp S.O.U.L. students, by participating in Camp S.O.U.L., declare themselves the embodiment of the affirmation ‘The Best is Yet to Come,’” Mahluli said in the press release. “Through the discipline of musical preparation and the courage to perform for others, Camp S.O.U.L. students pay heritage points forward as active, excellent participants of song, soul and our culture’s ongoing transformation.”