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A musician and performance poet, Hakim was until recently an artist in residence at the Nirox Foundation in Johannesburg, alongside fellow South African artists Tubatsi Moloi, Aus Tebza, Modise Sekgothe, Mpumi Mama Drum, and veteran Ukrainian musician Anastasiya Voytyuk. The artists lived together for three weeks and shared a studio space where they could collaborate on projects and engage in cultural fellowship.
It says he has adopted: “… an inventive fusion of Afro-blues and indie jazz … underscored by his adaptation of traditional folk plucking techniques … that effortlessly bridges the classic with the avant-garde.” He lights up when he describes his encounters with Ukrainian artists, in particular at the Free the Children concert hosted by the Nirox Foundation on Human Rights Day.
Voytuk, who performed at the Free the Children concert, has travelled all over the world, playing the Ukrainian bandura with jazz drums, keyboards, synthesisers, and, more recently, the bass and clarinet.One of her international projects saw her take part in the Global Music Workshop at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she collaborated with 70 musicians from across the world.
“This is what I would also like to say to artists here in South Africa, to black artists of this generation: you need to become stronger. Only you can do this.”Voytuk noted that at the concert on Human Rights Day, it became clear, through the diverse array of songs, that we have “many similarities … because ancient tunes, they usually were built on a couple of notes”.
They’ve started discussions about a possible album. Hakim, in particular, has been deeply moved after hearing Oksana Pisarev, a psychologist from the Voices of Children from Ukraine, speak at a dialogue hosted by the Democracy Works Foundation, the Nirox Foundation and the Arts and Culture Trust at Constitution Hill on 12 March.