But there was a rude awakening to that journey: I discovered black as a race, a challenge, a determinant of life and health, a checkbox on every single form I needed to fill out. In 23 years, I met great people, developed strong friendships, learned an awful lot-especially about Service, challenged myself and my capabilities, and forged my budding character to become the strong adult I am today. I developed a rebellious, activist spirit very early in life, but when I read that book and layered it with the projection of America to the rest of the world through movies and entertainment, pop culture, their embassies’ work and their then world leadership, I didn’t suspect that what I was reading was still painfully and systemically relevant. I held this view despite the fact that the first book I read in English was the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Like many African immigrants, I moved to the Unites States as a young student, in the late nineties, with dreams of “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave,” the country where I could be whatever I wanted to be, where opportunity abounds and where everyone can make it. It is an excerpt from the farewell letter I sent my colleagues at the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers’ Racial Equity Working Group when I decided to leave the United States of America and move my family to West Africa. I wrote that message almost a year ago today. I want my child to know and feel that being like her mommy-an unapologetically black, foreign-born US citizen, voluntarily covered (!) Muslim woman-is A-OK! So, I am taking that leap." I want to prepare my child from a place where what I teach her is reinforced by what she sees around her and I want to give her what I was given. I am ensuring that what she gains makes what she might lose worth letting go of. This is not to say she will not face other issues she will, as I did growing up, but in the face of continued social injustice and glaringly overt racial inequity, bigotry and racism, I am choosing those challenges as I move her -us-from America to Senegal, to Africa. "I want her to grow up realizing her power before she, like I did when I moved here, understands the challenge it constitutes in certain environments… I want her owning her inner power, beauty and strength as the foundation upon which to handle these challenges. It will be a daily uphill battle to ensure she un-learns what society tells her and absorbs what I will spend countless hours injecting in her to build her up-something my parents never needed to consciously do because I grew up in a society that naturally made the power of my blackness a standard. I cannot guarantee that this USA will naturally support me as I teach my child the power of her blackness.
I cannot say that this is where I want to raise my child. Perera recently composed music for a Red Cross docu-advert for Swiss television."I can no longer say that this country, where I have lived longer than anywhere else in my life, where I became a naturalized citizen almost 10 years ago, where I poured sweat and tears as a productive member of society, is the land of freedom and opportunity. She has gone on to give audio production workshops for for Ableton Loop & Native Instruments and has co-curated / participated in various music projects in Asia and Africa via the Goethe Institut. Slowly, Ableton changed her life and mindset forever. Sasha bought some basic audio production gear in the mid-00s and started DJing 'for fun' in 2008. Skepta or D-Double for their first gigs outside the UK.
#In the land of elsewhere series
In 2004 she co-curated 'Grimetime' party series at WMF club in Berlin, for which she booked artists such as Mutek Festival-Montreal, Shelter-Shanghai, Guggenheim-Venice, Fabric–London, Low End Theory in L.A. Thom Yorke placed 'Silikon' the song Sasha co-wrote with Modeselektor on his Itunes top-10 playlist in 2006. BBC radio icon John Peel played their first EP and called it 'pop music from the future’ and they released 3 albums after that.
Pre-elsewhere, Sasha was songwriter & vocalist of the project Jahcoozi. She's received critical acclaim from media outlets such as the BBC, NPR, Pitchfork, Fader & The Guardian and has produced remixes for Gonjasufi on Warp Records, former Malaria-drummer Gudrun Gut, Madame Gandhi, Chino Amobi, PlanningtoRock and Polica. Oscar-winning Director Paolo Sorrentino's 'Loro' in 2018.
#In the land of elsewhere tv
She has had songs licensed for TV & films eg. Perera Elsewhere has released two albums on the Los-Angeles-based FoF music who she signed with in 2013. The result sees eerie ambient-blues, avant R&B & extra-terrestrial folk that seamlessly co-exist in the land of ‘elsewhere'. Using everything from gritty, indigenous sounds to her own warped vocals or trumpet, oscillating synths or dread-heavy basses, Perera creates soundscapes to house her songs as well as shape-shifting, psychedelic instrumentals.
Perera Elsewhere aka Sasha Perera is a London-born, Berlin-based musician, producer, songwriter and DJ.
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