Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is delighted to announce that South African singer, composer and educator NALEDI, the nonprofit organization’s first year-long Artist-in-Residence, will culminate her residency with a dynamic three-act performance titled “Ekhaya, Rebirth to Home.” The performance will include live music, dance, poetry and storytelling.

This special performance is free and open to the public. Advance reservations are available on Eventbrite.

NALEDI worked collaboratively with local dancer and choreographer MiKeshia McPhaul to create a multidisciplinary, creative production exploring the human life cycle and the perspective of home with childlike curiosity. With an artistic process informed by Afro-centered practices, ritual, celebration and rites of passage, NALEDI and MiKeshia McPhaul combine improvised music, choreography and spoken word into one thrilling expression of the human experience.

Each act in the performance will represent a different stage of the human life cycle. Act I includes an a capella piece titled Ekhaya, which is the Zulu word for “at home,” and depicts the perspectives of an unborn baby and a pregnant mother before and during birth. Act II addresses the tumultuous phases of life and death, exploring themes of adolescence, identity, relationships and community through an improvisational and interactive experience. The final act focuses on the concept of the afterlife and features a transcendent performance influenced by classical, jazz and alternative music.