Love and Light; Prosperity Movement Here to Create and Serve
By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
Prosperity Movement, is an Oakland, CA based group & record label of the same name created by a talented group of individuals to develop, promote and distribute their brand of Elevated Urban World Lifestyle Music.
Prosperity Movement will be co-headlining and curating a world music festival in Oakland, March 11-12 “Orisa Urban World Festival.” The festival will feature, Bobi Cespedes and Zion Trinity amongst others. The purpose of the festival is to pay tribute to the artistic beauty and wisdom of the Orisa (forces of nature in the Yourba culture of West Africa) manifested through art in the urban world community.
WolfHawkJaguar is the mastermind behind all the goodness of Prosperity Movement. He is an award winning filmmaker, actor and world renowned musician. His first solo album, “Hunter Poetry,” is a classic, original, hard hitting work of art that introduces listeners to traditional African spiritual concepts in a HipHop, Reggae, Soul fusion.
The project received tons of recognition from the videos, concepts, sounds and delivery of the album. One song that a lot of people took notice to was, “Every Breath of Life,” assisting WolfHawkJaguar in an unheard of invitation to perform in Ile Ife, Nigeria for the 10th annual Orisa World Congress in ’13, along with his band consisting of Kele Nitoto on percussion and Chris Paxton on drums. WolfHawkJaguar also brought along filmmaker King Kosh.
What came out of their magical journey to Ile Ife is the amazing film/album project, “Search For The Everlasting Coconut Tree.” They also realized that they needed to establish a stronger business alliance to distribute their brand of music, “Prosperity Movement.”
Let’s back up a few years to ’08 and introduce Prosperity Movement member Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri, a multi-talented artist and the wife of WolfHawkJaguar. Married to each other through their bond of love and music, one of the first things they did together was record music.
Osunfemi didn’t know it but WolfHawkJaguar had a plan to bring her into his music world by way of recording her voice. He brought her to the studio one day in ’09 and she watched him record a portion of a song he wrote, “OGUN Heavy.” When he was finished, he told her that he had written a part just for her and asked her to come into the booth to record.
The song went on to become a favorite on WolfHawkJaguars album, “Hunter Poetry” and also set the groundwork for Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri’s debut album, “From Oakland With Love” released in June of ’13. Osunfemi is currently putting the finishing touches on her next solo album release, “Warrior Woman.”
The Prosperity Movement is a collective of talented and educated individuals in addition to WolfHawkJaguar and Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri consist of, King Kosh (film, photography, media and soon-to-be contributing emcee), Rashida Chase (vocalist, business and tour management) Dr. Lynne Morrow (vocalist & Grammy Nominated Music Director for Pacific Edge Voices and The Oakland Symphony Chorus), Kele Nitoto (master percussionist, marketing and sales specialist), Regina Calloway (master dance teacher, culture keeper and marketing specialist) and Chris Paxton (master engineer, drummer, publisher and producer).
The album, “Prosperity Movement” was made for the urban traveler and released July ’15 which includes five songs, “Ile (Hold Tight),” “Sounds of My Heart,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “Real Africans” and “Movement.” Not only is Prosperity Movement a band but a music label, studio and film company that seems to be spreading all over the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and the world.
“Our job is to utilize the magical power of the Orisa and spread peace, prosperity and positive progressive universal vibes to the people. The name we give this action is Prosperity Movement.” says Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri, “People love it so much but it is really just the tip of the iceberg.”
The future already looks positive and prosperous for Prosperity Movement. In ’15, they were featured filmmakers and musicians at Harvard University, “Spiritual Soundscape Conference.” They sold out the “Eat, Drink & Prosper” tour in CA and they toured their film/album, “Search For The Everlasting Coconut Tree” in New Orleans where they began shooting another film on spiritual cleansing, due for release in 2016.
“We are shooting films everywhere we go,” says King Kosh. “There is always a story to tell to help transform and inspire.”
Prosperity Movement also partnered with Kanopy Streaming for film distribution. The deal allows cultural and educational films into the university institutions across the world and allows Prosperity Movement the opportunity to capitalize financially on all their creative film ventures.
This year also holds many promises for Prosperity Movement. They will host the “Orisa Urban World Festival” in March, the group will tour France in April for ten days, 9 shows, 8 cities (sounds like a tour name, right?) and in July the collective will be featured artists at the 11th Annual Orisa World Congress in Miami, Florida.
“The main message behind the music and filming,” says Rashida Chase, “is prosperity, peace and positive vibes. That is what Prosperity Movements is.”
Kele Nitoto echoes those sentiments declaring, “Prosperity Movement is a healing sound, we are healers. This is the form we use to heal people. We are here representing a healing sound, a sound of love, hope and prosperity to be heard throughout the universe.”
“What we do everyday is the ‘prosperity movement;’ it feeds us. The day always brings something that is needed from us. The spirit brings a lot of people to us that need our help. We have an ability to touch people in the universe that need healing.” WolfHawkJaguar states, “We are here to serve others and help them to heal, in doing so we help and heal ourselves.
Now, because of the video licensing Kanopy Streaming provides with the University System in the United States, if you go to their link as a student through the university’s website, the film can be viewed at no charge. It is also available online for purchase.
WolfHawkJaguar says that it is really just the natural flow of Prosperity Movement as a lifestyle and it includes music. This couple is constantly enjoying life, family, healthy and helping people. They enjoy getting out into nature and being around friends and family as well as staying active in the community. This is a traveling family band, “moving by faith not by sight” says WolfHawkJaguar. A lot of time is spent on creating music and new film ideas.
The key thing is to help as many people as we can. To be of service. To be able to say, ‘Thank you for helping me.’ Prosperity Movement exemplifies this as a very simple way of life, looking at the world.” says WolfHawkJaguar.
Just a Few Testimonies & Videos
“The Everlasting Coconut Tree” Testimonies
“Ile (Hold Tight)”
“Prosperity Movement E.P.” Video Single, “Sounds of My Heart”
Film For Purchase
Official Film Website
Official Prosperity Movement Website
Official 393 Film Website
History and Social Info About Orisa
History of Orisa
Orisa Movement in the U.S.A. Explained By New Orlean’s World Music Group: Zion Trinity
ORISA URBAN WORLD FESTIVAL
Social Media, Websites and More
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
IG
YOUTUBE 393FILMS
YOUTUBE ILE
TWITTER
SOUNDCLOUD
REVERBNATION
BANDCAMP
