Music has played a key role in social activism, storytelling and various rights movements throughout history. It also has incredible healing powers for our bodies and nervous systems. To bring music into the Collective experience and identity more fully, we collaborated with globally-acclaimed musician, DJ, music producer, sonic anthropologist Kai Asa Savon Wright, known as Sango to create a custom track for the Health Equity Collective. "My name is Kai, but many know me as Sango. I'm a producer, DJ and sound engineer from Michigan by way of Seattle. I was recently allowed to help create something sonically unique for the Health Equity Collective. In response to being selected, I figured I would offer my sense of knowledge about how cultures are tied together musically and how that can bring us to many similar and unfamiliar places. What I saw in my head was to create a song that can be felt close to home and represent those that are part of and have helped along the way. Regarding the Health Equity Collective, I experimented with sounds such as the reggae sounds of Jamaica, the Mexican style cumbia, the warm sound of Bhangra from India, and the bright rhythms of Afro beats inspired by Nigeria and Ghana. I went a little further and captured bits of Brazilian samba, Detroit's deep bass known in their techno and rap East African drum patterns and instruments such as the people from China. I incorporated native indigenous sounds inspired by the POWwow and the gospel choir sound, which was a collaborative effort for this song as well. Being a part of this process was a treat. It felt organic and ultimately something designed to bring people from all over together."
