Evon

The artist

A few words about your artistic career

I sing my way through life. From Ugandan school halls to Swedish concert halls. From jazz, rhythm and blues to reggae.

How long have you been an artist?

All my life.

Why did you apply for this scholarship? How will the scholarship support you?

I applied for the grant because it spoke exactly to what I was doing during this period of isolation and creation at home, in the garden, with my yoga practice and songwriting. This grant will support the exploration of my creative expression, broaden the range of my work and speak to a new audience.

What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency?

• Pursuing my career in music
• Broadening my range of work
• Continue to earn a living doing what I love

His residence

What did you achieve during this creative residency? What is the result (work created)? Who was involved in the creative process?

I turned my living space into a recording studio and started recording the sounds around and inside my house. I recorded everything from the ticking of the clocks, the rain, the keys in the lock to the barking of my dogs and the birds in the trees. Having no idea what it would all sound like, I started writing songs about how I felt and what I was experiencing at that time in Covid19.

I wrote, recorded and produced five songs. For four of them, I used the elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth in my home space. The last song is a song from the space of my heart for all the people affected by Covid19, in particular a friend I lost because of it. The whole project is called 'Songs Of Home' because it plays on the idea of me staying at home because of the pandemic and starting to identify what 'Home' means to me.

I asked Samuel Lamara to mix and master them. With his help behind the camera and a set designer, Sheila Nakitende shot a video for 'BIMULI' and released it on Wednesday 2 September on Youtube, and the songs are available on Soundcloud.

How do you think these activities help us to think about the world today, in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and/or about building for the future?

My activities and creations are a reflection of the current world, here and now, during the COVID19 crisis, because they were centred on the idea of isolating oneself and staying at home as an artist like everyone else in the world. It's about asking how to create and work by myself using the space and environment of my home as music to accompany my songs without having access to other musicians due to quarantine and confinement, and what home means to me, to us, now that we're focusing on working and living in that same space.

This raises the idea that the house is not just made up of the four walls in which we 'live'. This home is the whole earth and all its elements. It implies the idea that perhaps by staying at home and bringing calm to our daily lives, we can learn to live and work in harmony with the uncontrollable and unpredictable events of life and nature.

How did you feel during the residency? And afterwards?

I was very enthusiastic about the idea of writing and producing on my own, because it was the first time. In the middle of the residency, I had a schedule and a rhythm, I was curious and I really enjoyed experimenting with collecting sounds, listening and seeing which sounds worked and which didn't. It was a real pleasure.
At the end of the residency, I feel accomplished because I was able to create completely on my own. I think it's the most authentic and intimate artistic representation of myself to date. Every aspect of this project (the E.P. artwork, the songs, the video) is part of me.

His work

[(

Songs of Home

)]

[(Bimuli (Ebimuli)
Discover the song Bimuli (Ebimuli) on Soundcloud)]

Verse One

Nzijukira
Bwetwali
Flowers , flowers, flowers
Nzijukira
Bwetwali
Bwetwali
Bwetwali

[(Obwoomu Luganda for 'Alone
Discover the song Obwoomu )]

Chorus

Ntuula nenkulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Ntuula ne kulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu

Chorus
Ntuula ne nkulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Ntuula ne kulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu

[(Nothing's the Same
Discover the song Nothing's the Same)]

Verse One
TV pictures
On the news
All the stories
The new rules
Are something we never knew
Changed everything out the blue
Our lives are rearranged
No more hugs or handshakes
At home like we ought to do
Its safety for me and you
And we all stopped spinning around
And in most towns silence is sound

Chorus
Nothing's the same
Everything has changed
Nothing's the same
Everything has changed
Nothing's the same
Everything has changed
Nothing's the same
Everything has changed

[(Home Again

Discover the song Home Again
)]

Intro
I feel so lost and broken
lost and hopeless... home again
I feel so lost and
Hope that I hope again

Verse Four
I can see I was lost and I wonder
Why I didn't see the truth through the glamour
Why I felt so lost and broken
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again

[(My Chi
Discover the song My Chi)]

Am looking at life ,at reality
Am keeping my life force
My Energy
My Chi

Taking it back to control me
Centred and grounded in all things
Thoughts are aligned for my own dreams
My soul and my mind are my own team
Yes
Looking at life at reality
Am keeping my life force
And Energy
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi