{"id":627358,"date":"2026-04-25T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627358\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:39:08","slug":"alysha-brilla-and-ok-naledi-headline-night-2-of-the-ottawa-grassroots-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627358\/","title":{"rendered":"Alysha Brilla and OK Naledi headline night 2 of the Ottawa Grassroots Festival."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ok Naledi performing in the worship hall at First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. April 24, 2026. Photo by Jacob Carabetta. <\/p>\n

Friday Night brought a wave of folk, friends and fun to the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. With Ok Naledi and Alysha Brilla kicking off a jam-packed weekend of performances and workshops for all members of the Ottawa community.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival spectators are greeted by dozens of volunteers and organizers of the event who make each guest feel welcome.<\/p>\n

The venue is the main worship hall of the church, and as fans walk in, they get a blast of sunshine through the windows beyond the stage, framing a picturesque sunset over the Ottawa river.<\/p>\n

\"\"First United Congregation of Ottawa. Worship Hall. April 24, 2026. Photo by Jacob Carabetta<\/p>\n

The crowd, a mix of Grassroots enthusiasts and other excited locals begins to fill the room just after 7:00. As the time draws closer to the first act, voices rise and the anticipation begins to build gradually.<\/p>\n

At 7:29 the lights dim, building anticipation even further.<\/p>\n

Brennen McNally, the stage manager of the event, introduced Ok Naledi calling them a \u201chigh-energy afro fusion group\u201d that \u201cblends guitar lines and movement-inspiring beats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ok Naledi set a slow but progressing tone. The crowd, settled into pews and scattered seating, leaned in quietly \u2014 an intimate listening experience rather than the dance floor energy the music seemed to call for.<\/p>\n

The set\u2019s early highlight came with \u201cThe Lonely Heart Killer\u201d the second track of the night. Naledi prefaced it with a story about a trip to Nova Scotia and an obsession with true crime documentaries and podcasts, a detail strange enough to pull the room tighter. The song itself leaned harder on guitar and a driving beat, a slight departure from the opener, and it landed well.<\/p>\n

As the set progressed Naledi did much of the talking, charming the crowd with stories \u2014 including one about a stint working on a cruise ship where she claimed to know 200 songs \u2014 and calling the Grassroots volunteers the \u201cnicest human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point she caught herself and laughed. \u201cJust play the songs Naledi,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

By track six, \u201dCatch My Vibe,\u201d the room began to loosen. The crowd was warm, engaged, and appreciative \u2014 but never quite moving. This could be a product of the narrow seating arrangements within the pews.<\/p>\n

I spoke to a man named Ian, a grassroots music fan who drove three hours to be at the festival this weekend. He explained that even though you may not expect it, people at blues festivals are usually \u201cup at the front moving around\u201d, though today was not the case.<\/p>\n

When Naledi invited the room to dance for the final song, \u201dKeep Going,\u201d only a few obliged.<\/p>\n

Ok Naledi are a captivating act. But on this night, in this room, they may have had the wrong crowd.<\/p>\n

During the intermission, the spectators filed from the pews to other areas. Some moving outside to look at the solar system on such a clear April night. Others gathered for refreshments and conversation in fellowship hall beside the theatre.<\/p>\n

As the crowd waited patiently for the second act, Holly Alaine was seen setting up her canvas to do something quite unfamiliar to the live music stage: paint Alysha as she performed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Holly Alaine with her painting of Alysha Brilla. April 14, 2026. Photo by Jacob Carabetta.<\/p>\n

By the time Alysha took the stage, the fans in attendance were excited.<\/p>\n

Alysha, began her set with a calm, collected thank you to the sponsors and spectators of the event, making a joke about the live painter saying, \u201cI\u2019ve only seen this at weddings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first song, Rescue,\u201d immediately captivated the audience with Alysha\u2019s guitar playing and voice, and by the second hook of the song, almost everybody was singing along with her fostering a beautiful, welcoming atmosphere.<\/p>\n

At the end of the first song, Alysha gave the crowd a tidbit about how she rarely plays alone. So Holly Alaine painted a black and white cat on her left cheek, to symbolize that she is not alone while performing\u00a0solo after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cSacred Rage\u201d was a different kind of captivation entirely. Preceded by a call to \u201chold evil governments to account\u201d \u2014 met with a roar from the crowd \u2014 the song\u2019s intricate arpeggios, played while singing, marked Alysha as a true class act. The audience leaned in, tuning harder into every lyric.<\/p>\n

From there, Alysha turned the audience into a community. Taking fan requests, she crafted a medley spanning \u201cDeep Talk,\u201d \u201cDreamer,\u201d \u201cWoman,\u201d \u201cHealing,\u201d \u201cHungry Heart,\u201d and \u201cCentre\u201d \u2014 a \u201csampler platter,\u201d as she called it, joking it was \u201cgood for attention spans.\u201d Those who knew the songs felt it; those who didn\u2019t, wanted to.<\/p>\n

By the final song, \u201cBigger Than That,\u201d the crowd was singing loudly. Alysha brought out Kiera on drums and Naledi on the shaker, creating a full band celebration.<\/p>\n

As the night wrapped, the stage manager\u2019s words said it all: \u201cThis isn\u2019t the end, it\u2019s only the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ok Naledi performing in the worship hall at First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. April 24, 2026. Photo by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-627358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}