Samite Mulondo's RESILIENCE to Make World Premiere At the University of Saint Joseph
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 23, 2018
In the summer of 2016 Samite Mulondo begin an artist residency at the University of Saint Joseph. Since then Samite has performed musical concerts, mentored students and taught in campus departments. His residency will culminate with Resilience on March 23, 2018, 7:30 p.m., a theatrical and musical telling of his journey as a Ugandan refugee who travels the world sharing the healing power of music. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.usj.edu or 860-548-5555, $15-30. Performance will be held in the Bruyette Athenaeum, University of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Ave, West Hartford, CT.
HartBeat Ensemble, a co-producer of this project, will present preview performances of Resilience at HartBeat's Carriage House Theater, 360 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT, March 15-17, tickets are $15 and can be purchased at hartbeatensemble.org or by calling 860-548-9144.
Mulondo, who goes by the name Samite, wrote the piece with dramaturg and director Brian Jennings, a HartBeat Ensemble member. Steven Raider Ginsburg, HartBeat Ensemble Co-Founder and director of the Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Saint Joseph, is the producer.
"In January of 2016, I witnessed Samite's first version of this song and storytelling performance. The importance and immediacy of that experience was transcendent and I knew that USJ would be the right home to premier the fully conceived production," said Steven Raider Ginsburg.
Resilience is Samite's story, one of tragedy and triumph. At the age of 25, after his brother was tortured and killed in the violence following the Idi Amin dictatorship, Samite fled to Kenya as a political refugee. He stayed in a refugee camp for five months and in Kenya for five years before emigrating to the United States in 1987.
"You travel with him as he shares a story that crosses boundaries both physically and emotionally," Jennings said. "Resilience is a theatrical telling of his personal resilience, beginning as a Ugandan refugee."
Samite, 60, who learned to play the Western flute at the age of 12, became one of the most acclaimed flutists of East Africa, eventually working as a multi-instrumentalist in the studio with Paul Simon and William Ackerman, performing for the Dalai Lama and touring with Ladysmith Black Mombazo.
"I feel very lucky that I have been able to reach people all over the world with my music. The response to my messages of peace, hope, and resilience has been overwhelming even though more often than not, my audience does not understand the language in which I sing," says Samite. "Now I have the great fortune to reach my audience not only with my music, but with my stories told in English and I believe there is no better time than the present to convey a positive message of hope, peace and resilience."
Today Samite enables musicians throughout the world to share their music to promote peace as he brings healing music to refugee camps, former child soldiers and AIDS orphans through an organization he founded, Musicians for World Harmony (2002). In his travels to war torn and distressed countries, Samite exchanges stories with victims of war, poverty and people living with HIV/AIDS.
Resilience is both the name of this new theatrical work and it is also the title of Samite's 10th album, which will be available as a pre-release for audiences of the Hartford area performances.
For his complete bio and additional information visit samite.com
For more information about Musicians for World Harmony visit http://www.musiciansforworldharmony.org
The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with a focus on service. Undergraduate programs for both traditional and adult students take place on our beautiful suburban campus and include more than 26 majors and seven pre-professional programs, taught by expert faculty in an engaging environment. Graduate master's and doctoral degree programs are taught on the University's two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph welcomes students from diverse backgrounds and religious traditions. To learn more, view our website at www.usj.edu.
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