ALEXIA WEBSTER is a South African photographer. Her work explores intimacy, family and identity across the African continent and beyond. She was awarded the Artraker Award for Art in Conflict, the CAP Prize award for Contemporary African Photography, and she received the Frank Arisman Scholarship at the International Centre of Photography in New York City. Her work has been exhibited in South Africa, United States, Europe and India. Most recently she traveled to Juba, South Sudan and Tijuana, Mexico as part of an International Women’s Media Foundation fellowship. www.alexiawebster.com
EVA SALINA is a musician and educator specializing in vocal traditions of Southeastern Europe and Eurasia. For over 25 years she has been studying and performing traditional Balkan music, currently focusing her performance work and research on Balkan Romani music.
Eva seeks to amplify women’s voices, repertoire, and narratives in contemporary musical circles, both in Balkan and Diaspora communities. Currently touring as a duo with Serbian Roma accordionist Peter Stan, Eva has released two albums (LEMA LEMA & SUDBINA) on her own label, Vogiton Records, and is a passionate educator who has taught world folk singing traditions to thousands of students around the world.
A two-time OneBeat Fellow (USA 2012, Istanbul 2016), 2015 Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts (NYFA, 2015), and a globalFEST 2018 artist, Eva is Musical Director of the Jalopy Chorus, and serves on the Board of Directors of Jalopy Theatre & School of Music. www.evasalina.com
KYLA-ROSE SMITH is an acclaimed performer, violinist, multimedia artist and producer from South Africa. She is best known for her work as violinist and backing singer of Freshlyground, South Africa’s premier Afropop band. She toured extensively inside and beyond South Africa with Freshlyground, garnering many awards including seven South African Music Awards (SAMA), an MTV Europe Award, and four METRO awards. Kyla was also a recipient of the Glamour Woman of the Year Award. Kyla has featured as a violinist on the recordings of a number of well-known South African and African musicians including, Derek Gripper, Gito Baloi, Funsho Ogundipe, Nneka, and Bongeziwe Mabandla.
Since her time with Freshlyground, Kyla has established herself as an emerging multimedia artist. Her current projects engage with aural and visual dimensions of contemporary society. One of her many projects includes Hear Be Dragons, a community-based creativity initiative to encourage communities to think about sound and the city, and the way these influence our quality of life, perceptions of history and memory, and notions of identity. Hear Be Dragons has showcased work at acclaimed New York City performing arts venue National Sawdust, and William Kentridge’s Center for The Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Kyla has curated and produced a variety of contemporary artistic pieces from South Africa and beyond. She is also an associate producer for THE OFFICE performing arts + film, working on The Mile-Long Opera, a theatrical performing arts opera event for 1,000 singers, co-created by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. Kyla is currently a programming director for Brooklyn-based arts non-profit Found Sound Nation. www.kylarosesmith.com
FÎDEL KILIÇ is a vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist with experience in facilitating collaborative projects. He was born in the diverse and historic city of Mardin in Southeast Turkey, the 17th son of an 80-year-old Kurdish migrant woman singer/storyteller. Fîdel’s mother, and his desire to share her story along with those of other women occupying similar roles in their families, cultures, and communities, provided the initial inspiration for JIYAN. Co-leader of OneBeat Istanbul 2016, Fîdel was also music director and performer of BOYA which was a youth project supported by Erasmus+ /Youth in action Program in Belgium, Morroco and Turkey. After meeting the acclaimed folk music band Kardeş Türküler (Songs of Fraternity) he became part of a community of artists in Istanbul. Currently, he works on producing short films and recording new songs.
