Stand up for the sounds of the djembe...

Cast of Stand Up! where I co-emceed with Jojo

I first heard Jojo Struys recite her poetry by accident. She did it with flair! And so I asked her a few times if she would consider performing at one of our events. After many years of inviting Jojo, I finally receive a call from her to ask if I'd be interested to help out in a charity fundraiser. And here we are. Last night, we raised RM40,000!!!! Here is the team, cast and crew of Stand Up! a charity fundraiser for Creative Mentoring programme called Shambala for Kids. Once a week, the kids from Chow Kit are invited to Bandar Utama for sessions which inspired their 'right brain'. The good people behind this independently run non-profit is led by founder, Lina Sutton - email her if you'd like to volunteer - shambalaforkids@gmail.com and an impressive line-up of VERY CAPABLE WOMEN - Jojo Struys, Hannah Lo, Linda Aljoffrey, Virginia Kennedy, Muna the Princess, Angeline and the many others behind the scenes including Michael Lim. And thanks to the performers: The Ramanados, Andrew Netto, Papi Zak, Ash Nair, Yuri Wong, Dennis Lau, Harith Iskandar. And to the good people who attended the show and put their bids in for the auction items. We rawked NBT!

It felt good. And it was an affirmation of what I do. And I do things well when I FEEL IT. Here's another amazing magical thing that happened at the end of the night... just when all the waiters had gone home, and in No Black Tie were just a smattering of souls...

DJEMBE JAM

I spent last night watching, appreciating, listening to two very fine gentlemen 'jam' on the sacred 'Djembe'. At first, I didn't even know the name of one of the gentlemen. Sometimes, you don't need to know names or to know what a person does for a living. Sometimes it's just magic to realise that some people you will only have the privilege to meet for one time only. To not expect more. To just enjoy their company even if it was just for one night.

Valtinho Anastacio & Jothi with Evelyn Hii of No Black Tie watching

Valtinho Anastacio - a Brazilian Djembe Master who happened to be in KL, taught us to have 'conversations'... to listen, challenge and just open up our minds and not be restricted to notes we're familiar to. To not just answer a question, but to question the question. To listen, challenge, and answer the call in your OWN way. Next time I need answers in life, I think I'll just reminisc on the deep bass vocas of the Brazilian Djembe man... just let the resonance talk to your heart.