Library shakes off silence with local music
THE books took second place at the Invercargill Public Library on Saturday as Invercargill’s biggest bookworm zone opened its doors to Southland’s musos.
Small snugs of people gathered around the musicians to listen to original music scores as well as old favourites from some of Invercargill’s lesserknown talent.
More than a dozen musicians were playing live in spots throughout the library to celebrate New Zealand Music Month at Southern Junction.
Invercargill City Council customer experience manager Cynthia Smith said Southern Junction offered ‘‘a little bit of everything’’ from aspiring and established performers who featured in different spots of the library throughout the day.
‘‘We wanted to find a way to both celebrate NZ Music Month as well as the incredible amount of talent we have in the South,’’ Ms Smith said.
‘‘There’s ukulele, bands that people may have heard on a night out and some great vocalists.’’
Invercargill Library community connections coordinator Saniya Thompson said having musicians at the library was a break away from the traditional library model normally governed by silence.
‘‘It [the ‘please be quiet’] is a stereotype we are trying to break. It sits quite strongly with a lot of people and we often see families laughing and people trying to quiet them down.
‘‘We actually don’t do that . . . we want the library to be the community living room.
‘‘We just want people to have a place to connect and enjoy themselves and maybe discover new things and be inspired.
‘‘We are not afraid of making some noise,’’ she said.
The event was a first of a kind in Southland and the library hoped to run the event annually where the musicians could share their talent and passion for music.
‘‘We do recognise we do have a lot of talent down here but there aren’t that many opportunities for people to share their skills.
‘‘It can also be quite intimidating for musicians to get up on the big stage right away, so we are doing this on a smaller scale.
‘‘We are trying to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere to make it easier for those budding musicians to show their skills off to the community.
With performances aimed for children, celtic folk, waiata, country, indie, pop and oldschool rock’n’roll, there was something for everyone on offer.
Some quiet spaces had been preserved for the readers who liked to tuck away but otherwise the library was being used for community connection.