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”The African Way” – Benefit Concert & Seminar

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18 January 2005 No Comment

WaterCan@OttawaU is proud to present “The African Way”, Benefit Concert and Seminar Tour featuring artists from underdeveloped countries, planned and promoted by Ottawa University students, and benefiting the world’s poorest people. This collaboration represents an incredible merging of students, independent music and international development…

WaterCan is an Ottawa-based registered charity that helps citizens of developing countries build sustainable water supply and sanitation services, and encourages Canadians to lend support. In 2000, a pro-active Queens student by the name of David Guenette learned about WaterCan and wanted to help. He founded a student group and began planning fundraising and educational events for Queens students – the group has since raised over $25,000! Based on their model, WaterCan has established chapters at McGill, Wilfrid Laurier and Ottawa Universities, with several more on deck for the New Year. All funds raised by these Universities will go directly to fund the WaterCan@Universities challenge project that will provide clean water and sanitation to 3,000 villagers in Enseno District, Ethiopia. 

WaterCan’s relationship with David Guenette did not end at his graduation. After taking a well-deserved year off to travel through Southern Africa, David returned home and founded District Six Music, an independent record label and production company dedicated to helping musicians from the developing world achieve commercial success in the North American market. “The African Way” Concert and Seminar tour features a melange of African and Canadian artists who possess a deep sense of community, contribution and global mindedness and have generously offered their discounted services to WaterCan@Universities fundraising events. Additionally, WaterCan@OttawaU will be holding a panel discussion with these artists at Ottawa University, on the day of the event. 

There is no question that the world is facing a global water crisis. Over 6,000 people, mostly children, die every day from water-borne diseases. Even more are incapacitated by the poverty, lack of education and illness that results from not having access to clean water and sanitation facilities. But, as the WaterCan@Universities student leaders know, great advancements are possible through imagination, collaboration and effort. By participating in WaterCan@Universities, students gain valuable skills, make a difference and help us realize that there is in fact hope for our future. 

TUMI AND THE VOLUME:

Tumi Molekane is a speaker of fancy, the vanguard clairvoyant, one of South Africa’s brightest up and coming wordsmiths. He is an honest poet, an intuitive writer and responsible MC. This spitkicker has done countless works on the Johannesburg hip-hop scene, most notably the Dead Prez show in the spring of 2000, and the Black August tour to South Africa the following year, which featured Talib Kweli and Black Thought of The Roots. He has shared the stage with South Africa’s premier talent, such as Blk Sonshine, Bra Willie Kgositsile, Max Normal, Lesego Rampolokeng, and international talent such as Saul Williams, Sarah Jones and Mutaburuka.

K’NAAN:

K’naan comes from along line of Somali poets. He moved to North America as a Somali refugee in 1991 – first to Harlem, NY then settled in Toronto, Canada. Recently he signed a production deal with Grammy Award winner’s Track and Field (Nelly Furtado). In October 2003 K’naan returned to East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) for the first time to shoot his debut video for the single ‘Soobax’, as well as a documentary of his life story, as it relates to art, music, war and being a refugee. The song Soobax is the lead single from the long awaited debut LP – ‘The Dusty Foot Philosopher.’ Soobax means ‘Come Out’ in Somali and is a direct conversation with the gunmen and warlords of East Africa. K’naan’s mission has been to present a platform for Africa and East Africans to speak with the world, create dialogue and raise awareness of the struggles and BEAUTY of the people. 

DJ NANA:

DJ Nana has worked both as a DJ and a promoter. He has played at events with some of the best DJ’s, holds several weekly residencies and continues to do parties regularly for such groups as the LOVEmovement (k-os and Sol Guy), the Creation Company (Kamau) and districtsixmusic. Nana has recently been incorporated into the live shows of local emcee, producer and spoken word artist Kamau who has been busy performing in the Canadian hip hop community for several years. Both CHRY 105.5fm (Toronto) and Djshows.com have supported Nana’s talents by giving him weekly spots on their stations and with regular gigs at Alto Baso and IF Lounge he is beginning to expand his hold on the local scene. He most recently opened up for the Roots at the Kool Haus in Toronto.

Thursday, January 27 (Doors 8pm)

Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York Street, Ottawa, Canada.
Age 19+/ General Admission
TICKETS – $10 advance by email: alphalf@hotmail.com.
On sale now.

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