Atieno Kombe - Africa Mama

Yesterday I had a beautiful afternoon at Atieno Kombe's store Africa Mama in Bothell. She had invited to a Customer Appreciation Party with live music by Guillaume Mpacko . Great music and a wonderful atmospere! Lot's of fun dancing. (Some images of the party will come in a few days).

Atieno Kombe is the first woman I photographed for SeattleWoman Magazine four years ago.

She left a deep impression in me when I met her the first time, as I am sure she leaves with everybody who meets her.  There is a light around her, a beauty that comes deep  from inside. You can feel her strong presence watching her interacting with the people around her. Graceful, full of attention for the other person and full of joy. 

Here you can see her with her stepson.
Atieno grew up in Kenya. She devoted herself to work for the children who are left behind as orphans from the aids epidemic. She is the president of "Urgent Africa", a non governmental organization "committed to creating programs that build sustainable solutions for communities that have been gravely affected by aids."

I feel there is much to learn from her. Faced with the pain of the on-going nightmare of aids in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 16 million orphans "sadness and mourning is a normal part of each day", as she says.  But you don't see any anger, blame or cynicism consuming her. She uses her sadness as strength to help children to live.

Atieno is closing her store Africa Mama in Bothell on this Tuesday. There is still a chance to visit. 

Dearboy at EMP

On Valentines Day I saw a great performance of the group Dearboy at the EMP. I knew about it because the singer of the band, Kathryn, is the daughter of our good friends Donna and Bill van Buren.

The concert was part of the yearly Sounds Off, "the Northwest's largest underage battle of the bands competition for musicians 21 and under." On February 14th four bands played. I was excited to see the girl I knew for so long playing in front of a big audience and the jugdes. The group had to compete against three other groups which were very good too. But Dearboy was the only girls band.

I never heard them playing live before and I have to say I loved it. There was a special atmosphere in the space when they played. A certain seriousness. The audience seemed to mirror the seriousness of the band members and share in their presence. No attempt to please the audience with prepared moves or fancy gestures, just the music. I was fascinated looking at them, doing their "work".

But while they somehow contained themselves, concentrated on their instruments or the text of the song, their was a wildness too. A powerful energy, a determination. These songs had to be played and had to be sung. Beautiful!!

Bass: Jessa Lowe. Drums: Willa G. Strings and sings: Kathryn van Buren. Keys: Sasha Kool

Dearboy made it to the second place on the 14th and the third in the finals on March 7th . This is quite something. Congratulations!!!

Watch out for Dearboys next performances. It's so great to see them live. Here you can hear and see them with their song "Blister"