Kisumu youth to benefit from Indiegogo’s Crowd funding campaign

The upcoming 2015 Music to Empower Youth Indiegogo Crowd funding campaign, is set to help Kenyan youths from Kisumu realize their artistic dreams.

May 31st, 2015 will be a special day in Seattle, Washington. On that day, the annual Madaraka Festival will be held at the EMP Museum.

The festival will benefit One Vibe Africa, a non-profit organization that has served over 500 youth through their Music & Art Program for disadvantaged youth in Kisumu, Kenya. Running congruently with Madaraka, is the 2015 Music to Empower Youth Indiegogo Crowd funding campaign.

Funds raised from the crowd funder will be used to support the festival; funds raised from the festival will go to the Music & Art Program, for establishing a Performance Art Theatre to enhance the programming.

Funds raised in 2014 were used to graduate 24 youth from the program. They were also used to establish 16 new jobs and provide classes in art, music and drama; and establish a recording studio so that the program can begin to be self-sustaining.

To learn more about One Vibe Africa and its activities, you can visit their website. There you can view videos of students performing and instructors talking about their various programs.

You can listen to the music, and hear the students telling, in their own language and voice, of their experiences at the school. In fact, there is so much material on the website, that you can immerse yourself for hours watching and listening to the many things that have been accomplished.

One of the accomplishments was an exchange program, where a group of African American women visited the school in Kenya. There, the women were able to experience first-hand the kinds of lessons the children were receiving – making musical instruments, learning songs through call and response, and much more.

One woman remarked that this kind of learning that honored the traditions of Kenya strengthened everyone, and that this made the African American people in the United States stronger, and that this would strengthen the whole world. She implied that it was the sort of thing that would bond people everywhere – just as music and art have always done.

Should you be able to attend Madaraka, they have a marvelous line-up of musicians, flocking from all over the world to participate.

From Washington, there is JusMoni, Project Lion Heart and Larue ; from other parts of the United States, M1 of Dead Prez and Aisha Fukushima ; from Kenya, Sauti Sol and Zack Okello ; and from other parts of the world, Blitz the Ambassador, and Babaluku.

Madaraka needs contributions in order to be successful. Many of the expenses need to be prepaid – that is where people come in. People’s contribution will pay for many things – hall rental, musician’s fees and much more.

Omprakash Foundation, the fiscal agent for One Vibe Africa, is a recognized 501 (3) non-profit organization, so donations are completely tax deductible.

For people who love to get rewards, there are many. These include mention on websites, DVDs of music from the musicians who have performed at Madaraka, and from the students and teachers at One Vibe’s program in Kenya. There are bracelets – available only for concert attendees.

And there are tickets to the festival concert. If you cannot make it to the concert, you can contribute at the $150 level, and access the concert through live streaming on the day of the event.