Born in Botswana, Southern Africa, in the 1970s, Samuel Judah Seomeng (aka Ras Judah) grew up in a household filled with music. His parents introduced Judah to singing at church, and he was immersed in Africa’s rich cultural heritage through his great grandfather Raphate, who entertained young Judah and his siblings with African folk tales.
Since immigrating to NZ in 2004, Judah has become a recognisable face in venues around Aotearoa. He spent his first nine years in Nelson before relocating to Wellington. Here he started the Culture Embassy Project, a ten-piece multicultural band, which has become a much loved part of the Wellington music scene.
For this show-and-tell P-Lab session, Judah will trace his musical journey: growing up in Africa and his early influences including Afrikan Storytelling, traditional music of Botswana, Johannesburg township jazz, Jamaican reggae and the Rastafari movement, through to his collaborative music work in NZ.
He'll finish the session with an acoustic set illustrating musical styles that have been important influences for him.
Apart from his passion for music, Ras Judah is a published author of two African folk tale books, 'Dimo and Chiwelo' and 'Dimo and the little bush doctor'.
P-Lab is a series of artist-run talks and workshops at Pyramid Club.
Many thanks to Creative NZ and Wellington City Council for supporting Pyramid Club's programme.
