{"id":82148,"date":"2022-02-08T04:56:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T17:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=82148"},"modified":"2022-02-01T16:49:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T05:49:56","slug":"ajak-kwai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ajak-kwai\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs strive for harmony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>VOCALIST Ajak Kwai and her five-piece band will perform at The Eastern this month as part of a Victorian tour of EP <em>Red Sands<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Bringing pop, funk, and blues together, the South Sudanese-Australian singer is most importantly keen to share her unique style with a wider audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not mainstream music, but people love music no matter what language you speak, and even though some of the songs are in English, I will still sing most of them in the concert in my language, Dinka,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The first track on the EP,<em> I\u2019ll Be Your Eyes<\/em>, is a song about Kwai\u2019s treasured grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was quite young, I loved him so much. He was blind, and I used to walk him, with myself as his walking stick. My aunty was quite old, too, and I just loved them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI lived in Hobart for a long time. I used to go to the nursing home because I love old people. When I came to Melbourne, we used to go up from the church to visit a nursing home, but when I visited, I used to cry all day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey told me not to come because I\u2019d be emotional thinking, where are their children? People are very busy here in the life that we live in Australia.<em> I\u2019ll Be Your Eyes <\/em>is about respecting older people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The EP title track <em>Red Sands<\/em> was inspired by Kwai\u2019s trips to Tennant Creek, and Arnhem Land, where a gorge reminded her of Victoria Falls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe red sand was similar to the red sand in South Sudan, which is like blood,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Kwai encourages people to come along, enjoy the sounds, and engage with her South Sudanese-Australian art and culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t know people of different cultures, you can be scared of them, but if you know them, you\u2019re less scared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to tell people&#8230; Don\u2019t be scared, we love you. We are people like you, it doesn\u2019t matter what colour we are. We are a good people who just love Australia,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHatred doesn\u2019t get us anywhere. When it comes to harmony, the community has a responsibility. Come and sing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally migrating to Tasmania from South Sudan, Kwai has lived in Australia for 21 years.<\/p>\n<p>Following her first album, <em>Let Me Grow My Wings<\/em>, Kwai recorded <em>Red Sands<\/em> through not-for-profit label Music in Exile, which supports migrant and refugee musicians.<\/p>\n<p>Allysha Joy will also perform during the afternoon. She features on Kwai\u2019s track <em>Arrows<\/em>. The concert begins at 3pm on Sunday, 20 February. Visit <strong>bit.ly\/3gaUzvJfor<\/strong> tickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VOCALIST Ajak Kwai and her five-piece band will perform at The Eastern this month as part of a Victorian tour of EP Red Sands. Bringing pop, funk, and blues together, the South Sudanese-Australian singer is most importantly keen to share her unique style with a wider audience. \u201cIt\u2019s not mainstream music, but people love music [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ajak-kwai\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":82150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-82148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Songs strive for harmony - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ajak-kwai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Songs strive for harmony - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VOCALIST Ajak Kwai and her five-piece band will perform at The Eastern this month as part of a Victorian tour of EP Red Sands. Bringing pop, funk, and blues together, the South Sudanese-Australian singer is most importantly keen to share her unique style with a wider audience. \u201cIt\u2019s not mainstream music, but people love music [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ajak-kwai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T17:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/02\/AjakKwai_MPavillion-22-scaled-e1643694560545.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"Songs strive for harmony\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-07T17:56:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/02\\\/AjakKwai_MPavillion-22-scaled-e1643694560545.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/\",\"name\":\"Songs strive for harmony - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/02\\\/AjakKwai_MPavillion-22-scaled-e1643694560545.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-07T17:56:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/ajak-kwai\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/02\\\/AjakKwai_MPavillion-22-scaled-e1643694560545.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2022\\\/02\\\/AjakKwai_MPavillion-22-scaled-e1643694560545.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":665,\"caption\":\"On the road: Ajak Kwai\u2019s tour launched last week in Melbourne. 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