Berhana @ Velvet Underground – Toronto, ON, Canada (Support: Pomo)

Atlanta, Georgia-based R&B singer Berhana has been making a great wave throughout 2019 with his debut release, HAN. Known for his casual and mellifluous style of R&B, he has been compared to the likes of other R&B male contemporary artists like 6LACK, Xavier Omär, Frank Ocean, and Mac Ayres. He has been on my radar for a while and he is very consistent when it comes to his production for all his tracks, and he has a very unique sound when it comes to his singing and delivery. I highly recommend listening to him if you are still into contemporary R&B and vibrant West Coast-style R&B from an independent artist like him. For his HAN 002 tour, Berhana brought along Vancouver, British Columbia-based R&B and remix producer, Pomo. He also brought the US tour to Toronto’s Velvet Underground, and fans were excited to check out his performance as this is his second time performing in Toronto. 

Starting on stage was producer and multi-instrumentalist Pomo (David Pimentel). He is very well-known in the R&B and remixes production industry for producing and remixing some of the most unique beats for a variety of artists, including Anderson.Paak and the Free Nationals, Clairo, SG Lewis, Shay Lia, and the late Mac Miller. From his production with the late rapper, he produced a majority of his third studio album, Swimming, which was very astonishing to hear about. On stage, he brought guitarist and collaborator Danny Mckinnon, to perform with him on the tracks that they have done for those artists. The live production and DJ set was amazing and Pomo managed to perform with his guitar, and it engaged quite well with the crowd. Danny also had some solos with his guitar and it set off the crowd on a good note. From that set, people were just either dancing or vibing to the beat, and it was something that everyone enjoyed.

After Pomo’s set, Berhana started quite late but started with an announcer announcing that the show has started and that’s when Pomo (the opener), Dan, and his pianist came and blessed the crowd with the intricate and melodic vocals that he brought for the crowd. Berhana started his set with notable tracks from his debut album and previous tracks, such as Golden, Health Food, I Been, and Lucky Strike. From that, he brought a unique ambience with his music by sounding similar to the likes of Frank Ocean and 6LACK but delivering instrumentals and styles similar to Anderson.Paak and Mac Ayres. Vocally, Berhana was one of the best that was ever to bless the stage with his intricate, West Coast sounds for his songs. 

He continued to perform other tracks like ‘80s, Janet, Wildin’, and G2G, and the crowd was singing along to it and smiling as it was the best night of their lives. Berhana delivered every note perfectly and flowed from the production quite precisely, depending on the track. The crowd was vibing to his performance very well and everyone was dancing and singing along to the tracks. The emotions and delicate, quiet sounds were quite interesting to hear and vibe out. He was also rapping for a couple of tracks as well and it was spot on for his performance. He also explained his situation of being late, in which he was in Chicago and left his passport at LA. So he booked a flight to LA, picked up the passport and headed straight to Toronto. Although he doesn’t have the highest pitch for vocals, his vocals and sound have a variety of flavour and spice, based on how intricate the vocals were and how well-delivered he brought the songs. He ended his set with I Wasn’t Told, and it was a great performance overall to check out and hear some great, upcoming talent from smaller artists.

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Berhana

Pomo

By: Joshua Habtwold | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!

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