Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

The People's Lounge - Meet My Ancestors

/ By Freya Devlin
The People's Lounge - Meet My Ancestors

Meet My Ancestors is Championing Zimbabwean Arts: Performance and Workshop Established in 2020. A theatrical production and album telling stories from Zimbabwean culture. Through ancient mbira music fused with contemporary sounds. The multidisciplinary performance piece aims to challenge the concept of UK mainstream theatre. Additionally, exploring the imposition of western music structures on music from cultures around the globe. They will be performing at the Global Bandstand Weekender 2021. Also, they will be performing at Victorious Festival 2021. Where you can see them perform and host a drum workshop - Presented by The People's Lounge. 

Meet My Ancestors is composed and arranged by London-based actor, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist John Falsetto. John is set to star as Mr Snow in Carousel at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre this summer. And has composed music for theatre, including the award-winning The Jungle by Good Chance Theatre and Ben Johnson’s Volpone for Tangle Theatre Company. Since announcing Meet My Mancestors, the project has received funding from the Genesis Foundation. The Mbira music endeavour features one of Zimbabwe's artists of the moment in Probeatz. Although only establishing in 2020 the group are already making a name for themselves performing and running workshops. Including residency at Battersea Arts Centre and Hawkwood CFT.

Meet My Ancestors is a perfect example of the independent talent that Team Jeeni can support, by having a showcase on Jeeni.com.

JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience.

• We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make.
• We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.
• We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.

Check out their showcase here on Jeeni:   Meet My Ancestors | Showcase | JEENI. Along with other showcases to add to your playlist. jeeni.com.

The People's Lounge

Meet My Ancestors will be performing at the Global Bandstand Weekender - Presented by The People's Lounge
GBW is bringing some of the Freshest Tropical Sounds from around the World to Portsmouth for a Free Weekend Festival at Southsea Bandstand from Sat 31st July – Sun 1st August 2021 | 12.30-6pm | @ Southsea Bandstand | Portsmouth | FREE PUBLIC EVENT! And at the Victorious Festival, World Music Village 2021.

04
Jun

Top patent strategist for the Jeeni streaming revolution!

Dr Justin Hill Streaming music start-up Jeeni is determined to give new talent an ethical deal and hand over 100% of the profits to artists who do all the hard work. Jeeni is also determined to protect their artists from the pitfalls and rip-offs that traditionally beset the world of music. So Jeeni is fortunate to have Dr Justin Hill on their side. Justin is recognised as leader in the field of intellectual property, and is Head of Patent Prosecution at Dentons, one of the world’s top legal firms. Justin says, “Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. Last year, with your support, we were recommended in Legal 500 and as Leaders in Field by Chambers, as well as top-tier patent professionals.” He goes on to say that Dentons continue to support early stage businesses like Jeeni, “who we believe have world class technologies capable of disrupting existing sectors. Venture tech and accelerator programs keep us in touch with the next generation of technology titans.”

06
Jun

Huawei to Hell

Today, Jeeni returns to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. Jeeni founding director Mel Croucher says, “We’re ahead of our original schedule, but there’s still so much more to do. We need to scale our online platform globally now and build our mass artist showcases to hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Mel has been writing the best-loved column in top-selling tech magazines for over 30 years. Now he’s agreed to share his work with our members. He’s a video games pioneer and musician, and to to find out more about Mel check out his Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Croucher. Here’s Mel’s latest! Trade wars are dangerous. When tariffs are imposed, and when sanctions get slapped on, and when one nation ceases to trade with another nation, then a trade war has a funny habit of turning into a real war. And here we all are, slap bang in the middle of a lulu of a trade war between the world’s two most powerful states. This is a trade war that’s not based on essentials like oil, or wheat, or toilet paper, but a trade war based on the pixies and fairy-dust of software algorithms. One day a peace treaty is waved, next day missiles are launched. Here is what happened in the future. The proxy war between the Donald Trump and Boris Johnson axis against Xi Jinping didn’t affect me much, seeing as I had never owned a Huawei handset. I admit that I did find some comfort in the fact that cellphone zombies became totally bereft at the prospect of not being able to view TikTok on their little Chinese screens. All I could say to those morons was - suck it up guys, you had it coming! In the first few hours of the Huawei denial of service attacks, the bewilderment and confusion of being unable to access social media apps soon turned to anger. This was triggered by the fact that the masses were unable to access social media apps to tell one another that they could not access social media apps. They soon realised they couldn’t remember any contact details of any of their virtual friends, or why they were virtual friends in the first place. Neither could they remember where they were, or where anything else was, or how to find their way around the real world at all. And without the Uber app they found themselves physically marooned within the perimeters of their ignorance. Deliveroo failed to respond the following day, so to avoid starvation, people who had a strong sense of smell managed to find their way to MacDonalds. But the computers were down and riots began when the Cola ran out, as slow-motion customers blamed Covid19 for the fact that China and the USA were having a software spat. That night, the younger, more active elements of society went on the rampage and looted Tescos for pot noodles, which was a total waste of effort because the electric kettles no longer worked, thanks to smart-meter reliance on dodgy apps. Tuesday evening, after martial law and compulsory prayers, the county lines failed to supply recreational drugs to their app-driven client base, and hospitals were targeted to fill the gap in the market. Amusing video clips of the descent into chaos were not shared, not because of any sense of social responsibility but because Instagram was kaput. This added to the howling rage of the mob more than somewhat. Then, not long after the dogs began to disappear, the hunting of the weak began, and there was the smell of woodsmoke and bacon in the air. On a more positive note, a lot of overweight people slimmed down fast and learned new skills like shadow puppetry and crossbow production. And so it was that all those predictions how civilisation would end as the result of electro-magnetic-pulse attacks turned out to be wrong. There was no need to launch missiles, zap communications or fry every electronic circuit in the land. All it took was an old man with an orange face to start a pissing contest. The irony that the old man’s preferred means of communication was Twitter is not lost on me, but then I don’t need Google Maps to tell me that we’re all up shit creek without a paddle. And that, dear reader, is how come we all ended up on the Huawei to Hell.

12
Dec

Jeeni IMAP community tops 5,000 new members.

The Independent Musicians and Performers Community (IMAP) was set up by the founders of Jeeni, and recently celebrated our 5,000th new member. Our Community is for everyone and anyone creative: musicians, voice-artists, performers, poets, singer-songwriters ... the list is endless. We connect, collaborate, share and support each other, while we have some fun and make a real difference. We are a completely independent group and have no interest in political debate in this community. We encourage our members to share their original music and performances. Jeeni launched IMAP with the single purpose of helping and supporting fellow artists with relevant news, blogs, stories, videos and top tips on how to cope in these challenging times. We scan the media every day for what support is available for musicians and performers. We make it our mission to wade through lengthy documents and policies so you don't have to, and we grab the main highlights and takeaways to make it easy for you to absorb the plethora of information swimming around. We very much want our members to invite their friends, families and other artists, we are all in this together and your great ideas need to shared. It doesn't matter where you are around the globe, and we would love to hear more about what other community groups are doing to support their members. Take a look at the Independent Musicians and Performers Community and join us today. You will be welcomed with open arms. Click here to visit IMAP.