Williamstown’s Bersanji Ibrahim is using his love of music to bring the community together.
Born in Somalia, Ibrahim’s childhood included a stint stationed with his mother, a Red Cross nurse, in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the Gulf War.
Then aged 11, he found music and began DJ-ing at underground house parties, considered taboo, before returning to Somalia when he was 14.
There he met mentor Ali Elman, ‘Drop the Gun, Pick up the Pen’ campaign founder.
After Elman was killed in 1996, Ibrahim fled to Ethiopia and arrived in Melbourne in 2002, soon forging a relationship with local Ethiopian and Somali musicians.
Now 32, Ibrahim is a 2013 Melbourne Festival ambassador, a role emerging from the festival’s collaborative partnership with Multicultural Arts Victoria.
“It’s been a wonderful journey, an amazing journey with a bit of dark and a bit of light,” Ibrahim says.
“For me, putting on music and events is something fun. Bringing people together is my main aim.”
Ibrahim says music can be a healing influence in the life of people from war-torn countries.
He now hopes to create stronger ties between African-Australian musicians and the broader Melbourne arts and music communities.
“There have always been these festivals for each of the communities, but it’s great to have more involvement in these mainstream festivals,” he says.
“Hopefully, being an ambassador for the Melbourne Festival is just the start of that; we still have a long way to go.”
