One should expect such a sharp writer to pull no punches, however Imaad Majeed gives equal parts flowers and flames in this classically uncensored deep dive where they re-connect with an old creative co-conspirator and friend, Dylan Prins (FKA Larry T Hill).
This episode shot by Riyal Riffai
Imaad Majeed is a multidisciplinary artist, curator and writer based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They are Director and Curator of the trilingual performance platform “KACHA KACHA”. They are one part of the artist collective “The Packet” and VJ/DJ of “Packet Radio” (SUPR FM). They enjoy making playlists, DJing as “imaDJinn”, and writing about musicians from Sri Lanka for international music blogs. They are Project Coordinator and Co-Curator of Thattu Pattu, a platform for music from the fringes of Sri Lanka. Their poetry has been published in “Out of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala and English poetry from Sri Lanka and its diasporas”, “CITY: A Journal of South Asian Literature”, as well as the local small-press chapbooks “Lime Plain Tea” and “Annasi & Kadalagotu”. Their artwork, in various mediums, has been featured at NeMLA, Tamil Studies Symposium, Queer Tamil Collective, Eternal Internet Brotherhood/Sisterhood, Theertha Performance Platform, Colomboscope, Chobi Mela, Art Dubai, Queer Arts Festival, Serendipity Arts Festival, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka, BuchBasel, and Spielart Theatre Festival, among others. They are presently working on “KANNOORU”, exploring Sri Lankan Sufi/Muslim identity, community, memory, erasure, ancestry and mysticism through sample-based music, a project supported by a grant from Experimenter’s Generator Co-operative Art Production Fund.
Featuring RINA. Nejmere, Megan Cope, Sirena Varma and Facilitated by Dylan Prins.
The role of the artistic collective in the current arts landscape”. In today’s CALD arts scene, collectives are redefining collaboration, creativity, and community. This panel brings together artists to discuss the power of working collectively—how it fosters innovation, amplifies voices, and shapes the cultural landscape.
Sirena Varma
Sirena Varma is a multidisciplinary designer with a background in architecture and a decade of experience across graphic design, branding, and exhibition design. She co-founded Twig, an interdisciplinary collaborative offering flexible design solutions for global brands and academic institutions. Her commitment to community care and creative activism also led to Magan-djin Creatives for Palestine, a grassroots collective that unites local creatives in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Through projects like Blatt & Matonelli, Sirena’s work merges traditional practices with contemporary design, using interdisciplinary collaboration to explore identity, heritage, and the power of collective art making.
Megan Cope
A Quandamooka artist from Moreton Bay/Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). Her site-specific sculptural installations, video works, and paintings investigate issues relating to colonial histories, the environment and mapping practices. In 2024, she received the Creative Australia Award for Emerging and Experimental Arts and in 2017–19, she was the official Australian War Artist, commissioned by the Australian War Memorial. She is a member of Aboriginal art collective proppaNOW, recipients of the 2022–24 Jane Lombard Prize for Arts and Social Justice, and is represented by Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.
Nejmere
A Magandjin-based DJ and co-creator of Yalla Collective – an Eastern Mediterranean collective that focuses on community building and cultural exchange. She has been a member of our music scene for many years, first starting out at 4zzz and now DJing at clubs across magandjin and interstate. As a co-creator of Yalla Collective, Nejmere has felt what it means to create meaningful spaces together and the importance of this work.
RINA
A singer, songwriter, and poet from Far North Queensland, grew up on the ancestral lands of North-East Arnhem Land, planting her roots in Brisbane. Her soulful sound and captivating storytelling explore themes of love, vulnerability, and personal empowerment. Her music embodies divine femininity, encouraging women to honor their truth and follow the voice of their spirit with conviction. Recently, she released Heal Sistah in collaboration with SOLCHLD – a heartfelt love song dedicated to sistahs in need of extra love and support. As the co-creator of Soul Deep, RINA helps cultivate a space for creatives to explore decolonial and holistic practices, honoring connection, community, and healing through art.
Dylan Prins, Moderator
The Founder of Kaju Creative and the host of the Creator Tales podcast, which platforms underrepresented artists. “Kaju” is the South Asian word for Cashews which is probably also his favourite nut. Dylan was born in the UAE to Sri Lankan parents, grew up in Western Sydney, Australia, and completed a 4 year motherland stint in Sri Lanka prior to moving to Magan-djin / Brisbane in 2022. He rekindled his love for filmmaking in Sri Lanka after a 10-year break and started Kaju Creative in 2017 as a digital nomad at the time. He is also an audio engineer in broadcast radio, and closely connected with local community groups such as Pedal Party Magan-djin and Bring a Plate dance.
Produced by Aleea Monsour + Eyal Chipkiewicz for Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC). Live stream feed by BEMAC. Podcast recording produced by Dylan Prins for Kaju Creative.
https://bemac.org.au/event/bemac-discussions-why-collectives-live-and-streamed/
Roman MC is an award-winning artist, freestyle MC, and storyteller who has been performing on international stages and engaging with diverse audiences for over a decade. Alongside a career in higher education and award-winning outreach programs workshopping with primary and high school students around aspiration, pathways, and careers, Roman MC has engaged with diverse communities across Australia and abroad using creativity and self-expression as vehicles for the development of self-belief, resilience, and a growth mindset. As an active lead performer in nationally renowned acts like BULLHORN brass band and the breakthrough improvisation project Life On Earth, to the internationally-acclaimed urban circus 360 Allstars, Roman’s explosive freestyle rap performances have impacted audiences from Australia to Asia, and Europe - including sold-out solo performances at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland (Best Of Fest ‘18). Roman MC has also held the first formal tertiary education role of Rap Lecturer in South East QLD at JMC Academy Brisbane. As a storyteller and freelance filmmaker, Roman MC has made award-winning short films and documented the stories of global communities while empowering new storytellers teaching filmmaking at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology, while also empowering global communities across the Pacific, Middle East, Europe, and America through an innovative global storytelling tech startup (Folktale). Whether you are an aspiring artist experiencing a transformative one-on-one masterclass, a workshop participant at an arts festival, a school student embracing the power of showing up in life for a rewarding career, or an organisation building your team’s resilience and relationship in a fun and creative way - Roman MC is above all things a passionate human, encourager, and a champion of creative expression as a way of sharing one’s voice and story. Instagram Rollcall https://www.instagram.com/roman.is.alive/ https://www.instagram.com/kaju_creative/ https://www.instagram.com/dylanjprins/
A multi-talented creative visionary, rapper, singer and writer, MUDRAT has gained acclaim for blending of punk, metal & hip-hop influences alongside passionate delivery & raw lyricism. Creating music that draws from his perspective of the world, life experience and cultural roots and political beliefs he has quickly cultivated a reputation for his versatility, raw energy & powerful live performances.
IG Rollcall
Hailed as "one of the freshest feeling projects in Australian music right now" (Happy Mag), Meanjin/Brisbane cult favourite artist-activist Matt Hsu is a 2022 & 2020 QMA winning Taiwan-Australian composer, multi-instrumentalist, alt-orchestra leader and anti-racism activist. His project Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra is both his solo artist moniker and 24-piece orchestra underpinned by inclusivity, gender diversity, community-mindedness and DIY ethos.
Matt’s mythos as an inimitable music auteur creating unpredictable and exquisite music way off Australia’s well trodden ‘indie path’, is rapidly snowballing with comparisons to genre-defying artists like Andre 3000 (both his Outkast and ‘what-even-is-music flute era), Cosmo Sheldrake, Shugo Tokumaru, Mid-Air Thief, and Alabaster DePlume, with the live presence of Kokoroko meets Polyphonic Spree — zig-zagging from whimsical ‘gnome-core’ bedroom pop, second-line horns, socially conscious collabs, found object soundscapes, to Studio Ghibli-esque sweeping symphonies, all imbued with distinctly ‘Matt Hsu’ sensibility.
In solo artist mode, Matt uses the moniker Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra as his multi-instrumental exhaust valve, creating otherworldly music that celebrates difference and the juicy spaces between cultures, drawing from his ‘punk-trained composer’ roots as a founding member of beloved protest band The Mouldy Lovers. With a signature maximal-minimalism and uncanny hungriness for weaving found objects, odd instruments, eclectic collabs and DIY ethos into strange aural alchemy, Matt enraptures music lovers, musicians “who know” and audiophiles with an offbeat sense of adventure.
The radically-inclusive 24-piece Obscure Orchestra gang might be Meanjin’s most eclectic lineup of alternative/experimental musicians, queer noise artists, indie figures, conservatorium defectors and hip hop luminaries; comprising of First Nations, BIPOC, disabled, neurodiverse, non-binary and trans artists. Surfacing as one of Australia’s most sought after projects (recently opening the 2024 QMAs) Obscure Orchestra challenges both the ‘white dudes with guitars’ indie music canon, and the pomp and formality of classical orchestras, bringing a fresh burst of joyful anti-colonial noisemaking, DIY spirit and POC-led diversity to the Australian music landscape. MHOO are steadily usurping cultural meccas like a trojan horse - a ‘really really big indie band’ in the vague outline of an orchestra, gleaming with alt-pop/ hip hop/weird folk/activist/noise experiment weirdness - gaining the attention of ABC’s Art Works and the ABC Classic 100.
When Matt isn’t making sounds, he can be spotted in Meanjin floating on a handbuilt bicycle, craving ramen and Taiwanese fried chicken.
IG Rollcall
Nadiah "NfuZion" is Australia’s first and only internationally recognised freelance dancer, educator and choreographer who specialises in Dancehall, various styles from the African diaspora, and House, currently based between Australia and Europe.
Born in Naarm and raised in Malaysia in a South African & Malaysian household, Nadiah relocated back to Australia in 2005 and began her professional career in Meanjin in 2008. Since 2015 she has taken her career beyond its borders to acquire, share and exchange knowledge globally. In addition to being a movement artist, Nadiah is a creative entrepreneur having launched her own event production and talent management company, Nfuze Events, as well as a niche dance hub dedicated to African and Caribbean street dance styles called Rhythm and Roots Movement. Nadiah is also an emerging DJ. Nadiah is a member of Paris based house and all styles crew, Paradox-sal; and Pantsula crew, Via Vyndal Pantsulas from Johannesburg. Nadiah is a passionate culture keeper and community ambassador constantly striving to inspire, empower, educate, elevate and foster collaborations. Her passion, generosity, and authenticity are palpable and shine through in every aspect of her profession. https://www.instagram.com/nadiahnfuzion https://www.instagram.com/nfuze.events/ https://www.instagram.com/rnr_movement/
Allirah Fisher is a proud Ewamian, Cobble Cobble, Birri and South-Sea Islander Woman, Sister and Mother. Born and raised in the outer suburbs of Meanjin, Allirah has always had strong passions and values within the social justice and the creative arts realms. Allirah has worked within the Indigenous health, community development and social service spaces while channeling her artistic expression through ceremony, performance, choreography and facilitation. More recently, Allirah is developing her own aspirations as a creative entrepreneur as the Founding member of The First Creatives and Co-Founder of Yir'un-Yalangi Womens Healing. Interconnecting her experience and passion in both social work and creative arts, Allirah creates safe-spaces for First Nations stories and experiences to be shared and explored at a grassroots level to develop artistic work that is transformative for both the storytellers and listeners. With strong values for breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma, Allirah is using her purpose to empower First Nations communities to move to a place of healing through creative expression and re-claiming of our traditional practices.
Sudhesh Somu is a proud Queenslander who arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka. His life experience and community development background drives his passion for supporting disadvantaged Indigenous youth, and combating family violence through men's behaviour change programs. Sudesh longs to have the love for his state of Queensland to be reflected back to him.
IG rollcall:
https://www.instagram.com/sudhesh_somu/ https://www.instagram.com/kaju_creative/ https://www.instagram.com/dylanjprins/
French - Brazilian local artist, Melissa Cambon, is multilingual, not only in several spoken languages but also eloquently expresses herself through weaving, singing, writing, illustrating and dancing. Melissa’s artistic practices connects her to her French – Brazilian cultural roots, having been inspired by her grandmother’s many forms of arts and crafts and supported by her father throughout her studies in Art and Design in Guadeloupe (French Caribbean) and Textile Design in Nîmes (France). However, she found the industrial orientation of her formal studies suppressed her personal creativity.
Returning to her cultural roots through drawing and music also reconnected to her own intuitive expression and became her medicine. Travelling Australia since her arrival in …. She fell in love with its First Nations people, its amazing landscapes and wildlife, guiding her unfurling life journey of art and connection which has her currently settling and creating in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands.
You will find Melissa performing solo or with her band Solua, performing roving with Circus tribe.
Niyi Adepoyibi is a recording engineer/ producer facilitating audio creations from countless record labels, independent artists and media networks.
Not content just behind the scenes, he has also worked as a session musician with artists spanning the full spectrum of styles - partaking in domestic & international tours, in addition to performing for theatre shows and film soundtracks.
Safe to say, he likes...sound
Sartika is an Indonesian-Australian vocalist who champions the warmest corners of R&B with her intimate, relatable songwriting. Relocating to Brisbane as an adolescent, she honed her skills by busking at festivals and markets, later working with producers and artsts like Nerve, JK-47 and Jay Orient as well as the local collectives SHOKU, Spare Time and NO.ONE NETWORK. As a solo artist and a member of supergroup BBTK, she has performed at Rabbits Eat Lettuce, Yonder Festival, and countless gigs across Queensland. Online, she has earned a healthy following for her live loop covers of classic R&B songs, where she flexes her additional skills as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. Through her emotive music, Sartika hopes to champion Indonesian culture while also healing and empowering women.
A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins
IG rollcall
Janaki Gerard is an actor, writer and singer from Brisbane who has worked in London and New York City. Janaki was a top twenty finalist in the Stellar South Asian Women of 2022 Australia. At present Janaki is performing in “Proof” with Ad Astra Theatre Company. In August she will be part of the original cast for the world premiere of “Item” presented by Dance Masala & Metro Arts Theatre. Her mission for the future is to develop more platforms & projects for South Asian creatives in Australia.
Growing up on an island population of 2,500 people, Sachém holds both ancestral ties to Noonuccal (Stradbroke Island) and African American with his family roots currently leading to Florida. His story, experience and approach to music are ones that the Australian community has not seen before - reflecting both front-line First Nation / African American perspectives within the Australian environment and a deep understanding of the hip-hop community and its culture.
In this conversation, Sachém shares challenges he faced growing up whilst always having to perform on the sports fields. He shows a lot of love here for his partner and creative communities including Tom Thum, Kyle, Nerve & No.One Network, Luka Lesson, Obscure Orchestra, Jimblah and his new home, Elefant Traks and their A+R Jannah.
Sitting down today is SAIE - A DJ, producer, and musician from Meanjin. With strong classical, cultural and urban influences, he explores multiple genres of music and roles as a performer, producer and composer. Starting to learn the Tabla (Indian percussion instrument) at 8 years old, his passion for music grew stronger expanding to multiple eastern and western instruments. In High School he started producing music and since has worked on multiple projects as a producer / engineer. DJ’ing started as a hobby in his late teens, but eventually became a big passion of his and he has quickly grown into the Australian DJ scene. SAIE combines all of his musical roles and skills in the different projects he participates in. He is working on creating his own sound and planning to release his own original music in 2023.
We get into his creative upbringing, starting out DJing in COVID times and just how much music hustle this 20 year old has.
A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins
IG rollcall
Aunty Chantay Link is a Gooreng Gooreng, Kabi Kabi woman and Australian South Sea Islander who has grown up in the inner-city suburbs of Meajjin/Brisbane, a proud Brisbane Black. She is passionate about women and family living in violent free homes and communities. Chantay has continued to practice and participate in healing circles on country and have shared this knowledge with other Aboriginal women in finding their pathway living with trauma. "I know there is so much more to learn, and this is a wonderful opportunity to share and learn".
She is among four grass-roots First Nations Women who have been invited to attend the 'Healing our Spirit' Global Indigenous Gathering in Canada. They are currently crowdfunding via the link below and Monday nights BAP class.
Gofundme First Nations Women travel to Healing Gathering
Book a Bring a Plate Class for Monday 17th April here
A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins
IG rollcall
Aurora is a Meanjin based Arrernte-Afro-Carribean multidisciplinary artist. Her music (SOLCHLD), spoken word poetry, performance and playwriting explored the liminal space she occupies in her experience. Addressing themes such as identity, decolonisation, healing, home and relationships. Aurora maps the journey as she walks it, offering the lessons learnt along the way.
A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins
IG rollcall
Sitting down this week is Rudy Matoy - a being who’s dedicated his life to healing through many forms but mostly through singing and song writing. From the guidance of his old people Rudy has found himself travelling whilst weaving together language to help him communicate to a broader audience of people and their experiences. Through his music he hopes to apply these lessons and reflect in people the importance of healing through love and 'innerstanding'. We go deep and wide in this episode and have some profound reflections. Rudy's debut single, LOST is out now.
Stream LOST here.
A podcast from Kaju Creative, Hosted by Dylan Prins
IG rollcall
