Creator Tales

Nadiah "NfuZion" is Australia’s first and only internationally recognised freelance dancer, educator and choreographer who specialises in Dancehall, various styles from the African

Allirah Fisher is a proud Ewamian, Cobble Cobble, Birri and South-Sea Islander Woman, Sister and Mother. Born and raised in the outer suburbs of Meanjin, Allirah has always had strong passions and values within the social justice and the creative arts realms. Allirah has worked within the Indigenous health, community development and social service spaces while channeling her artistic expression through ceremony, performance, choreography and facilitation. More recently, Allirah is developing her own aspirations as a creative entrepreneur as the Founding member of The First Creatives and Co-Founder of Yir'un-Yalangi Womens Healing. Interconnecting her experience and passion in both social work and creative arts, Allirah creates safe-spaces for First Nations stories and experiences to be shared and explored at a grassroots level to develop artistic work that is transformative for both the storytellers and listeners. With strong values for breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma, Allirah is using her purpose to empower First Nations communities to move to a place of healing through creative expression and re-claiming of our traditional practices.

Sudhesh Somu is a proud Queenslander who arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka. His life experience and community development background drives his passion for supporting disadvantaged Indigenous youth, and combating family violence through men's behaviour change programs. Sudesh longs to have the love for his state of Queensland to be reflected back to him.

IG rollcall:

https://www.instagram.com/sudhesh_somu/

French - Brazilian local artist, Melissa Cambon, is multilingual, not only in several spoken languages but also eloquently expresses herself through weaving, singing, writing, illustrating and dancing. Melissa’s artistic practices connects her to her French – Brazilian cultural roots, having been inspired by her grandmother’s many forms of arts and crafts and supported by her father throughout her studies in Art and Design in Guadeloupe (French Caribbean) and Textile Design in Nîmes (France). However, she found the industrial orientation of her formal studies suppressed her personal creativity. 
Returning to her cultural roots through drawing and music also reconnected to her own intuitive expression and became her medicine. Travelling Australia since her arrival in …. She fell in love with its First Nations people, its amazing landscapes and wildlife, guiding her unfurling life journey of art and connection which has her currently settling and creating in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands.
You will find Melissa performing solo or with her band Solua, performing roving with Circus tribe.

Niyi Adepoyibi is a recording engineer/ producer facilitating audio creations from countless record labels, independent artists and media networks.

Not content just behind the scenes, he has also worked as a session musician with artists spanning the full spectrum of styles - partaking in domestic & international tours, in addition to performing for theatre shows and film soundtracks.

Safe to say, he likes...sound

Sartika is an Indonesian-Australian vocalist who champions the warmest corners of R&B with her intimate, relatable songwriting. Relocating to Brisbane as an adolescent, she honed her skills by busking at festivals and markets, later working with producers and artsts like Nerve, JK-47 and Jay Orient as well as the local collectives SHOKU, Spare Time and NO.ONE NETWORK. As a solo artist and a member of supergroup BBTK, she has performed at Rabbits Eat Lettuce, Yonder Festival, and countless gigs across Queensland. Online, she has earned a healthy following for her live loop covers of classic R&B songs, where she flexes her additional skills as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. Through her emotive music, Sartika hopes to champion Indonesian culture while also healing and empowering women.

A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins

IG rollcall

@sartikamusic

@kaju_creative

@dylanjprins

Janaki Gerard is an actor, writer and singer from Brisbane who has worked in London and New York City. Janaki was a top twenty finalist in the Stellar South Asian Women of 2022 Australia.  At present Janaki is performing in “Proof” with Ad Astra Theatre Company. In August she will be part of the original cast for the world premiere of “Item” presented by Dance Masala & Metro Arts Theatre. Her mission for the future is to develop more platforms & projects for South Asian creatives in Australia. 

Growing up on an island population of 2,500 people, Sachém holds both ancestral ties to Noonuccal (Stradbroke Island) and African American with his family roots currently leading to Florida. His story, experience and approach to music are ones that the Australian community has not seen before - reflecting both front-line First Nation / African American perspectives within the Australian environment and a deep understanding of the hip-hop community and its culture.

In this conversation, Sachém shares challenges he faced growing up whilst always having to perform on the sports fields. He shows a lot of love here for his partner and creative communities including Tom Thum, Kyle, Nerve & No.One Network, Luka Lesson, Obscure Orchestra, Jimblah and his new home, Elefant Traks and their A+R Jannah.

Sitting down today is SAIE - A DJ, producer, and musician from Meanjin. With strong classical, cultural and urban influences, he explores multiple genres of music and roles as a performer, producer and composer. Starting to learn the Tabla (Indian percussion instrument) at 8 years old, his passion for music grew stronger expanding to multiple eastern and western instruments. In High School he started producing music and since has worked on multiple projects as a producer / engineer. DJ’ing started as a hobby in his late teens, but eventually became a big passion of his and he has quickly grown into the Australian DJ scene. SAIE combines all of his musical roles and skills in the different projects he participates in. He is working on creating his own sound and planning to release his own original music in 2023.

We get into his creative upbringing, starting out DJing in COVID times and just how much music hustle this 20 year old has.

A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins

IG rollcall

@saiegram

@kaju_creative

@dylanjprins

Aunty Chantay Link is a Gooreng Gooreng, Kabi Kabi woman and Australian South Sea Islander who has grown up in the inner-city suburbs of Meajjin/Brisbane, a proud Brisbane Black. She is passionate about women and family living in violent free homes and communities. Chantay has continued to practice and participate in healing circles on country and have shared this knowledge with other Aboriginal women in finding their pathway living with trauma. "I know there is so much more to learn, and this is a wonderful opportunity to share and learn".

She is among four grass-roots First Nations Women who have been invited to attend the 'Healing our Spirit' Global Indigenous Gathering in Canada. They are currently crowdfunding via the link below and Monday nights BAP class.

Gofundme First Nations Women travel to Healing Gathering

Book a Bring a Plate Class for Monday 17th April here

A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins

IG rollcall

@chantayella

@kaju_creative

@dylanjprins