The Things Around Us

Description

The Things Around Us is a dazzling new work from acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist, Ahamefule J. Oluo, that layers live music and narrative exploration to create an introspective evening about the things that connect us all. It is the third in a trilogy of shows from Oluo, following NOW I’M FINE and SUSAN. In the show, Oluo uses looping technology, trumpet, clarinet, vocals, cardboard shipping boxes for percussion, and other instruments to create an expansive symphony performed live by one person. Weaving narrative layers throughout, Oluo shares deeply personal reflections and darkly humorous accounts of strangers, acquaintances, and friends that conjoin with the music to create a singular, transcendent experience. The Things Around Us is an evening that will draw you in and remind you of the beauty in life. In The Things Around Us, Oluo continues their practice of layering live music and narrative, but departs from their previously epic ensemble work and highly personal stories to create, instead, an intimate solo show about other people. Combining experimental jazz, new music, Nigerian hi-life, and electronic looping with bizarre and darkly humorous accounts of strangers and acquaintances, Oluo draws out larger social and political meanings from those encounters, weaving together a tapestry of characters and existential inquiries with dynamic multi-instrumental compositions, using trumpet, clarinet, vocals, looping/effects pedals, and cardboard shipping boxes for percussion. The Things Around Us began as a 15-minute video piece produced during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, supported by a Mellon Creative Research Fellowship with University of Washington’s Meany Center. It has been further developed through early-stage showings at Black-centered cultural spaces LANGSTON and Wa Na Wari in Seattle, residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Seattle Rep.