Manchester-based artist Henrietta Smith-Rolla AKA Afrodeutsche, graces MIF:23 with her captivating audiovisual, trans-genre piece; Psalms.
Ghanaian-Russian-German Manchester-based artist Henrietta Smith-Rolla, AKA Afrodeutsche, graces MIF:23 with her captivating audio-visual, trans-genre piece, Psalms.
This year’s edition of MIF was special for a few reasons. The main and most obvious one was the grand unveiling of their new yet still not completely finished home, Factory International. The second was that Manchester’s AFRODEUTSCHE was returning to the festival for her second performance with Robert Ames and the Manchester Camerata.
This group first performed in 2022 when AFRODEUTSCHE commissioned a new work, ‘He Sings Over Me,’ which premiered at the PRSF New Music Biennial. This time, Henrietta has taken things up a notch and created a stunning audio-visual experience in which she flirts with her electronic and classical influences.
Faith, love, music, and film—the performance was a beautiful convergence of the most impactful parts of her life and her attempt to make sense of them in a world shaped by a recent autism diagnosis.

It was the Manchester Camerata, along with Robert Ames, who entered the stage first. The room began to darken, and the small electric candles littered the stage began illuminating as the group took to their seats. Finally, AFRODEUTSCHE entered the stage to rapturous applause. Wearing a long green dress and a red headpiece, she immediately sat at the piano in the centre of the stage and burst into a beautiful solo. Shortly after, the Camerata began to join her in performance, prompting Henrietta to rise from behind the piano, bursting out into a hauntingly beautiful vocal performance.
Not too long into the performance, Henrietta addressed the crowd. She shared her recent autism diagnosis and its effect on her understanding of love. Finally, she explained the purpose of the piece: an ode to her religion and her discovery of love and its many iterations.
Following this short speech was a vocally dominated piece that could have simultaneously passed as spoken word and prayer. About halfway through the performance, Henrietta left the stage, and when she returned, she transitioned into another outfit. ‘A quick wardrobe change,’ she joked. The second outfit looked reminiscent of Ghanaian Kente cloth, which was maybe a homage to her Ghanaian roots.


For most of the show, the large screen behind her was out of action, but halfway through, the projector at the back of the stage lit up. Throughout the rest of the show, work from cinematographer Micheal England appeared on the screen, adding a striking visual element to the performance.
Overall, Psalms showcased the versatility and depth of Afrodeutsche’s creative output, but it also revealed a vulnerable side to an artist who is still journeying to find out more about herself.