Musician Samite will present his one-man show Resilience in two performances at the Hangar Theatre on Saturday, August 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 9 at 2 p.m.
The internationally known musician and storyteller says the show grew out of conversations with audience members after concerts, when listeners began sharing their own personal struggles and experiences.
“People would ask me, ‘Can I tell you what happened to me?’” Samite said. “So I realized I needed to develop this show, because more people wanted it. It opened people up to share their own stories.”
The performance traces Samite’s journey from his childhood in Uganda through the violent dictatorship of Idi Amin, his years as a refugee in Kenya, and eventually to life in Ithaca. Along the way, he reflects on the people and places that shaped him, including visits to refugees and survivors of war in countries such as Rwanda, Liberia, and the Congo.
“It’s full of humor, it’s full of sadness, full of happiness,” he said. “It takes you through human resilience — the whole arc of what you go through in life.”
Samite said one of the greatest surprises upon arriving in Ithaca was cultural rather than climatic. “The biggest culture shock was trying to pretend I was a vegetarian,” he joked. “A lot of people I met at that time were vegetarians, and you didn’t want to talk about how much you liked meat.”
Unlike his usual concerts, Resilience features Samite alone onstage, without a band. He says the format creates a closer connection with audiences.
“The audience becomes part of the show,” he said. “I involve them with the stories. I involve them with singing back with me. I actually feel even closer to the audience than when I have a band.”
The production combines storytelling with live music, including songs from different periods of his life as well as improvisations created in the moment using flutes, looping technology, and recreated sounds from the Ugandan forests of his childhood.
“People laugh a lot,” he said. “And you also see a little bit of tears coming up, because it brings out a lot in their own struggles.”
Samite noted that living far from Uganda ultimately deepened his appreciation for the traditional music and culture he once tried to leave behind.
“As a young man, I wanted to be as westernized as possible,” he said, recalling performances of songs by Rod Stewart and Kenny Rogers during his youth. “But after I left Uganda and became a refugee in Kenya, I realized how much I missed my traditional music.”
Today, he says, his compositions draw heavily on the rhythms and sounds he first heard as a child while attending school at the king’s palace, where traditional musicians performed daily.
“The more I was away from Uganda, the more I wanted to bring back the culture I grew up listening to,” he said.
For more information about Resilience and ticket details, visit Hangar Theatre.