Her liquid voice flows slowly, meandering through the air and crawling through the crowd, and of their own volition your eyes close, head sways ever so gently and you are covered in the soothing viscosity of her song. Fatimah Loren has been singing ever since she can remember, but today her voice and song have a purpose. According to her, “I am not just singing, but also bringing an agenda with me.” The Philadelphia-based singer and activist shatters every stereotype of the African-American from the ‘hood' reinforced by 50 Cent and VH1. Queen of her genre, rhythm and blues, Fatimah was in the city to perform at the Festival of Freedom.
The singer believes that her destiny was secretly decided by fate on the day she was given the name Fatimah Loren. Named after the Prophet's daughter (Fatimah) and Sophia Loren, she says that her very being is an amalgamation of all the characteristics these two women epitomised. “My life is a balance of the sacred, learned, beauty, sexuality and talent,” she says.
Growing up in a poor neighbourhood her life as an activist began as a child. “I have known poverty personally. When I was younger my mother would take me along with her on protests for the underprivileged.” But when her mother lost her job, roles were reversed and she and her family were the indigent and in need of help.
A poor and queer woman of colour, her life has been a series of struggles to live a free woman, comfortable with her choices and herself. “I am privileged as I have been able to have a great education,” says this student of Sociology and although her music took a backseat in college, when she returned to her music it came back to her as naturally as love. “Love is the most natural thing in the world; it is unnatural not to love.”
Fatimah was part of a movement that co-founded the Women of Colour Conference. The conference dealt with LGBT issues especially in the lives of African-American women. “Since the conference we wanted to align ourselves with the issues world over, and continue to fortify an alliance.” She started the movement with an idea and no money, but after the two-day conference, they had enough to organise the following year.
Art has been an integral part of every great movement. Struggles, wars, protests and rebellion — all these prepare a breeding ground of ideas for artists and intellectuals. “We may forget the words of a speaker, but the art persists,” says Fatimah who has successfully integrated her art with her mission.
“There is nothing, like pure music,” she says, “We have to get our egos out of the way and let the music with its unadulterated sound communicate the things that only music can,” she said quoting the Sufi idea of music. “Recently after I had finished singing at a performance in Rishikesh, an Indian woman who did not understand a single word of English came up to me. She hugged, kissed and thanked me for the music.”
While discussing the situation of the LGBT community in America, Fatimah says that in states like Pennsylvania they have the concept of Civil Union, and they are not allowed to get married legally, although in states like California they are allowed to get married by law. This is a battle that every state has to fight individually. But lately Obama has included LGBT issues in national conversation.
Fatimah was invited by President Bill Clinton to speak at Clinton's Global Initiative — a conference on global issues where Fatimah discussed poverty and inequality. “All these issues are a kind of oppression and none of it is independent,” said Fatimah.Fatimah's mission is to rid society of inequality and discrimination in any form “Because our society has decided that skin colour, sexuality, caste, and class make a difference, we have to fight for our equality,” she concludes as she gets ready to change the world.
