Women's Voices Rise Up Event 2/28

WOMEN’S VOICES RISE UP
we are the ones we've been waiting for.....June Jordan
The Culture Of Resistance To The Everlasting War
Saturday, February 28th 7:30pm
at the Women’s Building 3543 18th street, SF
A CONCERT OF WOMEN’S VOICES IN SONG, SPOKEN WORD, DANCE AND FILM
To benefit grassroots women's projects in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine featuring:

UCHECHI KALU
Nigerian-born, Poet, Teacher and Survivor of Life
SHAILJA PATEL
Spoken Word Explosion!
SPARLHA SWA
Music for Spirit Uprising
SAMSARA
Passionate, Conscious A Capella, CD release!
SISTERZ OF THE UNDERGROUND
Extra Credit Cru
and a preview of the film
ART AS REVOLUTION

10$-20$ sliding scale, WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE,
http://www.womensvoicesriseup.org 415-642-9099

benefit for:
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq

Artists Bios:

SPARLHA SWA
Sparlha Swa sings to you from the place where sound meets spirit. An
irresistable blend of soul and folk, with simple yet powerful guitar
accompaniment and profoundly moving lyrics, her voice carries you into the deepest within yourself, and there offers insights that heal, inspire, and uplift. This music, often born of sorrow, for the sake of release and
rejoicing, covers issues both spiritual and political, and holds
uncompromisingly as its aim, the uprising.
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SISTERZ OF THE UNDERGROUND/EXTRA CREDIT CRU
Extra Credit Cru bio
These crazy bgirls have been together for almost 3 years now. They are part of Sisterz of the Underground, an all female hiphop collective in the bay area. When they first started, they learned by themselves. Some of their main influences have been the Hound Dawg Truckers and Rock Steady Crew. The members are: Jana Jones, Sarah Smalls, Nurseboogy, Crix, E-dub, A-ups, Macha, Estairia, and Dr. Beantwerp. All of the girls bring there own unique style in combination with the bboy foundation to represent the element to the fullest. When they're not performing, they are out in the community teaching at schools, community centers, homeless shelters, libraries, and youth emancipation centers. You can check them out at http://www.sisterzunderground.com.
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SAMSARA
Samsara is an a capella women's trio who unite fierce, extraordinary vocal music with passionate struggles for justice. They strive to connect the music of struggle, freedom and tradition, creating the new generation of the culture of resistance. Samsara's repertoire ranges from traditional folksongs, sea songs, worksongs and spirituals with new arrangements, to satirical parodies and original music on current topics, all with tight, searing, dissonant and bittersweet harmonies and intricate vocal percussions. Loren Olds, Rebecca Anders and Susan Appe are activists, teachers, musicians and artists, and as Samsara they have been performing everywhere from the streets to the Union Halls. Samsara has taught workshops on using your voice as resistance‚ across the country and have been an active participants in, and organizers of, numerous benefits, protests and demonstrations for social, economic and environmental justice.
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UCHECHI KALU
Nigerian-born outspoken poet and survivor of life Uchechi Kalu is a Nigerian- born poet, performer,teacher and survivor of life, who grew up in Missouri, Texas and Massachusetts. She has conducted writing workshops at universities, prisons, high schools, after school programs, and with the San Francisco WritersCorps program. She spent five years with the late June Jordan's Poetry for the People program, teaching at Berkeley High School, the Federal Corrections Institute at Dublin, and at UC Berkeley, where she studied African- American History and Creative Writing. She has performed at many venues and events throughout the Bay Area and the West Coast, including the Afro Solo Festival, the Radical Performance Fest, In the Street Theatre Festival, Intersection for the Arts, with Rhodessa Jones‚ Medea Project and KPFA Radio.
Her poems have appeared in several literary journals and anthologies and on National Public Radio, Revolutionary Voices (Alyson Books, 2000) and her book of poetry, Flowers Blooming Against A Bruised Grey Sky, will be published by Whit Press in 2004. She is also the recipient of a Hedgebrook residency for women writers.
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SHAILJA PATEL
A Kenyan Indian explosion on the national US spoken word scene, Shailja Patel was 2001 Lambda Slam Champion and 2000 Santa Cruz Slam champion. She was a featured panelist and guest poet at the National Youth Slam Championships 2001. Her workshop, "How Big Is Your Voice?" packed a room to overflow capacity and garnered the highest attendance of any workshop at the 2001 National Poetry Slam in Seattle. The first featured artist on the South Asian Literature and Art Archive, thesala.com, she has appeared at slams, festivals and conferences across North America. Recent highly-acclaimed, standing ovation performances include Women Against War in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz; the 2003 annual conference of the National Council for Research on Women at Mills College, 2002 National Conference of Asian and Pacific Islander Law Students at UC Berkeley, and the Radical Performance Fest (a Bay Area Critics Choice Selection). Shailja shared the stage with Holly Near, Michael Franti, and Ram Dass at Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War, the 9/11 anniversary concert at San Francisco’s Justin Hermann Plaza. Her words, aired on the National Radio Project and KPFA (Flashpoints, APEX Express, Hard Knocks Radio) have generated responses from activists and
academics worldwide.
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"ART AS REVOLUTION"
"Art as Revolution" explores the beauty resulting from the rare combination of artist and activist in individuals who have both talent in their art and a strong message in their content. These artists are visionaries who recognize the possibility of change and believe it is attainable. Through their art, be it spoken word, music, rap, painting, or puppeteering, these artists motivate and inspire revolution in others. They are the impetus, the spark, the people who give a movement its motion and accelerate its momentum. Art as activism is influential because the artist is able to reach his or her audience through
something enjoyable, something that the audience experiences and connects to on an emotionally provoking level. Putting emotion into a political stance turns politics into a dance of which everyone can take part.