MAJU MAJU
Maju Maju whose original name is Jabulile Dladla was born in South Africa and now lives in Vancouver, Canada. She is a former founding member of the Grammy Award winning Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. She joined the choir at the age of 24 and spent the whole decade with the choir travelling all over the world. Maju Maju started singing at a very young age, she knew at that time that music will become a huge part of her life. She performs her original songs and some few popular songs by South African artists e.g. Brenda Fassie and Miriam Makeba.
She taught herself how to play piano in 2012 after arriving in Canada. She plays percussion which she learned from Zion Church when she was young, when she was accompanying her childhood neighbour. She is a music producer and a sound engineer in her own studio. Maju Maju has performed around the world with the Soweto Gospel choir, sharing the stage with big names in the music industry. Naming the few Angelique Kidjo, Queen band, and many more.
ABOUT AWA NIAGARA FALLS FESTIVAL
Founded in 2011 by international artist Sonia Aimy, African Women Acting (AWA) is an incorporated non-profit organization. The organization aims to empower, promote and preserve African cultural arts of all modalities in Ontario. These include vocal and instrumental music, theatre, dance, visual arts, spoken word, story-telling and poetry.
In order to comprehensively achieve our goal, we ardently support female African artists and those of the diaspora and champion related issues. As we are a community of women, the agenda of addressing social activism for social issues such as sexism, discrimination, racism, homelessness, gender-based violence and mental health are some aimed at to eradicate. Through artistic expressions, AWA brings these issues to light and offers knowledge, support and solutions.
Although AWA prioritizes promoting female African artists, we strongly believe in inclusivity in the arts community. We encourage partnerships and collaborations with artists of all genders, ethnicities and religious or spiritual beliefs.