{"id":10023464,"date":"2020-10-09T11:16:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T15:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/?p=10023464"},"modified":"2020-10-29T06:27:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T10:27:33","slug":"walter-sickert-and-oompa-let-love-be-the-way-for-positive-steps-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/2020\/10\/09\/walter-sickert-and-oompa-let-love-be-the-way-for-positive-steps-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Sickert and Oompa let \u2018Love Be The Way\u2019 for positive steps forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note<\/strong>: \u201cBoston Thriving\u201d is a new series from Vanyaland highlighting and honoring the national and global success of Boston- and New England-based bands and artists.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When Walter Sickert<\/a><\/strong> and Oompa<\/a><\/strong> feel a scream budding in their lungs, they twist the turmoil of the world into a meditation instead. (And, for what it\u2019s worth, both Boston artists have ample<\/em> reasons to holler.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incessant racism, homophobia, misogyny, heteronormativity — they\u2019re all harmful forces at the roots our culture, pushing back at society\u2019s every stride forward. Yet as the country makes positive progress, it\u2019s both Sickert’s and Oompa\u2019s hope that \u201cLove Be The Way\u201d to a better and safer world for everyone<\/em>, as they explain in their new collaborative track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today (October 9), \u201cLove Be The Way\u201d drops as part of the soundtrack for And She Could Be Next<\/a><\/em>, a new PBS two-part documentary about women of color making tide-altering waves in politics. Both musicians appear on the album alongside acts like Aloe Blacc, Tarriona \u201cTank\u201d Ball, Sa-Roc, and fellow Boston act Genie Santiago, who worked with This Way to the Egress for a song called “Town After Town.”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producers originally reached out to Sickert for a musical contribution, who in turn invited Oompa to join them on the rock-rap hybrid song. Their mutual wishes for the nation — and the world — coalesced from there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I believe art and activism go hand-in-hand and it\u2019s an artist\u2019s duty to leave the world better than they found it using whatever tools they have at their disposal,\u201d Sickert shares. \u201cPeople are tired of lies and oppression. We need to fight to change everything. We need to come back with empathy, love, and compassion. It\u2019s time for a change and this project is another inspirational step towards smashing the patriarchy and rebuilding a future through the power of the marginalized majority.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Sickert\u2019s introduction of the chorus, Oompa nimbly frames some perspective about the uprisings of 2020: \u201cLucky you just lost but a couple of nights spent \/ With open eyelids, tired of feeling life is on fire \/ Now imagine if that\u2019s was how your life went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis song is about the rightful anger and angst that comes with the long, complex, toxic relationship that Black people and womxn\/femmes of color have with society at large, but also in this nation,\u201d Oompa explains. \u201cThe song is a meditation and hope for the rightful expression of the anger and angst, a reclamation of our own strategies toward liberation, and the ever-present space we hold for reconciliation for those who have harmed us in the name of living harmoniously with all of God’s (big G and little g) creations. There is always room for love. It’s the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start down the path to a better tomorrow below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n