The Tunisia88 Alumni Choir was born out of a revolution. In the years following Tunisia’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, these students launched music clubs that are now in all 590 public high schools across 24 regions in Tunisia – places where student voices had rarely been encouraged. They wrote original songs, staged concerts, and created something lasting in a system that wasn’t built for them. Now, they’ve brought those stories, songs, and that spirit to American audiences for the first time.

Tunisia88, with 2,500 active members, is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) started in 2015 by Juilliard-trained concert pianist Kimball Gallagher. Gallagher had been teaching music to high school students in Tunisia for a few years when he was approached by the Minister of Education of Tunisia who said, “I want to see a piano in every school.” The goal was to revive all the cultural clubs.

The tour was led by Gallagher, who founded 88 International, the nonprofit that helped support this movement. His own journey – crowdfunding his first piano (88 keys, 88 donors), performing at distinguished venues in 30 countries across seven continents – and turning performance into purpose – led to the founding of 88 International.

88 International’s Humble Beginnings
This all started when Gallagher – upon graduating from Juilliard – didn’t have a piano. One of his mentors said, “Why don’t you ask 88 people to sponsor each one of the keys?” The money raised from each key on the piano became an effort to buy a piano. It was the first time Gallagher really saw music, not only as something for performance and concerts, but as something that could build community.

88 International has become a global nonprofit that uses music to help young people essentially find their voice, build community, and lead their own positive change where they themselves live. That’s really why Gallagher built 88 International, to turn a sort of sense of personal impact and occasional intimate moments in concerts into more of a movement at some scale.

During an epiphany, Gallagher realized that as an individual artist, he could touch only a few lives at a time. But if he wanted to reach thousands at a much larger scale and to make a lasting change, it required structural partners, institutional partnerships, and some kind of vision that was far beyond one person.

“I had been working in Tunisia before the Arab Spring Revolution, and then throughout the revolution. I taught piano and songwriting. The classic way of having music clubs in Tunisia was with the teacher as the director of the club. We wanted to put the teacher as the facilitator – which in Tunisia was a big deal – and allow the students lead the clubs.” Gallagher said.

One or two particular songs became a spark for a national movement. With the Ministry of Education wanting to promote this program, Gallagher was able to bring in support and shape the curriculum.

How Tunisia88 became a Transformational Youth Music Program
Gallagher explained how Tunisia88 became a transformational youth music program. He said, “88 International needed an NGO partner for financial support. And through the Ministry of Education we did get that NGO partner – a Tunisian NGO called Action Solidarity Development. Then the European Investment Bank, and the U.S. State Department became involved, followed by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Canadian Foreign Service and many private Tunisian supporters.”

“One of the very interesting things about this program, which is part of its self-sustaining mechanism, is that the alumni of the clubs run the majority of the content of our program. Now the old club members, who became university students, were trained to give training,” he continued.

“It took about three or four years. We started with a pilot program and then had a huge acceleration from 2019 through COVID to early 2021 where we went from something like 100 to 500 schools in about a year and a half. We have 78 training sessions a year all the different regions. We have song contests on a national scale. All of these activities are managed in a large part by a group called the Executive Alumni. It’s actually the Tunisian youth who are driving the engine of this.”

Washington Square Park and The Yale Club
It was a beautiful experience to be part of the outdoor and indoor concerts held at Washington Square Park and The Yale Club of New York.;

Gallagher and a small team of musicians and conductors guided 26 alumni choir members from Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Myanmar, and the Gambia. They sang songs represented by these countries in English and native languages. Gallagher accompanied songs in Swahili on piano. On at least one song, the choir was joined by a percussion player. The night ended with alumni from Yale joining the choir to sing the Yale alma mater. 

Tunisia88 toured universities in eight U.S. East Coast cities from October 30 through November 10 on its highly successful inaugural U.S. tour.  

WATCH my full interview with internationally recognized Juilliard-trained concert pianist and 88 International founder  Kimball Gallagher on YouTube at the link below:

Read this article on Tunisia88 where I originally wrote it in The Village View:

Tunisia88: Transforming Youth Groups One Concert at a Time

Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify

The post Tunisia88: Transforming Youth Groups One Concert at a Time appeared first on Rad Jet's Historic Jazz Walking Tours.

Through its evocative lens, the film chronicles and examines the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president and events that happened during her tenure from 2016 – 2023.

Invisible Nation is a deeply penetrating film that shines a light on the spirit and resilience of Taiwan’s democracy in the face of an escalating military threat from China. It portrays President Tsai Ing-wen as an exceptionally smart, wise and tough leader. Unfortunately, it also reinforces the dread many of us feel towards the future of Taiwan as an independent nation.

The film’s length is 85 minutes and there are interviews from key Taiwan political figures and advocates including President Tsai Ing-Wen, Chu Chen, Yu-jie Chen, Bi-Khim Hsiao (Taiwan’s current vice-president), Freddy Lim, Audrey Tang, and Michelle Kuo.

According to IMDB, Invisible Nation gets an 8.4/10 rating.

So far, the film has been nominated for nine film awards, twice winning the 2024 Sun Valley Film Festival Award for One in a Million documentary, and the 2023 Middleburg Film Festival Audience Award.

Attending the First Screening

As host and producer of the longest running Taiwan-related podcast, my partner Felicia Lin and I were invited to attend the debut film screening as part of a larger Taiwanese group at the Woodstock Film Festival. That was a day of 8.65” record-breaking torrential rains in Central Park. We all rode up together in a chartered bus during the morning hours. Conditions on the New York State Thruway were quite treacherous.

What Inspired the Director to Create this Film?

On opening day we met director Vanessa Hope whose life changed in 1996. Hope was living in Taiwan from 1995-1996 when she was a PhD student taking part in a study abroad program during the inauguration of Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan’s first directly elected president.

1996 was indeed a very scary time to be in Taiwan. Scorched by Taiwan’s first direct presidential election and fledgling democracy, China attempted to intimidate Taiwan by firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait. Almost 30 years later, not much has changed.

After talking to her journalist friends, Hope became deeply concerned and obsessively curious about the future fate of Taiwan. She borrowed a newly purchased camera from her Chinese language teacher. Over that weekend, she was determined to film President Lee Teng-hui’s historical inauguration. She succeeded and her first short film embarked her on a film career.

Fast forward to 2016, Hope traveled back to Taiwan with an international delegation to witness the election of Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen. That’s when she came up with the idea to create a full-length feature film about Tsai Ing-wen’s presidency.

If anything, today the threat of a China invasion on Taiwan looms even larger. China President Xi Jinping has stated, “Taiwan is China,” and that reunification is inevitable. He also does not rule out using force. Taiwan is now once again a hot and important topic in international news ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022—a move which has only served to embolden China.

Challenges Making Invisible Nation

During our conversations with the director, we also talked about the challenges in making Invisible Nation and her personal motivations for making the film. Invisible Nation was filmed over a seven year period from 2016 thru 2023. This required an ongoing and highly detailed coordinated effort with the President and a great resolve by Hope and her team. They were given unprecedented access to Taiwan’s sitting head of state, which allowed them to investigate the election and Tsai Ing-Wen’s tenure.

This was not Hope’s first full length feature. Her first, All Eyes And Ears, examined relations between the U.S. and China through the stories of U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, his adopted Chinese daughter Gracie Mei, and blind legal advocate Chen Guangcheng.

Invisible Nation is currently playing in select theaters around the U.S.

For more information, go to: https://invisiblenation.net.

Read this article where I originally wrote it in The Village View:

Invisible Nation: A Film That Chronicles Taiwan’s First Female President, Runs for One Week at the Quad Cinema

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KAJU ROBERTO is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.

The post Invisible Nation: A Film That Chronicles Taiwan’s First Female President, Runs for One Week at the Quad Cinema appeared first on Rad Jet's Historic Jazz Walking Tours.

Katie’s Mom was enjoyable to watch and had several hilarious scenes. The Graduate theme flipped was familiar yet the reversal of roles for the protagonist was quite a breath of fresh air. Although a few of the scenes were unbelievable, they were all highly entertaining nonetheless!

It made its big screen debut at the 26th Annual Dances With Film Festival in Hollywood, CA on July 2, 2023. The film’s length is 111 minutes and its cast is Dina Meyer, Aaron Dominguez, Julia Tolchin, Colin Bates, Jason Wiles, and Shannon Dee.

According to IMDB, Katie’s Mom gets an 8.6/10 rating. I would recommend going to see this comedy when it becomes available.

Meet Meryl Branch-McTiernan
I had the pleasure of first meeting and later interviewing the screenwriter/producer of Katie’s Mom, Meryl Branch-McTiernan, at the screening at Ideal Glass Doors on W. 8th Street in Greenwich Village.

Meryl is a super down to earth and highly likable person, who happens to also have a fantastic talent for writing comedy. Upon seeing the tremendous support she received by the collective of 150+ plus friends, industry people, colleagues, associates, and acquaintances who attended the screening, she surely doesn’t need any help from me.

Nonetheless, Meryl is someone who I am rooting for. She and co-writer/director Tyrrell Shaffner have worked relentlessly on this film for nine years. Short of getting picked up by one of the big studios, the harsh reality for indie film makers who don’t have the backing clout of a Barbie or an Oppenheimer, is that those same aspiring screenwriters, directors, and producers pray to land a deal for their films to go straight to streaming on Netflix or Prime—if they are so lucky.

Judging by the level of laughter and entertainment and the positive reactions from the crowd during the Q&A afterward, Meryl and her team might just fulfill their dream.

Sadly There Has Been a Paradigm Shift in the Indie Film Industry
Long gone are the days when an indie film could have a fighting chance of landing a solid run in traditional theaters.

I wondered why Meryl decided to screen this film in a private event space such as Ideal Glass Door rather than a traditional theater. During the audience Q&A, I asked, “Is this a new paradigm which reflects the current state of the industry?” Meryl artfully dodged my question, saying, “This is a really fun and lively place to screen a new film.”

However, later during our private one-on-one interview, I asked Meryl again if she tried to get a traditional theater to show her film. She shook her head and gave her sobering analysis.

Meryl told me, “Even big films are going straight to Apple or Netflix, so there is very little hope for smaller indie films. It’s really unfortunate, because the fun thing is hearing people laugh, hearing them react, being together, and having an experience together. It’s so hard to make that happen now.”

She added, “When conceiving this film, it wasn’t like streaming was my dream. But now even Scorsese is going to streaming. After COVID, it’s not like there’s less respect for it. Whether investors gave us $100 or $1,000, it’s really hard to make back that money.”

Five Years to Write the Film, Four Years to Market (and Still Trying)
Meryl told me this film was crowdfunded, however not according to a more familiar blueprint as so many indie films have raised money through donations. It was all done through a crowd equity campaign, where investors later will proportionally recoup the amount they’ve invested while hopefully realizing a nice profit from the proceeds.

Indeed, the excellent writing of the team behind the film is ultimately what has driven Katie’s Mom. The fact they were able to raise the indie film’s $500K budget through crowdfunding is quite a feat.

What’s most impressive is that Meryl and Tyrrell did not begin their crowdfunding efforts until five years into the project. Through their efforts, they were able to bring 170 investors on board to raise the first $100K using WeFunder. Then one day they struck gold and were able to get an angel to invest an additional $270K.

“For the first five years, the writing was all we had. People have been behind the film all along. They really love The Graduate concept,” Meryl stated.

Meryl and her team are currently working with a sales agent they signed the movie over to. Look for Katie’s Mom to be in theaters or available on streaming services soon.

For more information, go to Katie’s Mom IMDB Page: imdb.com/title/tt22307442

Read this article where I originally wrote it in The Village View:

Katie’s Mom-A New Indie Comedy that Resembles The Graduate

KAJU ROBERTO is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.

The post Katie’s Mom: A New Indie Comedy that Resembles The Graduate appeared first on Rad Jet's Historic Jazz Walking Tours.