Lessons in Funk Music and Bellbottom-Making at the South Berkeley Library

We’re used to decades-old funk songs being sampled in hip-hop and R&B, and clothing once considered fashionable making a comeback a generation or two later. It’s clear that history moves in cycles.

But a few East Bay creatives believe it also moves in “upcycles.”

That’s the concept behind Mothership Connection, a Feb. 27 event at the Tarea Hall Pittman South Berkeley Branch of the Berkeley Public Library.

Hosted by the Berkeley Record Club in association with Oakland-based nonprofit Community Fits, the free, all-ages event gives attendees a chance to explore the Berkeley Public Library’s collection of funk albums and to discuss their cultural impact.

People will also have the opportunity to upcycle their old jeans, making them look like pants from yesteryear — on par with the latest fashion.

“Wider jeans and bellbottoms are coming back in style,” says Brittani Kaigler, founder and director of Community Fits.

Kaigler, who will lead a sewing machine tutorial at the event, is asking community members to bring their own pair of pants so they can cut slits into them, add fabric and turn them into bellbottoms.

It’s a potentially time-intensive process, so those who don’t finish at the event will be able to stop by her organization’s headquarters during one of their open studio sessions.

“We provide free programing for youth from marginalized communities,” says Kaigler of Community Fits. “And then we fund everything through adult classes,” Kaigler says, adding that the monthly schedule of classes covers a wide variety of textile arts.

Through those classes, Kaigler’s witnessed changes in fashion firsthand. “A lot of things that are coming back now were around when I was in middle school and high school,” says Kaigler, now in her mid-30s. “It all repeats itself. It just comes back in a modernized way.”

After two years of running Community Fits, Kaigler has learned that the work isn’t just about fashion. “It’s really about providing culturally relevant programming to the community I’m serving,” Kaigler says, referring to the the long history of quilt-making and sewing in the African American community.

Pairing sewing with music, then, just made sense. “Funk music is distinctly Black,” says event co-organizer DeMareon Gipson, “but its influence hasn’t been properly explored.”

Funk has been “a backbone genre” that’s served generations of Black people, Gipson says. He cites jazz artists that changed their sound due to funk’s influence, as well as R&B and hip-hop artists who’ve stood on the shoulders of the funk movement. “It’s Black History Month, so we’re celebrating a cornerstone of Black music,” he says.

At the event, Gipson, along with co-organizer Nico Ledwith, will spin songs on both vinyl and CD that shaped funk music. During the final 30 minutes of the two-hour event, attendees are invited to play songs from some of their own favorite funk albums.

“Plus there’ll be a raffle at the end,” says Gipson, noting that someone will leave with a new record to add to their collection.

‘Mothership Connection’ gets up for the down stroke on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the South Berkeley branch of the Berkeley Public Library. Details here.