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Information/Bio:
Kankelay has been delighting audiences in Melbourne since 2007 when a group of SIerra Leonean Refugee women came together to sing and dance their traditional cultural repertoire. The women come from different groups in Sierra Leone and they teach their own songs to each other in rehearsal. For the women, the singing and dancing is a joyful confirmation of identity and culture, after years in camps and then the enormous adjustment that resettlement involves.

What is so interesting about the performing group, besides the vibrant performance in traditional African attire, is the dynamic nature of their songs. Made in traditional form, the songs are absolutely dynamic, reflecting the circumstances of the moment the war at home, the strangeness of Australian life, what they have lost and what they bring to their new lives here. Kankelay is a group that tells us much about the power of song!


Text of first Flier:
“Dynamic, rhythmic, intensely moving, new songs for Australia and an
integrity of performance that touches your soul!”
Therese Virtue, The Boite, Melbourne

Past performances: Foundation House, The Boite World Music Cafe, Government House, Victoria, ACMI, Federation Square, Brotherhood of St. Lawrence, VIc Health Conference, and the streets of Fitzroy for a winter festival.