ABOUT THE GRANT
- $43,166 to Oakland Asian Cultural Center to support Songs of Strength (SOS) (MAP 2019)
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Songs of Strength (SOS) is a 70-min production created by rising Vietnamese composer Van-Anh Vanessa Vo in collaboration with Iranian singer/songwriter Mahsa Vadat and rapper and Silicon Valley Artist Laureate DemOne, who have had personal experiences as immigrants from war-torn countries that outwardly suppress women and immigrants. SOS will include ambient sound, breakdance, rap/spoken word poetry both from voices of community members and from female leaders who have challenged social conformities, such as Maya Angelou and Ho Xuan Huong (a 17th century poet who resisted societal norms through socio-political commentaries and frank speech). The goal of SOS is to feature immigrants’ perspectives that are relevant to both audiences who have and have not experienced oppression and social inequality—revealing ways in which struggles for liberation are both situationally unique and ethnically, geographically, and temporally transcendent.
ARTISTIC TEAM
Demone Carter
Mahsa Vahdat