WEAVER BIRD
Laura Ekumbo, Anne Moraa and Aleya Kassam – Book and Lyrics; Wanja Wohoro – Music, Book and Lyrics
Three memory keepers and a truth-teller ululate to one another. They need to tell the story of Field Marshal Mūthoni wa Kīrīma; a freedom fighter, the highest-ranking and last surviving Field Marshal from the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. Field Marshal Mūthoni swore she would not cut her hair until Kenya found true freedom. Her hair is still not cut. How will they keep her memory alive?
Writer & Composer Profiles
Aleya Kassam, Writer
Aleya Kassam is a Kenyan feminist, storyteller, writer and performer, whose work explores narratives from the margins. She is widely experimental with form, from page to stage, screen to speaker, micro fiction to memory poems, docu theatre to participatory filmmaking, blogs to Twitter threads - she loves to play with the ways people experience story.
Her first writing home was www.chanyado.wordpress.com which was described by Nanjala Nyabola as 'shuffling between personal narrative and political observation, the blog allows you to take a step back and think about the real impact of political or social issues on the individual.’ That initial exploration fed her passion for sharing stories that explore divergent truths and enable people in the margins to feel seen.
Her writing has been published and performed on multiple platforms and stages around the world, from Nairobi to Kampala, Kigali to Stuttgart.
Aleya is also the ‘A’ in The LAM Sisterhood, a story company that fills the world with stories that make African women feel seen, heard and beloved, such as the award-winning stage show Brazen.
Anne Moraa, Writer
Anne Moraa is Kenyan feminist writer, editor, and performer. She is the 'M' in the LAM Sisterhood, an award-winning story company that fills the world with stories for African women to feel seen, heard, and beloved.
Her writing can be found in Catapult, The Meridians Journal, The Elephant, The Wide Margin and so on, while her performances have taken her from Kenya through to South Korea and Scotland.
A lead editor at Jalada Africa, she is at work on her debut novel all while eating copious amount of chilli-lemon crisps.
Laura Ekumbo, Writer
Laura Ekumbo is a Kenyan born, Nairobi based performing artist and writer. She has performed poetry, acted, sang, danced, spoken, and hosted events on over 30 stages in 4 countries around the world.
Co-founder of The LAM Sisterhood, Laura Aleya and Moraa fill the world with stories that make African women feel seen, heard, and beloved. With Wanja Wohoro, we’re telling the story of Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima of The Land and Freedom Army, a Brazen woman, and it’s a musical.
Independently, Laura has hosted TEDx Youth, The Vagina Monologues, performed and spoken at festivals including Storymoja Festival, JALADA Mobile Literary and Arts Festival, Ubumutu Arts Festival, and Kampala International Theatre Festival.
As an actor, she has played leading roles in critically acclaimed and award-winning productions by The Next Folding Theatre Company, Sitawa Namwalie, Pr3vail Stages, Phoenix Players, Story Zetu, STU Black Box Theatre, STU Musical Theatre, JALADA, and more. As a poet, Laura has been a featured guest and performed sets rooted in seeking truth and self-discovery on stages in Kenya and Canada.
She is a Cafe Ngoma Award Nominee, and her work has been featured on multiple platforms globally.
Her poetry lives on www.lauraekumbo.wordpress.com.
Wanja Wohoro, Composer & Writer
Wanja is an Afro-Indie-Soul singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Nairobi, Kenya and Sydney, Australia.
In February 2015 she released a tropical summer single ‘Counting’ and an accompanying music video. On September 21st 2018, Wanja released her debut album ‘Matriarch’: a creative endeavour telling the story of contemporary womanhood through a personal lens. Since it’s release it has garnered a great deal of positive attention including making Wanja Apple Music Africa’s ‘Favourite New Artist’ for the month of October.
She was also recently selected as one of the top 100 artists in Africa as part of Mr Eazi’s (Nigeria) #Empawa100Africa initiative. In August of this year Wanja participated in the Art Omi Music Residency in Upstate New York.
She was one of twelve international musicians selected to participate in the collaborative music incubation in Hudson NY.
Wanja has also featured at various festivals and performances in Australia, Kenya, the US and South Africa, and continues to perform regularly, spreading her messages of female empowerment and authentic storytelling throughout Africa and to the world.