Performance Tags Used in Events

Opening performance

I know how it feels – Nina Simone

We welcome you. This is an original song written and produced by Esther Obediah

Song - Way Maker

Song - I worship you Almighty God

The traditional Greek song – Κοιτα με γλυκια μου αγάπη (Look at me my sweet love, is merged with Deep in Love. Aggelos chose to create and Amane in this fusion. Amanes is a distinctive type of monodic, heavy, and drawn-out lamenting song, sung in the “eastern” manner which is rooted in Byzantine music. For a period of time during the Ottoman era Amanes was not sung. It took its name from the frequently repeated exclamation “aman” (meaning “mercy, pity”). From a musical perspective, amanes follow their own specific technique. To deliver a single distich, the performer may extend the song for as long as five whole minutes.

So, I chose a text by Baldwin about racism and the color black.

Texts woven together with poems written by James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, and Martin Luther King Jr. plays is narrated while Mikel and Kofi perform. On the projection in the background, you can see the live event organized in Geneva during the projects exhibition when Mikel and Kofi created a gathering which opened an alternative platform, shaped through art, hip hope battles and community. Through this event, they created space for connection, visibility, and collaboration with local Black artists in Geneva, offering a powerful reminder that community can be built even in places where it feels invisible. All this in a city where we questioned as Afro-Greeks whether a Black community exists.

Greece, do you love me or not? I wake up in the morning to go to school, but I sit at the back of the class and mess around because deep down I don't feel welcome.

Greece, do you love me or not? Returning home, I wait for the subway, get in and sit next to a woman, but she gets up and leaves. Showing me in an exemplary way that I am stink.

Greece, do you love me or not? I go to the office to get a document and a birth certificate. And even though I was born and raised here, they tell me to go to my country to get those

Greece, do you love me or not? The day comes for me to visit my girlfriend's parents and the first thing her father says to his daughter about me is, "Of all the men, you had to bring him."? Greece, do you love me or not?

And finally, I return home and see my mother exhausted from the three jobs she has to do to make ends meet, She is unhappy because she doesn't know if her son will ever make it in Greece In the end, she looks me in the eyes and says "Don't give up, we didn't make it today, but don't lose faith, there is hope for tomorrow."

Greece, do you love me or not? Thank you.

Song - Mercy Mercy Me

Song - Down by the River

Song - A change is going to come

Song - Sinner Man

James Baldwin’s words from his conversation with Dr. Kenneth Clark (1963).

There are days—this is one of them—when you wonder what your role is in this country and what your future is in it. How, precisely, are you going to reconcile yourself to your situation here and how you are going to communicate to the vast, heedless, unthinking, cruel white majority, white majority of this place. I am terrified at the moral apathy, the death of the heart, which is happening in my country. These people have been deluded themselves for a long, they really don’t think I am human. I have to base this’ll on their conduct, not on what they say, and this means that they have become in themselves moral monsters. It’s a terrible indictment.

Song - Work Song, Nina Simone

Original song by Mc Yinka, Song - Χαιρετισμός (Salutation)

This performance stitches together a powerful symbolic tapestry, with the intersection of Nina Simone’s Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. A song heavily emotionally charged, with a melancholic undertone, together with the diasporic lament of abandoning home of Από ξένο τόπο (From a foreign place), and together with the urgent directness and rhythm of rap, all foregrounding themes of loss, exile, and endurance. At the background of this performance, the projection includes clips from the trip the Døcumatism team made to the forgotten village in Avato in Northen Greece, where Black Greeks have lived for hundreds of years.

Gumboot Dance

The gumboot dance originated in South Africa during apartheid. The migrant labourers who worked in the gold mines were given gumboots (rubber boots) and overalls. The miners were very poorly treated and forbidden from speaking to each other. However, they developed a new way to communicate - sending messages to each other by slapping their gumboots and rattling their ankle chains. This would eventually turn into a form of dance resistance against their oppressors. Soon after, the miners evolved their percussive sounds and movements into a unique dance form and used it to entertain each other during their free time. The gumboot dance has since developed into a South African art form with a universal appeal. The dancers expand upon traditional steps, with the addition of theatrical movement and singing.

Song - They don’t really care about us. Original song by Adedeji.

Song - Morenike. Original Song by Adedeji.

Drumming and performance

Song - Wade in the Water

Medley of songs

Here we witness a fusion of Nigerian praise-and-worship traditions with gospel. This is a reflection of the long, intertwined history of West African musical spirituality and African American Christian expression. Polyrithms, call and response, mixture of Yoruba and Igbo dances as well as gospel harmonies and improvisation.

Song - Oh, Happy Day

If you close your eyes, you will see us. If you listen carefully, you will learn about us. We are here as one and many together. We are here, first, second, and third generation, descendants of the beginning. Children of the same family. We rise and connect with one voice, our feet rooted in a common scene. We are here, Helen, Maria, Jane, Zandi, Mary Joyce, Maroua, Alim, Solomon, Karima, Dominic, Grace, Xenia, Mohammed, Hussein, Michalis, Daouda, Gioro, Bafouli, Dimitris, Kofi, Mikel, Charles, Jessica, Rachel, Precious, Esther, Mc Yinka, Angelos, Steven, Demoua, Nataly, Divine, Chelsea, Amouche, John, Angelos, Jessie, Deborah, Prosper, Divine, Great, Joshua, Victoria, Chukuma, Philip, Abraham, Chikamso, Ininie, we are here!

This live action was a theatrical workshop in form of a game, put together by director Eleni Mavridou, actor Samuel Akinola and musician Giorgos Mavridis. 6 children from the 26th primary school of Kypseli with the help of their art teacher Eirini Bazara participated in the workshop in which poetry was merged with Greek folk songs and West African songs and drumming.

Steven Aderinto performs soul and gospel songs on the rooftop of the City Hall of Athens. One of the songs he sings is: Sam Cooke’s A Change is Going to Come.

Street dance by dancers Mikel Ergar and Kofi Yadom. The recitation was done by Grace Nwoke. Poem "Where I Am" by Marcelino DosSantos.

This performance was put together by four dancers and performers (Jessica Anosike, Grace Nwoke, Demelza Okoji and Maria Sackey) guided by the instructions of dance anthropologist Natasha Martin. It was a fusion of body percussion, singing and afro dance

This performance took place in the neighbourhood of Kypseli, on the terrace of a local bookstore called: Literature House. Mc Yinka was inspired by poetry and improvised using rap. He also performed two of his original songs.

The final live action of the all day event was a musical encounter of Greek folk music with, soul, R&B and rap. Eleni Nzanga, Grace Nwoke, Steven Aderinto, and Mc Yinka performed blending seamlessly their distinct musical styles.