The WHAA Foundation & ®chestra

The WHAA Foundation is an independent multicultural project centre which arranges activities by, with and for the benefit of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. Through the propagation of the culture of the countries of origin the foundation strives to contribute to the participation of these groups in society.

For years, Johnny Rahaket walked around with the idea to open up the cultural treasures, which to his expectation should be present in the centres for asylum seekers. A request made by the WHAA matched perfectly with his plans. The idea he had in mind was to make audible what an involuntary displacement does to people - an idea sustained by a phrase of TS Eliot: "There is no correct way to separate the past from the present, even if the past is finally over and done with."

Between ®chestra and the WHAA Foundation an inspiring form of musical cooperation came about: displaced singers - Majid Arab, Mile Lukić, Hodjat Mahmoodi, Mohadin Molly, Najim Nekzad and Oulfa Rouached - living at an asylum seekers' centre at Nijmegen were invited to voice their memories in a musical way.

Left: Oulfa Rouached (Tunisia), Majid Arab (Afghanistan), Hedy Schäperkötter

(management ®chestra), Mohadin Molly (Kurdistan), Hodjat Mahmoodi (Iran) and

Mile Lukić (former Yugoslavia) in VPRO's De Wandelende Tak.

Right: Oulfa Rouached and Hodjat Mahmoodi.

Left: Oulfa Rouached and Gerie Daanen in Lux Nijmegen.

Right: Mile Lukić (http://www.milelukic.com/) in the Stadschouwburg Nijmegen.

The repertoire was chosen from existing songs from their homelands: Tunisia, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Iran and former Yugoslavia. Johnny Rahaket's sole commision to them was "to do something with your homeland and make audible in what way leaving your country has effected you".

They all shared the best of themselves with one another in the hope that the outcome would transcend the sum total of the parts. The resulting cd Weeshuis (Orphanage) has become, in the words of the writer Frans Lopulalan, 'a shelter for homeless memories'.

The project has resulted in many performances on stages at home as well as abroad, on television in Reiziger in Muziek and on radio in De Wandelende Tak.

Left: Oulfa Rouached and Najim Nekzad.

Right: Hodjat Mahmoodi and Henk Wanders in Lux Nijmegen.

Left: Oulfa Rouached and Majid Arab in Reiziger in Muziek, VPRO Hilversum.

Right: Mohadin Molly in Parktheater Alphen aan de Rijn.

Photography Frans van Geffen & Hedy Schäperkötter. Videography Bikin Sendiri.

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