In 2016, two South African afro-future gender and genre-bending avant-garde acts Umlilo and STASH CREW came together for a queergalactic collaboration. They fused live electronic future kwaai music with political insight, hip hop, kwaito, dance and queer pop sensibilities.

Umlilo and Stash Crew said: "This tour was created to combat  misrepresentation and to engage with the greater community around the queer experience in hopes of creating a larger network in which we can engage with one another and express ourselves freely.”

Umlilo and Stash Crew will be doing a special showcase of new music material at PopArt Theatre  in October!

Drawing inspiration from their respective fictional worlds, Mooky Galax, Lesbot and Luna Leo, the three united to create the "Queer Intergalactic Alliance" that has seen them travel the world, sharing inspirational songs, stories and engaging with queer communities in different cities. The first leg of this tour was completed in Cape Town South Africa in 2016 followed by performances in Johannesburg with Mykki Blanco and ID Magazine (2017), São Paulo, Brazil (2017) and Berlin, Germany (2017).

Umlilo, Whyt Lyon and Phayafly successfully undertook two international tours. In May, the Alliance travelled to São Paulo (Brazil) as part of the Explode!Platform facilitated by Joao Simoes and Claudio Bueno in collaboration with Sesc Belenzinho, Itaquera and Sesc Santana. Alongside performances, the Alliance facilitated a week long workshop series on "Queer Identity & Expression" exploring the construction of an identity through creative expression. They also recorded and jammed with popular queer artists Gloria Groove and Rico Dasalam, led a queer visibility walk and a performance showcase.  The walk culminated with a special homage to Brazilian trans activist Andréa de Mayo at her gravesite.

In July the Alliance charted their spaceships for the second leg of their international tour. They travelled to Berlin, Germany with the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung hosted by Jan Leidecker and Britta Becker. This tour consisted of a month filled with festival performances, panel discussions, photoshoots, interviews and a Berlin Queer walk. In Berlin, the alliance worked with the Rosa-Luxemberg Stiftung and presented a panel discussion on “Being Queer in South Africa” and a performance at Südblock. Umlilo and Stash Crew facilitated conversations that focus on queer post-colonial identity, afro-futurism, music and the African diaspora. This was coupled with performances at art and music festivals such as Yo Sissy and Fuchsbau (Hannover) as well as parties like Gayhana (SO36). The performances included South African artists Afrohomo (Kieron Jina) and Black Widow Spider (Mmagkosi Kgabi-Berge). The trio also collaborated with Berlin-based music producer Akrobat (Tobias Purfürst).

In Johannesburg, ID magazine collaborated Mykki Blanco alongside Umlilo & Stash Crew to visit some of the sites of queer history in South Africa as part of their documentary. This resulted in performances at the ID Magazine Queer Party at Glory and the filming of their upcoming music video for the single ‘Mad as Hell’, which is featured in the international queer compilation album, Rainbow Riots. Umlilo and Whyt Lyon are also readying their uptempo dance collaboration, titled ‘DL Boi’, anticipated to be released in November.

Umlilo and Stash Crew said: “Making music and performing is no longer enough for us. In spite of the tremendous duress queer people are placed under, our narratives are typically erased from mainstream dialogues. In music, this is also reflected in the amount of queer artists in Africa that are pushing boundaries but are not represented on world stages and media platforms. This tour was created to combat this misrepresentation and to engage with the greater community around the queer experience in hopes of creating a larger network in which we can engage with one another and express ourselves freely.”