‘Leadership From the Heart’ by Sonoma County singer-songwriters
Originally published Dec 27, 2020 - update Jan 8, 2021
Closure, awakening and rebirth — Part II
Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I’m starting to realize that while I may have a specific idea of what I think a column will be, the best stuff seems to come by letting the energy of my guests take us where we need to go.
My intention was a follow-up to last month’s column about Closure, Awakening and Rebirth featuring Eki Shola, Kayatta and Lenkadu. But as I was talking with these three wonderful women, the conversation took its own path, and we began exploring much more about how they have evolved into leaders by creating space for underserved artists, opening up vital connections for those whose voices have so much trouble being heard.
LEADERSHIP can be such an elusive thing — especially after four years of such a national vacuity during an incredibly tumultuous time for our country and for our world. But have faith, because there are powerful hearts rising up to fill the void!
As we head into the new year, the shadows of 2020 still lurking everywhere, Lenkadu has created a visual motto inspired by Persian & Jewish folklore: This Too Shall Pass — expressing the awareness that “the past is already gone, and the future will be just another now that you will enter, so there really is just now—which is what this project is about for me. It’s a healing tool, a helpful way to survive the pandemic, this strange time we’re dealing with.” She has created magnets and stickers available via social media (see below for links) and will also be producing a series of short conversations with fellow artists once a month live on social media “to talk about their intentions of what they’re doing with their work — and keep it really raw and unpolished. I want to loop all of this into one bundle of keeping everything present. This way our fans can watch us talking with each other. The whole idea is cross-promotion and supporting each other.”
Eki Shola is using her growing visibility to amplify underserved artistic voices in our community by creating the online magazine unmute. “The whole premise behind the idea began back in the spring when I was surfing Twitter and I saw a lot of organizations, freelance journalists and writers who put out an offering — a lot of them saying “I’m a writer, if you’re a BIPOC, and you need assistance writing a press release or if you want an album review, marketing or guidance, I will help you, free.” And I responded to a lot of them, and I think only one panned out. And not even a “No thank you” or “I’m booked” or whatever from the others. Nothing. It came off very unprofessional and I remember feeling ticked off. And I realized “well, I write—why the heck am I looking for a handout?” So that’s when I said I want to write and create a magazine that is mainly, but not exclusively, by and for underrepresented creatives, and that would include musicians, artists, sound engineers, photographers, dancers, performers. And to be able to help amplify their voice and help bring them to the forefront.”
Musicians and artists outside of the mainstream here in Sonoma County face challenges on many levels. Kayatta talked about how “Hip Hop for sure is male-dominated, but the world as a whole is male-dominated. So we just started trying to find different venues, different avenues to create space for women in music, BIPOC in music, and Hip Hop as a whole, because in Sonoma County there’s not a lot of places that are even going to open the door to it.”
“I’ve met some really amazing artists, but there’s still a scarcity of access, and places where we host space to do what it is we do. Part of it is because I’m a woman, part of it is because I’m queer, part of it is because it’s Hip Hop, part of it is because I’m black. And that’s why we started creating our own spaces and our own music and our own lanes, our own avenues — to host space for BIPOC people to have a stage and have their voices amplified.”
But there’s more to this leadership than just providing a stage. It’s these artists creating community by acknowledging the difficulties they faced coming up and doing what they can to open more doors for others. Lenkadu had a really rough time moving here from Boston “because I came from the more edgy East Coast, in the city. In Sonoma County, people are moving out here looking for a nice, pleasant life and Boston is like, rough. It’s a completely different environment. It’s also about urban vs a little bit more country. The urban landscape has always been a place where you go if you don’t fit in, right? ( con’t below advertising)
