South Sudan human rights defender and performing artiste, Manasseh Mathiang, staged a sensational performance at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) in Norway last week.

Manasseh traveled to Oslo after he was invited to perform at the sixteenth edition of the OFF which is a series of global conferences run by the New York-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation under the slogan "Champions of Change". 

The forum brought together notable people, including former heads of state, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as of other public figures to network and exchange ideas about human rights and expose dictatorships.

Mathiang told Radio Tamazuj that he used his two performances on 25 May to showcase the different cultures in South Sudan through songs two songs, Bagara and Giwaja, from his latest album titled Hagiga (truth).

“I was invited and performed two songs. For example, Bagara dance was just a way of expressing the beautiful culture we have in South Sudan,” he said. “Even though we have different cultures, there are some similarities in the languages used.”

Mathiang also revealed that he participated in a discourse on human rights issues.

“As I was invited to perform, I was also part of another program called the human rights fellowship in which activists from around the world were given basic training to help them with their work,” he said.

According to the artiste, South Sudan is a young nation and a lot of people in the world do not know about its rich culture and diversity.

“Being my first international performance in Europe, it was interesting because you are going to perform in front of people who do not know you. Secondly, they do not know your music and do not understand the language you are singing in. So, my interest was to see how they would react to the music because that is a genuine reaction,” he said.

Each year in May, human rights defenders from around the world converge in Olso to spotlight the work of activists and innovators through the exchange of ideas in order to build a vibrant international community.