Bonnamu brings music and miracles

Julian Balboa // Contributing Writer

One thing about music, when it hits it does great things. For Phi Mu, great things come in the shape of Bonnamu.
Saturday, Oct. 17, Phi Mu filled the space between Gold and Blue Garages with 400 people to attend Bonnamu, a music festival which features local bands and food trucks.
“We have a very good relationship with the Miami Children’s Foundation owner Yisenia (Rodriguez), has been a really good contact for us. She always comes out to our events, whether it’s our pageant, Miracle Man, she’s always a judge for us so they know about what we’re doing and they know we are going to donate to them so we are hoping that it’s going bring if not a lot of money at least enough to make a difference,” said Phi Mu sister Maytal Maor, senior, a marketing major and vice president of External Affairs at Phi Mu’s FIU Chapter.
Bonnamu has its roots in other chapters of the Phi Mu sorority nationwide and FIU’s chapter felt it just had to get in on the action.
“Well, there are a lot of chapters around the country doing it and FSU were close by so we were like ‘Let’s give it a shot ourselves’. We figured that we might as well try to do something fun and different aside from Hoop-a-Paluza. Plus, since nobody else has done it on campus, it’s just something that we wanted to try,” said Phi Mu sister Amanda Cantillo, senior, a hospitality management major.
At the end where the two roads meet was the stage where each band played in front of a crowd of more than 400 people. There were four bands that played between 5 p.m. and 11p.m.: RedShift, high-school heroes Long Shore Drift, the Muse-influenced Quantum Waves and popular local rock band, Sunghost.
Long Shore Drift, while being composed of young members (their drummer in middle school at 13 years old), have the beginnings of a great band, matching great chemistry with musicianship and their influences, like Vampire Weekend, can be heard in their music.
Not much longer after they came on, Quantum Waves came on and played a couple of songs reminiscent of something off of an album by Muse and got the audience hyped for Sunghosts, who played right after them. Then, after all that patience, Sunghosts, a local favorite in the Miami music scene, played a set full of songs off of their newest EP to close the festival.
Near the entrance, next to the food trucks, was a table where WRGP, FIU’s student-run college radio station, did a raffle for concerts that are going on around the Greater Miami area.
Bonnamu is an annual event and proceeds are donated to charity; this year’s proceeds went to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network.