Blk Girls Green House launches live concert series in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The Blk Girls Green House isn't even a year old yet, but the shop is already an Oakland staple. It features plants, home goods and is rooted in celebrating Black culture.

Co-founders Kalkidan "Kalu" Gebreyohannes and J'Maica Roxanne are creating a new venture inside the space. They're launching a live concert series on Juneteenth called Grooves from the Greenhouse. The format will be similar to NPR's "Tiny Desk" series.

"Our plan is to have Grooves from the Greenhouse be a quarterly concert series and this is sort of the launch of that," Roxanne said. "We've kind of had an idea since we first opened-- thinking of the ways that we could use the space and how we could bring together our love for design, art, music and culture and all of these things, and putting our own spin on it."

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Gebreyohannes and Roxanne describe Grooves from the Green House as "a celebration of Blackness." The event is partnering with community groups like Broccoli City, San Francisco Foundation, Empower Initiative, Endeavors Oakland and Tuma Basa.

"The idea of liberation and the idea that we get to present a part of our culture, a part of our art, and a part of our joy through this celebration of Juneteenth-- and remembering all that our ancestors have gone through, all what this country has done to try and suppress and oppress our joy-to have a concert and a space that's prioritizing the art, the joy, the culture, and the traditions of Black community and to be around plants and life is kind of the niche," Gebreyohannes said. "To do it on Juneteenth, that is more than what J'Maica and I could have asked for."

The plant-loving friends pulled the concert together in three weeks and sold out.

"We will have the in-person event that's happening at the green house and then we're also having a watch party," Roxanne said. "We're going to be live streaming the concert at 7th West. Those things will be happening simultaneously."

Masego is headlining Grooves from the Green House. The Juneteenth live concert series will also feature Rexx Life Raj, Vadia, Jane Handcock and DJ Mujie.

"We are so excited," Roxanne said. "We put so much of our love and energy and everything into this. The way that Oakland and the community-at-large has rallied around this, and everything else since we opened, is really what keeps us going. It lets us know we're headed in the right direction."

The Blk Girls Green House is located on Center Street in Oakland. If you would like to learn more, visit here or check out their Instagram @blkgirls_greenhouse.