WolfHawkJaguar Uses Music and Film to Create Hope

WolfHawkJaguar Uses Music and Film to Create Hope

PHOTO ABOVE BY TASIN SABIR; BELOW, COURTESY 393 FILMS

Oakland artist WolfHawkJaguar, aka Adimu Madyun, makes music, film, and art that moves, connects, reflects, and inspires the receiver to greatness.

WolfHawkJaguar is a man on a mission to create music, film, and art that moves, connects, reflects, and inspires the recipient? to greatness, no matter how low the depth of his or her present circumstances may seem.

He is a filmmaker. A musician. A priest. A healer. A husband. A father. A Warrior. A Wolf. A Hawk. A Jaguar. His canvas is the city of Oakland, and his paint of choice is music and film.

“I love creating in Oakland. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Oakland is a pro-Black artist city. It allows for a level of support in creative endeavors,” he said.

WolfHawkJaguar, aka Adimu Madyun, is the facilitator for the group Determination Black Men, a program housed in the United Roots building in Oakland. Seven years strong, this intergenerational group of Black men discusses how to be better people and community members. This, WolfHawkJaguar also considers art — the art of creation.

“How do you create balance, hope, or faith where there is none?” he asks. This desire to create hope and faith where there is none is what led to his making his first feature length film, Tent City, released last year. When walking by homeless encampments, WolfHawkJaguar said he wondered as an artist how to create something to help people look at this differently and create a possible solution. Tent City connects homelessness and mental illness with one probable story of how life can take a downward turn and send one into the abyss of a tent city.

“Tent City is a beautiful and complex film. It was a difficult film to make. I cried making this film dealing with my own uncertainties and insecurities,” WolfHawkJaguar said. He has two feature length films nearing postproduction, Sango The Story of a King and Haiti & DEMM, that he plans to release this year with screenings this spring. His documentaries include Operation Small Axe, Search For The Everlasting Coconut Tree, and “Reflections” A Warrior Spirit Art Experience, which are available on Kanopy.com.

WolfHawkJaguar has also written and directed many songs and music videos, and his most recent music video is “Homecoming,” which he recorded in South Africa while shooting his film, So Beautiful. The song, as he put it, is “Getting back to you. Your purpose. Your essence. It’s easy to get lost in the wilderness of life.”

The project was released on Prosperity Movement Music in collaboration with OneRPM records.

As an Oakland resident, the city represents WolfHawkJaguar’s anchor, but he also films in South Africa, Nigeria, Haiti, and Cuba. And in bridging the continent of Africa to his personal life, he is also a Priest of Ogun from the African Yoruba faith tradition. “Ogun is the energy of creation, protection, clarity, hunters, warriors, and blessings. It’s a great honor to be a priest of Ogun. My art is a reflection of my spirituality. My work as a healer can be attributed to Ogun.”

Adimu “WolfHawkJaguar” Madyun is part of the artistry that gives Oakland its beautiful texture and culture. Three animals. One name.

“WolfHawkJaguar is for those who have lost faith and courage but still go forward, and in the end, faith and courage return,” WolfHawkJaguar said.

The East Bay continues to watch this Oakland artist create hope, faith, courage, and magic.

Tent City screens Feb. 21 at La Peña in Berkeley with musical accompaniment by the Destiny Mohammad Trio and featuring WolfHawkJaguar on vocals. The event is free. More information can be found on TentCityTheMovie.com and LaPena.org.

Faces of the East Bay