Voices Unleashed

Voices Unleashed

WHERE EXPRESSION MEETS ENCOURAGEMENT

BY INGA MARIA PANTEN

A mix of nostalgia and gratitude takes me back to my very first night at Voices Unleashed in July 2020. Stage fright nearly gave me a heart attack on the drive from my house in Uluwatu to Canggu. The night before, I’d hardly slept. I was a bundle of nerves. When I arrived, I literally flew into the arms of the founders, who greeted me with warm smiles. Andrea, Roel and Nicole had started these creative gatherings during the pandemic, ten weeks earlier.

They met coincidentally: A tall Italian with corkscrew curls, Andrea was sitting at a café, writing. Soon, a handsome Dutchman , Roel, came over and asked what he was doing. “I’m writing poetry,” replied Andrea. And that was the beginning of a love story. Eventually the handsome twosome became a threesome when a Kiwi beauty, Nicole, met the two during an online poetry event. Little did they know that when they joined forces, they would go on to create one of the most profound arts experiences in Bali, uniting a vibrant community of creatives, speakers, feelers and listeners who had been craving to connect.

For Andrea, “Voices Unleashed started from his need to share what he was creating and to challenge himself. Gradually, it became a community which encourages free expression.

It allows people to experiment, get out of their comfort zones or share what they believe is necessary to share. Ultimately, inspiring more to do the same.

There have been more than 74 open mics, music and dance performances, poetry slams and festivals since then. Musicians, poets, speakers, novelists, painters, comedians, dancers, magicians: more than 4000 people have graced the space with various kinds of expression. People of all ages and from all walks of life. All with two things in common: their humanity and their vulnerability.

At Voices Unleashed, we meet and connect with artists, lovers, and creators from all walks of life. Everyone comes with something to offer, something to share. There have been live streams, events and art exhibitions all across the island and beyond. Highlights include the Poetry Slam at the Hard Rock Café in Kuta in 2020 and Suara Festival in 2022 and 2023.

According to Roel, VU aims to encourage us to speak up, create, and show who we are underneath. “When you do, you’ll find the world is not so dark, and you’re not so alone after all,” he says. “Voices Unleashed, to me, is an idea that binds and frees simultaneously.”

An open mic on a Friday night is where it all began, a group of people gathering to share their hearts. Eyes and minds wide open. The lights dimmed to the color of honey. The floorboards, remnants of old ships, creaking. A single wooden stool upfront. No microphone, no masks, no filters, no walls. All stripped down. Human.

For Nicole, Voices Unleashed has been one of the most pivotal projects in her life, not only for herself, artistically, but also for the opportunity to cultivate, understand and nurture community. “To invite and witness people in their most vulnerable state, expressing freedom in creativity, is a rare and beautiful thing,” she says. “To allow people a place to belong without the need to fit in. Welcoming and accepting the artist in the human, and the human in the artist.” For Nicole, as well as myself and many others, Voices Unleashed has become home.

When it was my first turn to sit on the stool, I could hardly breathe. My heart was beating so loud, I thought everyone could hear it. My hand wouldn’t stop shaking as I read the poem in front of me. As if in a trance, my mouth kept moving and one word after the other made it across my lips. It felt as if my heart had been spat into the open, like a newborn, helpless, raw, and vulnerable. Witnessed for the very first time.

Afterward, I was so shaken, I could hardly sit still. There was an overwhelming feeling, as if shackles had been removed, and my heart had been freed to express itself fully. The air was different. My body felt different. I was different. More alive. More myself. With every night I show up and share a piece of my heart - with every perfectly imperfect poem (and a couple of songs) - my soul comes more into being.

Growing up, I was told I had no sense of rhythm, my voice was’“too loud” and that I was “not a musical child.” I pushed singing away for years - until I met an opera singer at VU and started jamming with a rock star that came through the community. I took singing lessons and am learning to play the ukulele. The more I choose to sing and free my voice, the more I experience an overwhelming sense of relief. As if a centuries-old knot, made of self-sabotage and dimming my light to accommodate others, has been untied.

Three years later, I feel more confident than ever as a writer and am proud to say that one of my biggest dreams has come true: With the help of my friends from VU, I signed a book deal with a publisher in March 2023.

They loved the idea of sharing my story: That of a German-raised writer and surfer who moved to Bali at age 24 to be with a lover; a pièce de résistance, the story of how love, creativity and the ocean humble, teach and empower us. We come together in vulnerability. We hold each other and lift each other up by sharing our feelings and experiences. Every time I witness an open mic night, I leave a bit lighter. More compassionate. With more understanding of the power of love and how it transcends all limits of perception..

Voices Unleashed is a vibrant community that is spreading across the globe. A place where we feel seen and understood. Free to bare our souls and share what is within. To understand that we are all wonderfully imperfect, human artworks in progress. A space where we come to honor our gifts and each other. Because life is short, and we need to take every chance we can get.

Unleash yours with Voices Unleashed.