06.10.23 Songwriting in the Modern Age with Olivia Amupala
Date - October 6th 2023 Time - 17:00-20:00 Venue - HNMKY, Kaisaniemenkatu 8 Helsinki Theme - Song writing in the modern age. Artist- Olivia Amupala Event description: Creative(s) Corner is a monthly interactive social event fostering an engaged environment of sharing and conversation around the creative explorations and experiences of people of and interested in the African diaspora. Each month a creative theme is explored with a speaker and the audience with emphasis on sharing ideas, information, journeys and experiences. This month we have the pleasure of experiencing music and stories from Olivia Amupala along with her band. She will share her songs as well as take us along her journey in song writing and story-telling. Olivia is a Namibian-born singer/songwriter signed to Finland's Bueno Records. She is paving her way into the music scene with her unique songwriting and distinctive voice. "My music is a mixture of all the kind of music I love listening to. A little bit of country, a little bit of pop and a little bit of African rhythm." Programme: 1700 to 1830 - Arrivals, short introduction by host and encouragement to mingle.
1830 to 1930 - Olivia Amupala, along with her band, shares her songs and song writing process and experience.
1930 to 2000 - Mingle
Creative(s) Corner at AfroJazz Club Goes Alppipuisto
July 9th 2023
Ajak Majok and Njara Rasolomanana 'Movement as a way of Life' with Ondi Madete
This past July, I got the opportunity to share my culture, my story, and my art with fellow artists at the Afrojazz Club goes Alppipuisto. A festival in the park with music, marimba lessons and drum circles, waistcoats, jewellery and food, and a thousand and more people laughing and dancing and playing and happy. I had performed there before, sharing my music with the crowd. This year, I got to bring a creative storytelling project I've been working on with Think Africa called Creative(s) Corner.
When asked, I say Think Africa to me is this oasis where I am not so lonely. A place I can share with people like me and bring my friends to show them a brilliant example of my culture, where I come from, the stories, the rhythms, the texture and sounds and scents, that are familiar, and comforting. It can feel very isolating and lonely to be a minority in a place and with Think Africa I feel less lonely, less isolated, more at home.
So it has been amazing hosting events in this space that feels at home, about art my greatest passion, with a community interested and present and sharing. Creative(s) Corner is a monthly themed meetup where creatives from the Diaspora based in Finland share their journeys in making art and their life experiences . Each month, creatives in different fields, whether it be fashion, music, film, are invited to share their stories. The Corner has hosted artists like JC Muyonjo who gave us a peak into how he creates music and tells stories. The audience got to hear him perform live and sat down and asked him questions about his experiences, his music and his journey from Kampala, Uganda to Helsinki, Finland.Liz Ndegwa, a Kenyan fashion designer based in Helsinki, inspired the audience with her story of teaching herself how to sow, design and become an entrepreneur, and what style means to her.
It's a warm and breezy Sunday afternoon in the greenness of only the end of summer can offer. Next to picturesque ponds populated with ducks and lily pads, beside the tents serving Nigerian, Ghanaian, and Senegalese food (I myself ate the Nigerian food) past the marimba lessons with kids, and past the Brazilian and Mexican food trucks… there is the stage that will host the Creative(s) Corner. The theme today is ‘Movement as a Way of Life’. The artists on the stage are myself, Ajak Majok, a dancer, and Njara Rasolomanana, a choreographer.
I spot Ajak Majok from afar because her outfit is amazing. Green trench coat, cool hat. If she and I were friends I would have borrowed many things and failed to return them. We soon meet Njara Rasolomanana who has this energy that is both strong and gentle. He seems immediately like someone you can rely on for anything and hope you would be able to offer the same. And his dancing shows that. All three of us move to the stage and our conversation commences. We talk for two hours and their lives and stories are incredible. Both of them have lived their lives using movement to change lives, make an impact, a visible change.
Ajak through her work in the city council, her poetry, and her community driven creative projects is using her voice to speak for those who might be overlooked or unheard. Njara, through his dance studio, teaches, shares, and performs with a focus on showing what brings us all together. The stories he tells in his performance pieces always feature themes of inclusion, identity, and have an epic sense of destiny and grand beginnings to them. Around him he has built a growing community of people with love for dance. And so many of them could be seen there in the crowd with branded shirts worn proudly and dancing in the audience. I loved to see it. And reminded me so much of home.
Right after our conversation ended, Njara Rasolomanana had to rush to the bigger stage (a little late because our conversation went over time because it was too amazing.) And seeing a crowd of 500 and more people following Njara, and dancing with such joy, such spirit, such togetherness, was inspiring. I have no idea how he does it, he is a superhero and his super power is connecting people through dance.
Having that shared conversation on stage with a listening audience, surrounded by such rich displays of culture and heritage with that scent in the air that should be named nostalgia, surrounded by sounds, textures and rhythms of home… it filled me with energy I will carry until the next time I get to feel it.
The Creative(s) Corner will have its next session on 6th October. We'll have a conversation about music, over good food, and beverages. We will introduce ourselves through the music we grew up on, and how that shapes how we listen to music. As well as potentially have a live performance. There will be music, food and people to share the evening with.
I am glad Think Africa is around because the people behind the shows and events are lovely, and work so hard. They have someone like me who feels isolated every once in a while and have created a home away from home where we share the best of each other with a community of people from everywhere who want to experience that feeling too.
ondi 29.8.23
Audio of the conversation between Ajak, Njara, and me (Ondi) at the Creative(s) Corner session at Afrojazz Club goes Alppipuisto July 2023. The recording starts a little late because I forgot. :)