The beautiful Africa region was our second destination this week, and Sunshine Szavanna was on hand to welcome us to this sim, one of three she has on the grid Virtual Worlds Zone, owned by Kashi Takeshi. The talented Shenn Tao, who also has regions on this grid (you may remember the post about Tonglen back in 2023, the sim has evolved a lot further since then) also joined us, showing nice solidarity with his fellow residents. We came for the panorama and stayed for the music, and much info about Africa - an ideal combination. HG Address is of course at the end of the post.
Sunshine Szavanna: welcome all to my - never ready - sim lol...we wait for all to arrive and then we move on to the Jazz club
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| Sunshine Szavanna |
We all piled on top on one another, at the tp point. Our Safari travels are wonderfully captured by lifted pixel on her YouTube channel, by the way, so don't miss out on that, and please remember to like and subscribe.
lifted pixel: classic safari stack... hello Sunshine! Thanks for having us :D
Shenn Tao: namaste
Cherry B: hello at all
Sunshine Szavanna: while everyone is arriving - check some of the freebies in the hut, and remember to turn on stream, it is all South African jazz for the first 30 mins
Forest Azure: /me tried to sit on a heart they are not for that
Kashi Takeshi: Great tunes!
Sunshine Szavanna: there will be lots of goodies in the jazz club, feel free to just take copy
Forest Azure: jazz club?
Tosha Tyran: oh gosh, the music is great
Kashi Takeshi: Forests love Jazz :)
Mal Burns: Sunny and Kashi were our guests on Inworld Review last Sunday btw
Sunshine Szavanna: it was fun Mal
Tosha Tyran: yes and it was so interesting to have you there
Africa welcome: whispers: Teleporting you to : Africa
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Sunshine Szavanna: welcome to Kippies :)
Thirza Ember: great dance spot!
Sunshine Szavanna: which is an actual jazz club in Johannesburg I hope the dances will work ok,: can you all hear the music ok? you can see the song titles on the board
lifted pixel: yes, some flute jazz
Sunshine Szavanna: so I tell you a little about this sim. I spent 20 years in Africa - in South Africa, and this sim is my way of showing what I have seen and heard, but I always keep working on it and think - it is never ready
lifted pixel: the bane of all creatives
Sunshine Szavanna: but I decided - time to tell people about it :) I am sure you can see the little shop. feel free to take whatever you like. nothing fancy hehe just playing with prims.
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| The shop |
Sunshine Szavanna:So basically this sim has locations that tell about Africa in various ways. Kippies Jazz is one of the first place I have seen when I arrived in South Africa. Here you can see the real club and these tunes are all big classics
Francisco.Koolhoven: very cool Sunny, you've done a great job with this
Sunshine Szavanna: Thank you I keep building it when I take breaks from other stuff, click on the text - Dance effects to get some fun effects
James atLLOUD: great photos Sunny !
Sunshine Szavanna: A link about SA Jazz : ... those are not my photos - but love them - they show the vibe there, and ever since I heard this music the first time ... I never stopped listening, this club has a dedicated stream - so come anytime - to listen
James atLLOUD: the textiles on the stage are great
Thirza Ember: do you think you will return one day?
Sunshine Szavanna: for sure Thirza :)... going to SA in December
Sunshine Szavanna: the welcome area of the club has photos of artists, click each - to hear one of their songs. So what happens in South Africa... people prepare a big cricket stadium, people bring their foldable chairs, and snacks, and soccer balls, and spend the whole day listening to jazz
Kashi Takeshi: Sounds cosy
lifted pixel: that's so chill
Sunshine Szavanna: old people and young, lots of fun for the family... let me tell a little about the sim while we listen, there are various locations where you can learn more about Africa, for example - there is a spot I call Ndebeleland, which introduces you to the Ndebele people of South Africa
Tosha Tyran: wow Sunshine, the links here are truly great
Sunshine Szavanna: and the beautiful patterns they paint on houses, pottery and more... there is also a little pub called the Marula pub, which tells about the Marula tree of Southern Africa, you might be familiar with the Marula drink
Thirza Ember: I think we learned about that when we went to Lavia's place? when we went to her African build with all the animals... I think James got drunk
Tosha Tyran: I have a notion that he still is
Thirza Ember: as if... lolol... poor man, how we tease him
James atLLOUD: I'm having trouble hearing you - la la la
Sunshine Szavanna: I have some right next to the pc hehe... another location here - is the Attaya hut - that tells you about west African tea traditions
Thirza Ember: when you lived in SA did you go to visit many countries, Sun? Or is it true that SA is a country that has a lot of foreigners... I'm curious if south africa is a sort of melting pot of cultures
Sunshine Szavanna: I didn't get to visit many others sadly, I usually traveled around in SA, SA has 11 official languages, so it is one of those melting pots for sure, loved all the different languages... another location I will try to create is a language corner, where you can learn a bit of Zulu for example
Thirza Ember: and tell us, what kind of a grid owner is Kashi???
Kashi Takeshi: Just a normal dude ;)
Sunshine Szavanna: Kashi has been the kindest owner for sure blabla :P
Kashi Takeshi: You know me :))
Thirza Ember: how do you like being on this beautiful grid?
Sunshine Szavanna: I have been here for long - how many years now? from the start I think
Kashi Takeshi: Almost 4 years ago we started VWZ.. Home to nice and creative people :)
Sunshine Szavanna: and I have been making things quietly hehe for 4 years
Thirza Ember: you have an amazing range of cultures on this grid, from India to Japan to Africa to... everything else
Kashi Takeshi: Love that too, it's nice people can be creative and contribute to the OS community like Sunshine does
Sunshine Szavanna: There is also a Wildlife hut, you can visit to learn a bit about the animals at the Kruger National Park, and a link to a friend of mine who takes amazing wildlife photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/peetvs/ check these while listening to the music :)
Thirza Ember: it's great how much of what you do relates directly to RL information
Kashi Takeshi: that's a nice thing, Africa is educational .. culture and music
Sunshine Szavanna: yes basically I use my experiences to create locations.png)
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We heard another jazz great, the 'Mama of SA Jazz' Sibongile Khumalo, and then it was almost time to cross the region to another music venue - the Lodge, where the emphasis moves from SA Jazz to music from all over the continent.
Sunshine Szavanna: Apart from Africa - I have two other sims here on the grid... one is called Sunvibes, the other - Shanti
Cherry B: i am impressed from the love this sim is build ... not that speed build of most sims
Sunshine Szavanna: when it comes to me in virtual worlds - I started out in 2008 - at that other place lol, I started out on the Non Profit Commons - and been involved in all sorts of events, my first little project was called OpenBuilding, I was teaching people basic building - while also learning about Africa and India, later I started playing tunes from Africa - and openbuidling became Sunvibes
We heard another jazz great, the 'Mama of SA Jazz' Sibongile Khumalo, and then it was almost time to cross the region to another music venue - the Lodge, where the emphasis moves from SA Jazz to music from all over the continent.
Sunshine Szavanna: welcome to the lodge :))
James.atLLOUD: I like the elephants in the water!
Sunshine Szavanna: that giraffe by the water - was created by Xirana, you might know her, and the elephant, they are part of opensim history
Thirza Ember: yes, we came to visit Sunvibes on Craft, with xira and you ... wow must be 6 years ago
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| Trying out some Afro vibes at the Lodge |
Sunshine Szavanna: if you click the orange ball - it has afro moves, feel free to test the afro moves if you like
Forest Azure: /me is looking for the orange ball...
James atLLOUD: really like these dances in the orange ball!
Forest Azure: I'll be so tired when i get home
Mal Burns: great song - half modern and partly zulu roots if not mistaken, was guitar style i thought
Sunshine Szavanna: yes I think more Xhosa but not sure of the difference... Zolani Mahola is singing ... Africa has two permanent streams, you can listen anytime,: one is only African tunes, the other - only SA Jazz
Bink Draconia: i have to leave now. thanks for showing this great region.
Sunshine Szavanna: ty for coming Bink :))
Thirza Ember: hugs Bink
Sunshine Szavanna: On the Sunvibes sim ... you can find a Linux Cafe, which has info on different Linux distributions... I have been using Ubuntu for many years, and the cafe has info on open source software in general
Thirza Ember: opensource is the best sauce!
Nara Nook: cool I need to visit it
Thirza Ember: you told me a long time ago what Ubuntu means, but I forgot
Sunshine Szavanna: Ubuntu is a philosophy coming from Africa - a way of thinking as well as an operating system - like Windows, Ubuntu describes a set of closely related African-origin value systems that emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals with their surrounding societal and physical worlds. "Ubuntu" is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" So it talks about the interconnectedness
James atLLOUD: Go figure - we learn new things on Safari! I think even more highly of ubuntu now
Kashi Takeshi: Big tech like M$, Apple and governments are pissing over our privacy more and more.. Linux is controlled by people... all can read the code and do checks on it. Like the OpenSim code ;)
Thirza Ember: lol we have a similar motto in opensim... Lagbuntu ... I lag because we are....
lifted pixel: with all the AI bs being shoved into Mac and Win, it'll be time to move to linux for good soon...
Kashi Takeshi: I agree Lifted..
lifted pixel: i just need windows for vtuber software and games... i've heard wine is really good now, the drink and the emulator lol
lifted pixel: truth is the average person could do just fine with a friendly linux version
Sunshine Szavanna: I basically ran a little open source internet cafe in africa for about 10 years, we used Ubuntu to create the work stations, I started with Linux in 2000 and never stopped.
Kashi Takeshi: I disabled Copilot and will do also with Recall at work AI is cool and you can do nice things with it.. but is also a big threat. The whole grid and regions run on Linux... Debian, actually the same as Ubuntu
Sunshine Szavanna: there is one last sim that I have here on the grid, it is called Shanti, Shanti has an Ashram area - where you can spend some quiet time, meditating, doing yoga moves, tai chi, it has its own stream also - and it plays Indian classical music... On the Shanti sim - you can also learn about creating rangolis, which is like a mandala, it is fun and colorful and used during Diwali, and other festivals
Thirza Ember: great! sounds like the Safari will be returning to vwz again next season for sure! If yu will have us... can't be sure we won't break your rangolis
lifted pixel: we may sit on them
James atLLOUD: It's sittin' time!
Sunshine Szavanna: hehe you are very welcome to come and on the Sunvibes sim - there is also a workshop area, where you can pick up lots of fun tools for building
Yara Eild: I'll say goodbye now. Thanks for showing me the interesting regions..png)
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Sunshine Szavanna: ty for coming Yara :) I am happy you enjoyed the mix :)
lifted pixel: yes, sunshine, this is another beautiful full build! thanks for sharing your experience!
Francisco Koolhoven: this was great
Alex Salamander: Great music
Sunshine Szavanna: feel free to come anytime and contact me on Discord if you have questions
James atLLOUD: thank you Sunny! And thank you Thirza and Kashi.
Kashi Takeshi: My pleasure but all the credit goes to Sunshine :)
Sunshine Szavanna: no ways - it is group work for sure... ty so much Kashi for the space on the grid
James.atLLOUD: aw grid admins are important too :)
lifted pixel: thank you again for the lovely tour! see y'all lovely avatars next time :D
HG Address hop://grid.virtual-worlds.zone:8002/Africa/128/128/27
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