Video Premiere: Seleminga – ‘Perle’

“Like a pray, Seleminga articulates in her new song « Perle » some natural resources that are stolen to the African continent. The idea emerged in Havana when she saw a friend yelling at the face of a racist comment: « Copper! Gold! Iron! Silver! Diamond! Oil! Ivory!…». Back to Europe, she wanted to use her voice to spread the word of those who believe in the richness of this continent. Produced and sung by the French Senegalese artist, « Perle » aims to be an insidious call to rebellion. The title is a reference to the song « Pearl » from Sade to remind us that the exploitation of the African ground and manpower is still today a controversial topic. 

During the whole creative process Seleminga was triggered by the need to escape. The floating voices, almost surreal, are evolving around a most solid structure made out mainly of drums. This very fragile balance is the result of all the opposite forces that the artist was experiencing this spring when « Perle » was created.

In the video, the main character embodies these elements but most important their reunion. One key for reading the video is to imagine each character as a combination of these natural resources. At the border between aliens and goddesses they would, energized from these elements, gain power in order to help us. While they are summoning then transforming, we are witnessing them gaining a conscience: knowledge = power. Thus, the director Tomás Eyzaguirre emphasizes the lyrics to make us aware about an erased part of the history, like a stone put in the collective consciousness.

After a first Triphop project « Femme alpha », the Berlin based artist is now jumping deeper in the world of experimental production. « Perle » is the first fragment of her next EP « Curvas Peligrosas ». It is inspired by her trip to Cuba in March 2020 at a shift from one world to another. This transitional period will be expressed in her upcoming project lead by the double meaning of the title. First, the “dangerous curve” we all took while living in a pandemic. Second, the danger of having “curves” in today’s society, in other words the burden a woman endures by simply walking alone in the streets. These two topics extremely vivid in our cities opened the path of Seleminga to new musical exploration.”

PERLE by Seleminga @sele.minga

DIRECTOR – Tomàs Eyzaguirre @tomeyza  / ASSISTANT DIRECTOR – Patricio Trim @patotrim / PRODUCER – Seleminga
DOP – Jascha Müller-Guthof @jascha_hase 
STYLISM – Camille Pailler @camix_lol_pailler with clothes from Robert Christian Wimmeroth @vvimmeroth, Luisa Lauber @luisalauber, Helena Stölting @aneleh.gn, Ekaterine Gogashvilin @plebeian__, Laurențiu Dragotă @vvicctime, Helena Stölting, Ekaterine Gogashvilin and Laurențiu Dragotă
HAIR & MAKE UP – Samantha Pottmaier @samanthapottmaier with a nose jewel from Lokidolor @lokidolor
H & M ASSISTANT – Elisa Lange @senalangeelisa

CASTING – Jean-Cédric Sow @ced___ced , Odessa Kulwanowski @odessalissia , Giulia Gr @giuliag.r , Lev @gexbyby  and Seleminga
EDITING – Agustín Farias @agustinfar /  
COLOR GRADING – Agustín Farias
PICTURES – Tomàs Eyzaguirre and Ivo Santos @santosivosantos

SPECIAL THANKS TO – Wilde Renate @wilderenate and Thomas

PERLE Prod by Seleminga
Mixed and mastered by Julia Borelli @nadokistudios