EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NEW YORK

MAHINA MOVEMENT (mahinamovement.com), Vaimoana Niumeitolu, Gabriella Callendar, Erica DeLaRosa

Mahina Movement is the phenomenal 3 women trio who combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina Movement’s extraordinary melodies tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and awareness of human struggle and connection. 3 voices and one guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement’s rare sound and vision not only creates a raw, fierce artistic “movement” combining traditional and contemporary poetry, music, painting, theater, and ritual but also, is constantly generating a strong, steady “movement” for community—consisting of radical love, unstoppable activism and ruthless compassion. 

Based and consistently building and creating in New York City, Mahina Movement not only lives in New York but also makes sure to contribute their multi-talents of creativity and organizing in a place they call home. Having deep roots from all over the world—Mexico, Ireland, Tonga and Africa—Mahina Movement consists of a Musician from Hollis, Queens; a Dancer from Texas and a Painter from Utah. Together, they have carved and crafted a world of musical and artistic possibilities, running outside of boxes and crossing borders and limits. They have combined their skills, cultures, ancestors, stories and languages to reach the masses and ignite inspiration in the face of resignation and cynicism.

Dr. LYNN GUITAR (TAINO) has been Resident Director of CIEE´s (Council on International Educational Exchange) program in Liberal Arts for North Americans at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago. She arrived on August 3, 1997, as a Fulbright Fellow, to finish the research and writing of her doctoral dissertation, Cultural Genesis: Relationships among Africans, Indians, and Spaniards in rural Hispaniola, first half of the sixteenth century…. She has lived, researched, worked, and taught as a permanent Dominican resident now for more than 14 years.

Lynne has recently written chapters for three important books: Illustrated History of the Caribbean by Francisco Scarrano and Stephan Palmie (eds.) Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives by Jane Landers (ed.), and Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and Revival by Maximilian Forte (ed.), as well as articles about the Taíno peoples for dozens of professional journals. She is currently writing an historical novel about the encounter between Taínos and Spaniards but totally from the indigenous viewpoint. Please Facebook "Guanin" for more info.

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