Celebrate African brilliance with One Source Live
Absolut and One Source have teamed up to initiate a creative revolution.
They’ve developed a concept that highlights Africa as the creative engine of the world, with the purpose to change the way the world sees and thinks about Africa and its people.
This event is a chance to ignite and unleash African artists, supporting them and celebrating the beauty our continent has to offer in design, art and creativity.
Following the success of Absolut’s original ‘Africa is Absolut #BeAbsolut’ campaign with Khuli Chana, the concept sparked new ideas which led to something bigger and more powerful. This year, Absolut and One Source will unleash this concept onto the global stage, launching a festival of African creativity on 24 March 2018, called ‘One Source Live’. This collaborative event is geared to rewriting Africa’s story, showcasing creative art, music and fashion artists who will gather together as a unit. This spectacular, all-day live event will include multiple stages, performances and must-see collaborations.
Marketing Manager of Absolut, Iris LeBerg says: “Absolut has a long history in supporting artists dating back to its incredible partnership with Andy Warhol in 1985, and since then the brand has collaborated with over 550 artists worldwide. We felt that African artists are underrepresented in a global context, and with this movie, we want to champion the activities and creations of the most exciting creative visionaries of the African continent.”
Directed by Sunu Gonera from Egg Films, the One Source Live campaign will kick off with a short launch film called ‘Africa On Fire’, which will portray the following strong messages: “This is a revolution. Creativity is our weapon. Change how the world sees Africa.”
Throughout the years, Absolut’s desire to grow and support the creativity behind Africa’s creative pioneers has certainly shown through their position as the torchbearer for Africa’s exciting creative revolution. The festival will revolve around five well-established artists who will act as the superheroes they are: challenging the norm by creatively changing the way the world sees Africa. The idea is to use their art as their superpower, and display Africa’s talents for what they really are and not what for what people perceive them to be.
This festival has the ability to create an even bigger noise than ‘One Source’ did, landing the song at number one on iTunes. Taking that into consideration, you can look forward to an extraordinary festival that inspires African unity and persistence. As mentioned, you will witness the collaboration of five inspiring artists, headed up by the award-winning rap-star Khuli Chana (South Africa/Music – The Dragon) standing alongside Sho Madjozi, (South Africa/Music – The Rain Queen), Trevor Stuurman, (South Africa/Fashion – The Explorer) Fabrice Monteiro, (Senegal-Benin/Fashion and art – The Iron Warrior) and Osborne Macharia, (Kenya/Photography – The Eye). Their characters reveal the following:
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The Dragon: His voice is his power. He breathes fire when he speaks and calls the world to arms.
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The Rain Queen: With her powerful words, She summons the weather that enriches the earth.
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The Explorer: He has the power to reveal true character. He sees more than meets the eye.
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The Iron Warrior: He can transform matter into art with a simple gesture of his hands.
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The Eye: He has the power to immortalise life’s most meaningful and important moments.
This will be a celebration of African transformation: where people are encouraged to be bold, ambitious, authentic and proudly African, while hoping to be inspired on their paths of greatness. This event also strives to replace the images of how the world ‘perceives’ African art to be, with a true reflection of African creativity. People can visit OneSourceLive.com to participate in this movement.
As the Absolut ambassador and the leading role of the festival, Khuli Chana says: “One Source Life, being a platform for the growing unification of African creatives, is a perfect opportunity for me to fulfil a long-standing dream of mine, to display Africa to the world in the most majestic and powerful way possible. This project defines what being a creative revolutionary means to me – the courage to unite in the face of all physical, cultural, and political boundaries and differences as Mama Africa’s offspring and make her shine, to make her proud, to make her smile.”
“This is a very important part of the African Renaissance. Africa’s creative awakening is ushering in a new era in world entertainment and in the global arts sector at large. As we unite, grow, and progress creatively, we influence the world and share the greatest and most effective inspiration the world has ever experienced. I’m proud to be an African leader in my own right, and to be championing the advancement of African brilliance in our lifetime.”
Keep an eye out on Khuli Chana and his social media pages for more information on the event. You can also follow Absolut on Facebook to stay in the loop about the event, buy tickets and more.