Join documentary filmmaker and Mount Holyoke professor Samba Gadjigo for an intimate discussion with other African and African American innovators on the role of story in sustainable development and social change, followed by a screening of SEMBENE! The film chronicles the life of self-taught novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembène who understood cinema to be a powerful tool for teaching Africans about African stories and for preserving African artistic history and aesthetics.

More than 50% of the people living in Africa are under the age of 25. The stories we create and the stories we repeat will shape the potential of this rising generation to build the communities of the future.

"Some say we are made of flesh and blood. I believe we are made of stories." ~ Samba Gadjigo

Presented by TOSTAN and CREATE, the event aims to spark dialogue and reshape the narrative of our shared human potential. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

 

ABOUT THE PANELISTS:

SAMBA GADJIGO is a Senegalese-born Mount Holyoke College professor, and long-time resident of South Hadley. He was also Ousmane Sembene’s colleague and chosen biographer.

MUTHONI MURIU is the International Director of International Programs at Oxfam. She has a passion for social justice issues that began when she witnessed poverty and injustice as a young activist growing up in Kenya, and has guided her through more than 20 years of international development work. She is passionate about continuous learning and leading through service and will bring her extensive personal experience witnessing and sharing the stories of a continent in a state of change.

RUBY MADDOX is a social entrepreneur dedicated to helping individuals cultivate their potential for meaningful contributions to society.  She is the co-founder of Leaders of the Free World, a Springfield, MA based international experiential learning and leadership development program for young black men. The program focuses on using a curriculum, mentorship, and international experience to increase self-efficacy and improve achievement outcomes in participants, who are young African American men.  In her words, “Leaders of the Free World, is about changing the narrative and claiming our own stories. We want our young men to understand that they don't have to accept society's version of who they are. We want to redefine what it means to be a "Leader of the Free World" both for our students and the rest of the world and allow our students to see themselves and their own possibilities in a new way." Maddox continues,

 

“This event inspires me because it discusses the necessary work we all must do to tell our own stories. We often don't allow ourselves the space to establish our own identities separate from who the world tells we are and what we are capable of becoming.”

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

TOSTAN is a grassroots organization based in West Africa and led by local facilitators in 5 countries and 22 languages. Together, over three years, communities engage in a participatory empowering program that invites them to articulate a shared vision of a new future. They dance, act and sing together. They role play a new approach to problem solving and social expectation. The resulting new story of collective wellbeing, informed by human rights and anchored in local values, has inspired tens of thousands of people to participate in local development strategies. Among the results Tostan has witnessed is the collective decision of more than 9,000 African communities to abandon female genital cutting and child marriage.

“Our way of thinking has undergone changes since the arrival of Tostan…. Where Tostan is active, a new consciousness emerges, a junction of energies and hearts in unison.” (Tostan Participant, Guinea-Bissau)

CREATE! collaborates with communities in rural Senegal to help them build a sustainable future as they cope with water, food, and fuel shortages resulting from the impacts of climate change. Our Senegalese team works with communities to help them gain access to clean water and energy, and provides training in community garden cultivation and income generation, using local and renewable technologies and strategies that empower families to improve their livelihoods for generations to come. In our participatory approach, meeting basic human needs and responding to the effects of climate change go hand-in-hand.

One joyful aspect of the work happens when the participants tell their stories about the changes they are making in their community: abundant water, dry land turning green, food security and nutritional variety, safe and efficient cookstoves that preserve resources, improve health, and save women time and labor that they can then manage as they choose. Through our Senegalese and US staff, those stories are communicated to CREATE!’s whole network of supporters, and bring us all together in celebrating the communities’ successes.

Don’t be fooled. This is not your average Thursday. This Thursday is going to be way better than your Saturday, actually, because the legendary Peruvian band Los Mirlos are visiting us somehow and they’re going to play at New City Brewery. If you have no idea what this means...well, just trust us. Its going to be good. Considered one of the cornerstones of Peruvian Cumbia (also called Chicha or Cumbia Amazonica), Los Mirlos came together in Lima during the oil boom of the 70s and created a raging new kind of party music by mixing together Colombian cumbia, Anglo surf rock, and the delirious humidity of the Peruvian jungle they grew up in.

After a long hiatus, they came back onto the musical scene in 2014 and began touring worldwide in response to a revival in the genre and the collective clamoring of a global audience. We’re pretty sure this is their first time playing in the Happy Valley.

The Peace & Rhythm crew will be on the turntables before, between and after to keep you dancing with their highly relevant collection of vinyl from the golden age of Chicha.

If you like: Seeing legendary performers in a super-intimate venue; Car chase jungle music; Peruvians who dress like leprechauns; Locobeach (remember them from Millpond and Collider? They’re like the great-great grandchildren of Los Mirlos).

[VIDEO: Un Traguito de Ayahuasca] [VIDEO: Live]

The Brewery is handicapped accessible and all ages are welcome. Children 12 and under FREE. Tickets are $15 adv, $20 at the door. Thanks to our series sponsors Dean’s Beans, there will be $10 student tickets available at the door with ID. Standing room only for this dance-centric event.

Our Dean’s Bean’s Planetary Party cycle is made possible in part by our series sponsors and go-to coffee roasters Dean’s Bean’s Organic Coffee Company!

Named after its founder, Richard A. Morse, RAM brings voudou to mizik rasin (“roots music”) like no other Haitian band. Which is to say, their performances are like a ritual and a party all at once; a kind of mystical celebration. And a big party needs a big room, so we’re back at Union Station for this all-killer, no-filler Caribbean edition of the World Music Collider.

RAM is all of Haiti, all at once. It is deeply ancestral: steeped in voudou; layered in African polyrhythms; and symphonized with the ceremonial one-note calls of the rara horns. And it is also earnestly present in history: funky, political, electric, multi-generational, and as much on the street as it is on the stage. The group has been squarely at the center of Haitian music since the late 90s -- but only in the past decade and with their two most recent releases, they are really taking off.

Also joining us from Brooklyn is a BRAND, NEW tropical supergroup called COMBO LULO, with members from Antibalas, the Skatalites, The Easy Star All-Stars, and Low Mentality. They’re so new even Brooklyn hasn’t heard of them yet, but the minute we put our ears to their mongrel compositions of ethio-jazz + dub reggae, cumbia + rocksteady, we knew they were the perfect complement to RAM.

That's two Valley debuts in one night, and a tropical journey from the iconic roots of reggae to the future-past of Haiti's rich island culture: COMBO LULO'S heavy horn orchestra draws from afrobeat, Afro-Latin rhythms, and deep Jamaican foundations; RAM's rara horn ensemble, coupled with Ebo and Kongo drumming, are the deeply authentic sounds brought from West Africa by the first generation of Haitian slaves and marinated in the Creole traditions of the island.

Have you been wondering why these Colliders are numbered?

Its because each is completely without precedent. Yup, you don't want to miss this one either. Join us at the tip-top of your Memorial Day Weekend for a singular Tropics-meets-Western Mass experience.

The Union Station Ballroom is handicapped accessible, right off the bicycle trail, and has a range of wine & dine options. An internal hallway connects the Tunnel Bar so you can even order a cocktail and bring it back up to the ballroom with you.

Tickets are $20 advance and $25 at the door. Children under 12 free.