In Trevor’s words
The show was very moving! We played a Nashville-style singer songwriter show “in the round” where each musician took turns telling stories and performing songs we written.
I was invited by Fogartyville to host and was very fortunate to have two incredible African musicians with me. Percy Abain is one of my new musical friends who came here seeking asylum from war-torn Cameroon, which is still colonized and mostly French speaking with a minority group being English.
They often find themselves discriminated towards and there’s a lot of fighting for a revolution.
Percy sings about love, peace and unity. He’s also won a first place prize from the United Nation’s “Pitching peace youth music challenge” for his song “new dae.”
Another African friend, Peter Mawanga joined. We released a vinyl record together during the time of Covid. Peter came all the way from Malawi and because of this great distance this marked our first performance together ever even though we released an album three years ago. Peter plans to return every year to tour the United States with a full band.
The show was a hit. Filling the room with African culture, stories, peace and love. People were laughing, crying, cheering, and, in the end, we all had a sing along to “one Love” by Bob Marley and the room was filled with the voices of the entire audience — something I have never experienced at that level before.
— Trevor Bystrom