Sudan / Australia
With a powerful voice, gentle manner and mastery of Dinka (South Sudanese), Arabic and English, Ajak Kwai is a compelling storyteller. Her ‘Of Cows, Women and War’ theatre show, being released as an album in February 2016, is a rich weave of Afro-soul melodies and extraordinary tales of being exiled from her Upper Nile home, to gospel singing in Cairo, to starting afresh in Melbourne in 2007. At WOMADelaide she will play two very different shows; one will be with her full band and the other will be a unique combination of music, projections, a conversation with host Paul Gough and poetry from fellow South Sudanese artist, Abe Nouk, Victoria’s 2014 and 2015 Slam Poetry Champion.