Showcasing artistic talents of Guyanese on the international stage

Raised in Guyana, educated and living in London, and travelling across Europe, North America and Africa at an early age gave birth to overseas-based Guyanese artiste Khadijatou Doyneh’s ‘lifetime travel-bug’ and wish to contribute to creative culture.
Khadijatou grabbed her earliest opportunities to leave England to travel out, meeting different kinds of people, learning first hand, observing life, cultures, traditions and diverse relationships. From her late teens she regularly travelled across North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and South America.
Singer-songwriter, author, spoken word poet, musician, and dancer, Khadijatou is a multi- talented artist who started her performing arts career in dance theatre after graduating with a BA (Hons) in Dance and Spanish.
She discovered her aptitude for writing, blending words and rhythms, and became a recognised artist on the underground poetry scenes in the UK since 1994. Over time she pursued her career as a singer-songwriter. She has performed as a singer/poet playing Djembe or with her support band in the UK and different countries since 2004.
Khadijatou also has a gift for creative writing and expression that encompasses many genres. She finds her inspiration and strength in her African roots.  Through the art of spoken word poetry, she is a proud urban heiress of an African aural tradition of storytelling, recounting historical facts mixed with a 21st century sense of humour.
Using knowledge and experience, she writes about life, relationships, erotica, history and intercultural issues.
From the music point of view, Khadijatou’s work is informed by annual sojourns performing in various countries, mixing culture exchanges, shared experiences, traditions, colours, sounds and rhythms. K2 has a talent for putting together different genres of music from African drum rhythms to electronic soul; infused with dub, elements of rock, rhythm & blues, jazz funk afro-beat and dance.
The artiste travels and spreads her music, message, drum and spoken-word poetry artistry backed by her 7-piece support band ‘Slo’burn’ (by trumpet, keys, guitar, bass, percussion, kit drums/MD) and VJ. She plays the djembe and percussion as she energetically sings and dances to the music.
Khadijatou trained in African drum and later formed a ‘Women’s Drumming Circle’, as well as being drum accompaniment to poets and singers in their gigs. Realizing her own voice again, combined and honed her skills. She emerged appearing on poetry, music and dance scenes, doing live collaborations with musicians.
On the poetry and lyrics side, her work is also a mix as she writes in English, Caribbean patois, and other slang, resulting in an ongoing evolving experience and observation of the human condition. Personal experiences from her life opened her veins to deeper understanding of people, relationships, history, socialisation, institutional discrepancies, sexuality, appreciation of her African heritage worldwide, and has defined for her a solid place in the world.
Khadijatou decided to test her writing strength by giving it to established and respected poet, Storme Webber, to read. That worked.
Her international work actually began with a martial arts performance tour to Barbados, St. Kitts and Trinidad & Tobago. After graduating, she lived in Spain for a year, and then began to travel again.  This time, she undertook training in West Africa dance, culture, song and music with the Kara Chow Dance Troupe in Gambia.   Her voice as a jazz trained singer developed its own expression.
Meanwhile, Khadijatou decided to focus on dance theatre.  She started a dance company, ‘Isigi’, and toured as a choreographer and dancer.  She continued developing her voice, writing and drumming, and was soon armed with a catalogue of songs.
There was a need for more performance platforms on the  underground scenes at good venues, so Khadijatou became an event producer,  inviting talented poets, musicians, singers to guest and feature in her own  hosted promotions with full live bands across London.  These collaborations with musicians and artists also helped her development.