Shishani
(Namibia, 1988) is a singer-songwriter loved for her smooth and powerful voice. Her roots are Namibian and Belgian, but she grew up mainly in the Netherlands. Her work brings these worlds together. Her music is comforting and has a strong thread of social consciousness running through it. She founded the all-female band Miss Catharsis in 2019. Her anthropology (BA) and musicology (MA) studies focused on contemporary urban Namibian music.
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Archive available for: Shishani
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Winternachten Concert - In the Dream House
With: Benzokarim, Iman Mersal, Jose Pepe Garcia, Laura van Dolron, Marian Markelo, Merel Vercammen, Raoul de Jong, Sanneke van Hassel, Sef, Shishani, Sterre Konijn, Xavi Torres
Winternachten Festival, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Amare present: In the Dream House
The summer edition of Winternachten Festival concluded in high style in the concert hall of Amare with "In the Dream House." Writers, poets and artists brought their dream house to life in word, imagery and music. It was a program full of bright, warm and dark desires; of ancestors and wise women; of loss and pleasure. You were enchanted by hip-hop icon Sef, Winti priestess Marian Markelo, writers Raoul de Jong and Sanneke van Hassel, singer-songwriter Shishani, spoken-word artist Benzokarim, poet Iman Mersal, and singer Sterre Konijn. Drummers from the Royal Conservatory: guided by Pepe Garcia set the rhythm, and our dream hostess, theatre producer and stand-up philosopher Laura van Dolron ensured that you feel at home right away.
Bring along your home to our dream house
To properly shelter all these dreams, we asked the public as well as artists to share their idea of "home." You brought something with you that feels "like home" or with which you'd brighten your home: a plant, teacup, dishrag or mood lamp... We loved to hear the story behind your dream-house artifact! You could write to us ahead of time or tell us upon arrival; Sanneke van Hassel and Anouk Driessen recorded it and gave it a good spot in the room. In this way we created a living archive of our dream houses together, inspired by the novel In the Dream House by the U.S. writer Carmen Maria Machado. Also, you didn't go home empty-handed, because afterwards you took home someone else's object and story.Dutch spoken.
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Tout-monde - #BackToEarth
With: Amahl Raphael Khouri, Annemarie Estor, Chris Keulemans, Nisrine Mbarki, Shishani, Sulaiman Addonia, Vamba Sherif
The image that we have of our world is purely human: a human-centred picture. It's up to us to give non-humans a voice and a stage. In this program created by Nisrine Mbarki, we give the floor to the non-human elements of our world. It was an existentially poetic evening in which the world was experienced from a different, more complete, perspective.
4:36 - Shishani (Netherlands), song performance I.
10:24 - Vamba Sherif (Netherlands), interview.
24:44 - Shishani, song performance II.
28:40 - Sulaiman Addonia (Belgium), video reading.
35:57 - Annemarie Estor (Belgium), video reading.
43:43 - Amahl Raphael Khouri (Egypt), video reading.
49:58 - Amahl Raphael Khouri / Sulaiman Addonia, interview.
1:12:53 - Vamba Sherif, interview.
1:18:12 - Shishani, song performance II.The term Tout-monde (whole-world), coined by the Caribbean poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011) advocates the use of language and poetry as a tool of resistance. We can look at the world from the point of view of other people, animals, plants and even objects by identifying with them. In the Netherlands, writer Eva Meijer calls on philosophers, writers and artists to get to work on this.
We discussed this theme with writer and journalist Vamba Sherif who always explores the history of his family in North and West Africa, irrevocably linked to the African earth. In his novel Het land van de vaders (The land of the Fathers) he tells about his native country Liberia, where the religion of nature was adhered to by praying to trees, rocks and rivers.
We asked three guests to give a voice to beloved non-humans who, in their view, should have one. These include the Eritrean-Ethiopian author Sulaiman Addonia; the Belgian writer and poet Annemarie Estor and the transgender Jordanian playwright living and working in Berlin and Cairo, Amahl Raphael Khouri.
In their works the search for an individual, free voice plays an important role. They are especially adept at taking on alternative voices that lack the usual perspectives on the world and are therefore of great added value.
The authors' readings of their stories were filmed on location, in their own habitat by respectively Ahmed El Saaty (Khouri), Shalan Alhamwy (Addonia) en Nils van der Linden (Estor). Afterwards, writer and journalist Chris Keulemans lead a live conversation with Addonia and Khouri to reflect on what issues the assignment raised.
Shishani brings worlds together with an earthly and powerful voice and was therefore the singer-songwriter par excellence to engage us with the non-human.
Read here the contributions written for this programme on request of the Winternachten international literature festival The Hague:
(Find the Dutch-language versions here/Lees hier de Nederlandstalige versies)
Learn more here:
Read and watch on here:Sulaiman Addonia
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'Murder, migration and mother love, the making of the novelist Sulaiman Addonia, interview, The Guardian, 2019Annemarie Estor
websiteChris Keulemans
Facebook
Video: Chris Keulemans hosts an interview with authors Rosabelle Illes (Aruba) and Antoine de Kom, Winternachten festival 2020Amahl Raphael Khouri
Video: conversation with Amahl Raphael Khouri; host: Alice Guthrie, Arts Canteen, July 2020Nisrine Mbarki
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Video, from 58'40'': recitation by Nisrine Mbarki in Fatena's Poëziësalon, December 2020Vamba Sherif
websiteShishani
website
YouTube-channel Shishani -
#BacktoEarth: Tout-monde (Whole World)
With: Amahl Raphael Khouri, Annemarie Estor, Chris Keulemans, Nisrine Mbarki, Shishani, Sulaiman Addonia, Vamba Sherif
The image we have of our world is purely human, making it human-centric. It's up to us to offer non-humans a voice and a stage. This program created by Nisrine Mbarki gave the floor to the non-human elements of our world. It was an existentially poetic evening to experience the world from a different, more holistic, perspective.
The term Tout-monde (whole world), coined by the Caribbean poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011), advocates the use of language and poetry as a tool of resistance. We can see the world from the point of view of other people, animals, plants and even objects by identifying with them. In the Netherlands, writer Eva Meijer calls on philosophers, writers and artists to get to work on this.
We discussed this theme with writer and journalist Vamba Sherif, who is continually seeking the history of his family in North and West Africa, irrevocably linked to the African earth. In his novel Het land van de vaders (The Land of the Fathers) he tells about his native country of Liberia, where since time immemorial a religion of nature gave worship to trees, rocks and rivers.
We asked three authors to give a voice to beloved non-humans. These were the Eritrean-Ethiopian author Sulaiman Addonia; the Belgian essayist and poet Annemarie Estor; and the Jordanian transgender playwright living and working in Berlin and Cairo, Amahl Raphael Khouri. In their works, the search for an individual, free voice plays an important role. All three are especially adept at taking on alternative voices lacking in the usual perspectives on the world, and therefore of great value.
The authors read their resulting stories on locaion, in their own habitat, and were filmed by Ahmed El Saaty (Khouri), Shalan Alhamwy (Addonia) en Nils van der Linden (Estor). Afterwards, writer and journalist Chris Keulemans led a live conversation with Addonia and Khouri to reflect on what thoughts the assignment raised.
With an earthy and powerful voice, Shishani brought disparate worlds together and was thereby the ideal singer-songwriter to engage us with the non-human.
Read the pieces commissioned for this program by the Winternachten International Literature Festival The Hague here:
(Find the Dutch-language versions here/Lees hier de Nederlandstalige versies)
More background:Sulaiman Addonia
Facebook
'Murder, Migration and Mother Love, the Making of the Novelist Sulaiman Addonia, interview, The Guardian, 2019Annemarie Estor
websiteChris Keulemans
Facebook
Video: Chris Keulemans interviews authors Rosabelle Illes (Aruba) and Antoine de Kom (Surinam), Winternachten Festival 2020Amahl Raphael Khouri
Video: conversation with Amahl Raphael Khouri; host: Alice Guthrie, Arts Canteen, July 2020Nisrine Mbarki
Facebook
Video, as of 58'40'': performance by Nisrine Mbarki in Fatena's Poëziësalon, December 2020Vamba Sherif
websiteShishani
website
YouTube-channel Shishani