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tenacious tribe of talent
the new chieftains
“Angelo wages a fun and potent battle on social isolation”
FORWARDING THE SMILE
To always show love to people is what Angelo does from the heart and believes a smile goes a long way. With Jesus Christ working in his life from a young age he had no say in what would happen. Ill health and his fighting spirit would battle it out time and time again, until Jesus Christ said “have Faith, let go and let me show you the way”
What transpired would far exceed what Angelo could ever have expected. Captivated with the nature of always wanting to show love to others, his purpose is never diluted and with every person that he encounters Angelo wants an authentic moment of genuine love to be shared. A simple smile to open the heart, to talk, to engage and to connect with people.
All are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. No judgements or barriers, he holds, just to receive the guidance that he asks for.
Angelo says “The most most fulfilling thing one can do in their lives is to bless others”
The man armed with a smile and a guitar knows that the real change happens within.
Galatians 5:14
"For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."
ANGELO PANGALOS - THE NEW CHIEFTAIN
There have not always been reasons to do so yet Angelo is committed to eliciting smiles from everyone he meets and transforming a typical tube journey from solitary and hostile to a fun social experiment.
With a pack of playing cards and his guitar in tow he has strangers speaking and an entire train carriage engaged in a tube singalong. The non participants watch in amazement secretly hoping he will sing their favourite song and that they could relinquish their fear of embarrassment to join in.
This is grassroots’ positive action, making a phenomenal difference in the simplest of ways. Recognising the importance of social interaction and the fact that everyone of us has a story to share, Angelo wages a fun and potent battle on social isolation. A step towards rendering the newspaper and other distractions (many commuters cling to) redundant and encouraging us to connect with one another through our rich and distinctive stories.
He is a New Chieftain because he defies conventions, rose above his ‘could nots and should nots’ and to dedicate his life to spreading joy in peoples lives in such an extraordinary and meaningful way.
the story
One day in the year of 2011, on my regular endeavours on the tube to spread smiles, I have encountered a wonderful man by the name of Agenda. He was a very kind and polite man who instantly took interest in what I was doing. He While on the tube carriage he approached me with a smile, eager to engage in conversation and to discover more about me. Throughout the years of entertaining on the tube I was well aware of how unusual it was for people to actually take interest in me as a person as opposed to the entertainment I was offering. Agenda was precisely that person who was genuinely intrigued about my background and the very purpose behind my passion and drive to entertain strangers on the tube.
Without hesitation in my usual style, I have immediately introduced myself and continued to share my life story as I did for years with so many other people. Surprisingly the next train stop was the destination for both of us, discovering that he also lived in the same area. While getting off the carriage we continued the conversation on the tube platform. Agenda took the opportunity to share about his own passion in photography and his project called "The New Chieftains"- showcasing people with unique life stories, passion and tenacious talent. He was keen to reconnect with me to explain more about it and unlike many similar encounters with other people expressing interest in my life story, Agenda was one of very few who actually followed through.
Since the first encounter and the usual email communication, I have come across Agenda several times on the tube as he lived in the same area and this helped to keep our friendship alive. On Saturday 13th of April 2013, Agenda has kindly invited me for a photo-shoot. I was thrilled and incredibly grateful for his kind gesture to offer his time and talent to create a unique photo for me. The location was around my neighbourhood which was very special as it was the place where I grew up since the age of 11 when my family came to London. Every kind gesture offered by strangers throughout the many years of interacting with the public in London, it has left an imprint of gratitude in my heart.
This photo-shoot was just the start of what was to form a larger project which Agenda first mentioned to me on the tube. The follow-up was another photo-shoot session specifically for Agenda's project "The New Chieftains" which I was truly honoured to be invited to be a featured person.
