there is a beautiful place on this
planet worthy White Nile coming from the
mountains in Uganda and the Blue Nile
coming from Ethiopia converge
specifically in Khartoum the capital of
northern Sudan as a little boy
during family visits to her home we
spend most of our time at my maternal
grandfather's home my maternal
grandfather being Judah in his home
jadoo had a beautiful garden with a lime
tree one morning as him and I were
playing chess in the shade of the lime
tree he paused he looked at me intently
and he said look at it the lime tree
it's getting old it's dying just like me
I'm getting old and one day I will die
too so I need you to understand
something really important then he
picked up a fallen line from the grass
pinched it squeezed it plucked out a
seed and said my dear grandchild yeah
evening look here
hold it
this is a Lyme seat it gives you a lime
tree it cannot give you a mango tree or
an apple tree a lime seed only gives you
a lime tree now obviously you have to
put it in the right type of soil and
give it some water and make sure it has
lots of sunshine as you grow older and
mature you need to ask yourself this
really important question what is my
seed what is my seed as the years went
by this inquiry that I inherited from my
grandfather was very much lodged into
the back of my mind launched so deep
that I kind of forgot about it and it
became the sort of thing that was just
there in the background
and it persisted and persisted what seed
do I carry within me and which soil will
I grow best in to make my most fruitful
contribution admittedly this is an
inquiry that's easier asked and answered
being a little boy I tuned in within
literally I tuned in with them that was
a key thing that my grandfather also
said sure ask yourself what's my seat
but more importantly as you ask yourself
that don't get caught up in society's
distraction or in manipulation tune in
within listening with in and day by day
as you grow older you will know looking
back that you too have fulfilled your
own purpose so I kept tuning within and
tuning within first with the aid of an
imaginary
guitar by using my badminton racket then
with the aid of actual guitars that my
parents and my brother gifted me there
was just one little problem
my brother was somewhat aware and could
somewhat see the emerging opportunities
of the creative digital economy thanks
to the Internet my parents being born at
a time pre-internet didn't see through
those eyes so my father at the time a
professor of folklore and oral
traditions and my mother a neighbourhood
therapists of sorts both insisted
insisted that I set aside music as a
hobby and pursue a more serious career I
put down my guitars I uninstalled my
music softwares and I packed up my songs
over the following years boy oh boy did
it get serious
I travel to dozens of countries
advocating for human rights and
democracy my work was published reviewed
or featured in the New York Times The
Wall Street Journal the Washington Poe's
the Atlantic CBC BBC and on and on in
thirteen different languages and even
though I did that and even though I
shared the stage with Nobel Prize
laureates former presidents and prime
ministers which I shook my head and I'm
like how on earth did I end up here
I'll go up to them I'd read them biases
saying hey what's up how you doing man I
mean while everybody else mr. prime
minister mr. prime minister fun times by
that I mean serious times I tried to
lighten things up but it was very
serious even though I did all of that
even though I spoke in Washington DC and
think tanks and advise human rights
organizations all along secretly what I
really wanted to do was sing I just
wanted to say I just wanted to pick up
my guitars again and sing now by the
time this had become clear something
else also became clear as I became wiser
recently very recently it occurred to me
that I'm now far more invested in an
outlet that allows for a wider range of
human emotions to be expressed don't get
me wrong
rage and anger are better than
helplessness and powerlessness and often
sometimes they mask those two feelings
but stewing in rage and anger and
indignation frustration as I had done
building credibility by researching and
talking about what's wrong with the
world and how to fix it I needed
something different and so my journey to
music began slowly bit by bit
and Here I am now a man at last learning
to be fluent much more fluent and in
touch with my feelings the game changer
was when I landed in Canada under very
extraordinary circumstances specifically
on January 29th 2014 in Vancouver
International Airport for the first time
ever not having been here before
despite all my travels first time I land
and as I walk up to passport control
after what felt like forever thanks to
the long snaking line my plea for help
said it all
officer I'm actually not here for
tourism or business I'm here because I
am under the threat of persecution
imprisonment and torture and to seek
protection and political asylum here's a
copy of my banned memoir and here's a
copy of my USB thumb drive it contains
all the documentation you need including
my lawyers contact information what seed
do I carry within me and which soil can
I best grow in to make my most fruitful
contribution in the year since being
here and then settling in Toronto
I've come to notice and observed that
exile is first and foremost a state of
mind you can be physically together but
emotionally apart weathering couples
families in the workplace
and then as time went by I realized it's
up to me to decide that I am home and I
will create my own homecoming the deeper
question became how do you find the
freedom to be free and here's what I've
come to I believe that you need three
things in a positive feedback loop
first we need to affirm human rights -
we've got to realize human potential
three we've got to express human
creativity and here's the deal
even when those are available you still
need to do your part know thyself all of
thy self light and shadow so you can be
the truest and highest expression of
yourself and to do that you need the
freedom to be free more importantly
after that you need to have the courage
to be free as thyself that is the only
way it works and on and on the positive
feedback loop goes so that we can
safeguard our freedoms for ourselves and
for future generations expressing human
creativity requires something essential
and that is music we need music more
music better music harmonious mmm music
all the way to the top of the Billboard
Hot 100 music chart while dancing our
butts off because why not and that
brings me to today hashtag we the north
where I am at last well-rooted and we're
thanks to a shift in thinking I'm no
longer seeing through a lens of what's
wrong with the world and the Limetree
metaphor finally makes sense because for
that to work best
it's about tuning in within and seeing
through a lens of what's right with
yourself and consequently what's right
with the world and I hereby take my own
advice and turn the music on so many
years before I've had to stand alone
[Music]
alone with yellow and on some songs so
much pent sides so much Fanta
[Music]
asking myself will I be here to sing my
pain away sing my pain sing my pain away
my hunt song ah so much to say so much
to say so come walk home with me don't
wait in vain
tell me what's right with yourself oh
don't wait in vain don't wait and they
ain't no way don't wait and ring tell me
what's right with you soon tell me
what's wrong with yourself
tell me what's right
tell me what's right with yourself and
what's right with your world
[Music]
you