Showtime: UMCP ΣΨΖ presents SPEAK – 4/17/2011

It has been quite some time since our last Showtime feature, mostly in part due to lack of man-power and resources in attending and capturing/writing up on all the events out there. That’s why we are so thankfully to have had a little extra help in reporting on this event, SPEAK – an annual charity event dinner held by UMCP’s Sigma Psi Zeta Sorority.

The event is held in benefit of Odanadi, an organization devoted to rescuing, rehabilitating, empowering and reintegrating survivors (women and children) of sex and human trafficking. The event is also tied into raising awareness for the Sexual Assault Awareness Month of April.

Guest speaker Christina Lagdameo (Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) spearheaded the evening along with a number of very talented artists local to the DMV area. A number of genres were represented including poetry, Indie Rock, R&B, Rock & more. Unfortunately we weren’t able to capture every single performance, the majority are represented here – giving any who missed the event a pretty good recap.

Spoken word artist Alan DePerio presented a passionate piece dedicated to the subject matter at hand.

Amanda Lee (2nd place winner of Kollaboration DC 2010) sang a couple sings. First is “Better Me” and second is her increasingly popular “Go”.

Dale Kim & Jae Jin teamed up to sing a couple numbers. Below are “Numbers” and “Dreams”, the latter a Gavin DeGraw cover.

Virginia’s Joanne Kim (of Techniquelle) sang a Katy Perry cover of “Fireworks” in a more folksy/pop acoustic style, along with her own original “Meet in Dreams”.

Lastly are a couple clips of band Rooftop Pursuit performing stripped down versions of their songs “Need Some Time” and “Why I Sing”. Definitely a recommended watch.

Overall, the event hosted a lot of talented artists and individuals that came together and helped bring to light some of the darkest aspects of human injustice suffered the world over. It was an evening of good music, art, words, people and cause.

A HUGE, special thank you to Thomas Nguyen of Meet Inspiration for helping capture all the incredible footage. In addition, we would like to shoutout Anny Photography for the great photos used in the feature image of this post.