For Kiya Raziel Vance of Word of Mouth, unifying people around music and shared ideas is his passion. A Black-owned collective created from healthy connections, music and loving the city and its people, Word of Mouth has built a community of people who are learning and pushing each other to be better.
Born in San Antonio and raised in the Dallas Fort Worth area, Vance found himself in Corpus Christi during his middle school years where his musical journey began. He started beatboxing for fun which led to guitar lessons in high school with his teacher, Keith Justus. Picking up the art naturally, he began to book gigs around town. After high school, he studied guitar performance with world-class guitarist, Philip Hii, where his understanding of music and life was elevated. He picked up poetry, began rapping, playing larger gigs, joined the band Moon Jazz and now creates and organizes events under his collective.
Raziel Vance states the mission of the collective as having three sole purposes: “to significantly boost the growth of [local] artists, creatives and entrepreneurs in the city using our knowledge of the scene, to promote a style of music that isn’t commonly heard in Texas and to create an all expansive and all-inclusive community of people who can all learn and push each other to be better through shared information.”
Since its inception, Word of Mouth has hosted several concerts with 250+ attendees, 10-20 vendors and several food trucks per event. “With each event we create, we hope to not only show our large and diverse fan base that Corpus is once again breathing, but to also boost the local commerce community,” Raziel Vance shared.
In addition to live music events, Word of Mouth recently created and hosted a chess tournament at the new Calypso Starr Street Cafe. The next chess tournament is set for Apr. 1 at The Exchange and the next concert is tentatively scheduled for late April at the Water Gardens, pending sponsors. Check out the latest happenings and ways to get involved by following their Instagram, @wordofmouthlivemusic.
