“I am convinced that art is one of the most powerful tools
for the awakening of consciences
social changes
and peaceful communication between people.
Art is beauty and revolution!”
Asha/Altrove
Altrove means elsewhere and she is Ashai Lombardo Arop, singer-songwriter, dancer and actress born in Genoa to an Italian mother and a South Sudanese father. Her work blends indie-folk, Italian traditions and Afro influences, exploring themes of identity and connection. A winner of multiple awards, her performances are both a path of deep reflection on contemporary issues and an explosion of liberating energy
On January 20, 2023 he released his debut album “Tossica Animica” (Soul Addicted), which received valuable reviews.
In 2023 the first video clip (link) of the first single, also the title track of the album, “Tossica animica” was selected and proposed by Metromusic and was awarded at the Doremifasud competition at the C.I.Q. in Milan.
In August 2023 Altrove won the ECOFUTURE contest of the MEI (Independent Labels Meeting) for the Best Ecogreen Song with “La Terra All’Umano” (Earth to Human).
On September 2, 2023 Altrove won the MUSAQ CONTEST, again in partnership with the MEI of Faenza.
On February 23, 2024, “Animali” (Animals), the new single has been released.
“Animali” tells three stories, three dramatic events with specific references to recurring events in our society that mark a stigma on a flaw in the system. Three stories that become symbols of every abuse, every outrage, every transgression of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The ANIMALI video clip won best video and best interpretation at the IIFF (International Italian Film Festival), was in the semifinals for best editing at the IIPFM (International Independent Permanent Memories Festival) and obtained an honorable mention at the Castle Film & Media Award and will be awarded and screened in Bracciano on October 10 and 11, 2024.
Watch the video at this link
On July 25, 2024 Altrove won the “Best Music Award” and the “First Absolute Prize BRUNO LAUZI” with the still unreleased song “Sasha“.
On september 6th the single “Change&Gather” is out!
A song that with simplicity and joy speaks of the union of people for the change towards a society more open to differences, to mutual aid, to respect for fundamental rights and for all people. “Raise your arms to the sky and move your hips round and round and change and gather…”
On November 22nd the new single “Blind” is out!
Blind is an intimate reflection on the blindness of the “strong powers” and its consequences on the world…
At 19, Ashai went to live in London and among other things studied gospel singing at Morley College, being part of the Morley College Gospel Choir directed by Colin Vassel. Back in Italy, she continued to sing the gospels in the Spiritual Ensemble choir and the world music in the multi-ethnic choir Mikrokosmos, directed by M° Michele Napolitano.
Graduated with honors in Theater Disciplines at the University of Bologna with an experimental thesis in dance anthropology entitled “Barefeet on concrete: transcultural perspectives of ethno-coreutic language” which analyzes the links between African-derived dances and those of southern Italy in contemporary society. She obtained a Master in Intercultural Education at the University of Roma Tre with the experimental thesis “Empatheatre: traveling in the shoes of the Other. The discovery of the Self and the Other from the self, through the performative arts” developing a teaching method that she called Empatheatre®.
After graduating, she moved to Rome, starting to work actively in the worlds of dance, theater and cinema, collaborating with Ettore Scola, Michele Placido, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Massimo Ranieri, Lello Arena, Tato Russo, Maurizio Scaparro, Antonio Calenda, Veronica Pivetti, Eleonora Abbagnato, etc… She subsequently studied Pop Singing at the Saint Louis College of Music and continued to study with Gabriella Aiello, one of the best experts in folk music in Italy.
In 2009 she is a modern Sharazade in “Polvere di Bagdad” at the Teatro La Pergola – with Massimo Ranieri and Eleonora Abbagnato.
In 2013 she is the dancer in “Che strano chiamarsi Federico” by Ettore Scola
In 2013 she played Cinderella in Francesco Di Giacomo’s latest show “Cinderella, the missing part” at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.
In 2015 she began working with the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, playing a role in the show “Carmen” alongside Mama Marjas (with the production of the Filarmonica Romana, Teatro Olimpico) and in 2018 she was one of the three fairies in the OPV film “The Magic Flute“.
His career is closely linked to the music of southern Italy and over the years she has had the opportunity to collaborate with big names of the field such as Marcello Colasurdo, Antonio Infantino, NCCP, Carlo Faiello, Maurizio Capone, Arakne Medoterranea, Lino Canavacciuolo, etc…
She created and self-produced several theatre and dance-theatre shows. She also wrote, directed and interpreted three recitals: Senza Radici (Festival del Mediterraneo 2009, Teatro Olimpico 2012); Tammurriata Nera. Una tammurriata d’espressione africana, which she performed at Maschio Angioino (Naples) in 2012 with the participation of Maurizio Capone and Marcello Colasurdo; Esodo-1876-1976, a recital that tells the story of Italian immigrants abroad using music, dance and words as vehicles (also performed at the Teatro Flavio Vespasiano in Rieti for the Atcl).
“The traditional dances of West Africa, Southern Italy, Adalusia and Kerala have been the placenta for my artistic journey.”
The artistic work of Ashai/Altrove is entirely dedicated to the diffusion of ideals such as: equal rights as the basis of life from which to build; free circulation of people; the rejection of any war; anti-racism; ius soli; respect for every body; non-violence; freedom of expression as an inalienable right.
Ashai in the books…
