You will find your people here is a collaborative project and performance by author Caroline Wanjiku Kihato, composer Clare Loveday and pianist Mareli Stolp. It was first performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in July 2022 as part of The Centre’s For Once programme.

It begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with Fazila who is desperately trying to leave. The story moves quickly, the narrative pieced together from the memories of a woman on the move: Jail cells, trucks-rides, bartering and borders until, eventually, she is in Johannesburg, South Africa. Here, in Hillbrow, the smell of street-food and exhaust fumes, the press of bodies in the street, and the cacophony of sirens, hooters, music and chatter. In the absence of a country to call her own, she holds onto all of these sights, sounds and experiences. They make her feel a little less alone.

This is one of the stories told in You will find your people here. The 35-minute work combines piano, spoken word and other forms of vocal utterance to create a response to the texts and testimonies of migrant women currently living in Johannesburg. While these testimonies form the basis of the work, the live piano and utterances (both by Stolp) build an immersive soundscape that “gives voice and pays homage to the lived experiences of these women.”

In this way, the piano becomes a narrative device, drawing out the musicality of a name, the resonance of a memory. Sometimes, when words are not enough – like a violent police raid at an inner-city market – music fills the gaps.

Through the individual journeys of these women, You will find your people here animates and traces the relationships between trade, labour, gender and migration across the African continent. And while these journeys are difficult, there is room for respite in their convergence – like a quiet place in the city on a weekend morning where these women can meet and talk and “forget how difficult Johannesburg is.”

– David Mann

CREDITS:

PERFORMER | Mareli Stolp
WRITER | Caroline Wanjiku Kihato
COMPOSER | Clare Loveday