Ajak Kwai - Red Sands (Live at Bakehouse Studios)

Pre-Order Ajak Kwai's 'Red Sands' 12" EP ~ https://musicinexile.com.au/shop

Video & Editing by James Morris @jamesmmorris_
Audio by Isaac Barter
Filmed at Bakehouse Studios, Melbourne, during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Ajak Kwai is a name well known to the airwaves, stage, and broader Australian music community for her powerful performances and strong messages that call for inclusion and celebration of the diversity found throughout Australian society. Originally hailing from a small town of Bor (pronounced ‘bohr’) on the Upper Nile in what is now South Sudan, music has always been part of her life.

Alongside sharing political messages through her music, Ajak Kwai is also a radio broadcaster in Melbourne on both PBS and 3CR. Her shows give a voice to the local African community so that they can tell their stories through music and spoken word, and her music selections focus on songs that have changed the world in a positive way. She challenges bias in our society and reminds politicians to be accountable for their language and actions.

Performing in English, Arabic, and her native language, Dinka, Ajak Kwai’s music draws upon South Sudanese funk and blues influences and brings together elements of traditional music alongside more contemporary gestures. The result is something notably unique and powerful.

Ajak Kwai is joined by a band of exceptional standards, including musicians Matthew Erickson, Kanyakumar Shome (Silent Jay, REMI, The Bamboos, Cat Empire, Sampa the Great), Kofi Kunkpe, Maria Moles (Jaala, Jonnine (HTRK), Mildlife), Gabriela Georges and guests Boubacar Gaye (Ausecuma Beats) and Allysha Joy (30/70).

Ajak Kwai's 'Red Sands' EP is out Friday, November 12, 2021 via Music in Exile.
https://musicinexile.com.au

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Music in Exile is a not-for-profit artist services company that champions Australian musicians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, particularly those with lived experience of displacement or diaspora. Our organisation is artist-led, working collaboratively with individual artists to build viable and sustainable career opportunities in the Australian music industry.