Decolonial work

Activist magazine Desde el Margen has featured an article on The Uprising and has asked me to write a reflection piece to introduce the film. Check out the English version of my contribution. “Two years ago I made a decision. I wanted to express my unapologetic voice in service of the decolonial struggle. As a musician I was used to using my voice. But I always felt the constraints of navigating white spaces as a woman of color when it comes to this topic. I was born and raised The Netherlands, where I currently live, as a daughter of Indo-Caribbean parents, Suriname (a former colony of The Netherlands) to be specific. Growing up as a minority in the west, I always had to make white people feel comfortable to get my message across. It meant I had to limit myself in expressing my authentic thoughts. Freedom of expression is a privilege of the colonizer.”

Never thought I would be invited by the Royal Society for Music History of The Netherlands to discuss whiteness and institutional racism in the music industry, but on December 12th 2020 this was the case! Check out my contribution to their Musicological Expo 2020 on Music and Whiteness in The Netherlands. “Thank you to KVNM for inviting me to share my perspective on Music and Whiteness in The Netherlands. A perspective I would like to illustrate based on an experience that has shaped my thinking and doing as an artist of color in a predominantly white society.”