Spotlight on Chesqua
Artist and facilitator Chesqua's journey has come full circle over the last 12 years.
- Date
- 21 November 2022
- Category
- Stories
Chesqua is a singer-songwriter, artist and facilitator. She came to us from a background in musical theatre and choirs, with little experience working with musicians and performing other than family parties.
She’d moved from Wales to study Performing Arts at Salford, but the course wasn’t scratching the musical itch Chesqua was looking for. So she began actively exploring the local music scene on the hunt for band members she could write or gig with.
In 2013 she took part in one of our first residencies led by Grammy Award-winning jazz and funk collective Snarky Puppy. At this point Chesqua had never written a song before, so the residency was a real turning point for her. Collaborating with 14 other musicians from across the UK, and Snarky Puppy themselves, they spent five days creating original new music during the day, and jamming at open mics in the evening. The residency ended with a live performance at Band on the Wall.
But this was only the start. Chesqua and other musicians from the residency kept in touch and formed the genre-hopping 10-piece band Hans Prya. Over the next three years they went on to support Snarky Puppy, play festivals, record an EP and create five accompanying live videos.
"As a facilitator I deliver workshops so that people can just be open and feel really safe. So that they can use their voice or bring ideas to the table and know that I'll listen, and others will as well."
Chesqua reflects on Brighter Sound’s artist-first approach during and after the residency. Often she found herself and the group steering the ship. Whatever ideas they had they were free to explore and develop. This instilled in Chesqua a new sense of play that allowed her to be creative in new and exciting ways. Her taste in music was heavily influenced by these experiences too. She emerged from a bubble of pop and musical theatre and found afrobeat, jazz, soul and other genres that helped inform her future solo music.
Fast-forward to today and Chesqua has since completed a traineeship with us and now regularly facilitates music workshops for young musicians in a similar position to her when she started. Her experiences as a participant with Brighter Sound now informs the way she delivers workshops, working compassionately to ensure everyone feels heard and gets a chance to express themselves.
