eXchange (South Africa-East Palo Alto Music and Dance Program)

Vital Stats

Naima G

Palo Alto, CA

people helped500
People Doing It 23

The Problem

Talisman is a group of singers dedicated to the sharing of stories through song. With a repertoire rooted in the musical traditions of the African Diaspora, we strive to reack across the many borders that fracture the cartography of today’s world and sing the living spirit of human struggle and celebration. This year, Talisman will embark on a project connecting young artists in Cape Town, South Africa and East Palo Alto, California. In conjunction with the Amy Biehl Foundation and the East Palo Alto Mural Arts Project, Talisman will use ‘eXchange’ to explore common circumstances affecting youth _ communities in both America and South Africa. In February of 2008, adolescent kwaito dancers enrolled in a Biehl foundation intramural dance class and 12-18 year old emcees in the EPAMAP History Through Hip Hop program will agree upon a theme relevant to both of their neighborhoods. Talisman will then engage the History Through Hip Hop students in a creative process to produce a song about this theme. The music will then be sent to the Biehl foundation, where the kwaito students will choreograph a routine to this music. Finally, during the month of March and then in Talisman’s Spring Break tour to South Africa, we will culminate the project by filming a music video with the children in both East Palo Alto and Cape Town. Moreover, in May 2008, students from East Palo Alto will have the opportunity to perform with visiting dancers from the Dance For All Company in Gugulethu, South Africa. By drawing on the experiences of these students everyday lives and cultures, our hope is to facilitate mutual understanding that will be culturally enriching and help to develop their artistic abilities and self-expression.

Plan of Action

We created eXchange to bridge communities of young people in East Palo Alto, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. The project truly brought us all together, and it showed us that, even though we come from very different places, in some ways, Sindawonye (we are all together in the same place).

For More Info

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Project Updates

The project was inspiring, and it affected everyone who was involved deeply. Talisman wrote a song, called Sindawonye, which the Hip Hop through History students wrote raps to. The groups of students in Cape Town and East Palo Alto decided on "access to quality education" as a theme that was relevant to both communities, so the lyrics were formed around this theme. The lyrics are in both English and Xhosa so that both students in the US and South Africa can understand them:

Singawutshintsha umhlaba wonke ngamazwe ethu, simunye
We can change the entire world with our voices, we are one
Sindawonye
We are all together in one place

South Africa to USA
Cape Town to EPA
Brothers and sisters we join voices across the sea
Empowerment is the fight
And out knowledge is our right
Breaking down the walls with lyrical artillery
United together, we will sing

After putting together the song, we rehearsed it with the HHH students in East Palo Alto before taking it with us to Cape Town. Once in Cape Town, we workshopped the song with an afterschool youth choir, which allowed us to get to know a group of about 30 young South African singers. They taught us some of their music, and we taught them some of ours.

Then we had the kwaito dance teacher with the Amy Biehl foundation choreograph a dance to our song. The girls who danced it were fantastic. We videotaped the routine and brought it back to the US.

The final performance took place on May 29, 2008. As footage from South Africa played, Talisman and the HHH students performed "Sindawonye".

While the final performance marked a joyous conclusion to the project, the most impactful part of our work was working with the students. Talisman was able to bring a variety of new types of music to the HHH students, while they taught us what it was like to be a student in East Palo Alto, an experience foreign to many Talisman members. The students in South Africa were excited to be able to meet young Americans and interact with us for an entire week. Usually, visiting Americans do not stay with them for very long or interact with them on such a deep level. Thus, the most valuable part of the project for all involved was accessing communities with which we had formerly been unfamiliar and truly finding community in our love of music and our determination to break down barriers to accessing wide range of opportunities in both South Africa and the US. By performing our song at the Talisman Spring Show, we were able to show an audience of nearly 400 the value of cultural exchange and building international communities based on shared values.

Three highlights:
-The first day Talisman met with the History through Hip Hop students and we shared our music with them/they shared their poetry with us: at the end of the session, we sang while they freestyle danced to our song, and everyone left very excited.
-Singing our song, "Sindawonye," with a choir of young South Africans, and really feeling the power of the lyrics.
-The spring show, when all of our work came together. We sang, the HHH kids danced, and we showed video footage of the kwaito dancers' choreography. It was a hit!

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