[Hannibal
Lokumbe]
When
the prominent American choral group VocalEssence offered to arrange
an interview with Hannibal Lokumbe, we immediately accepted. In a
press release of Jan. 27, 2012, VocalEssence says:
“VocalEssence
has commissioned Joyce
Award winner Hannibal Lokumbe,
to premiere his new piece, In
the Spirit of Being, at
the annual VocalEssence
WITNESS Concert on
February 19, 2012 (4 pm), at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in
Saint Paul. It is one of the largest commissions VocalEssence
has ever endeavored and a great part of that investment is taking
part in juvenile centers, service organizations, churches and schools
all over the Twin Cities. It has been said that Lokumbe will not
visit a city unless he has he opportunity to walk
with the least among us.
While working diligently on his new piece with the VocalEssence
chorus, he is also shaping lives with his community program, The
Music Liberation Project (MLP).
MLP uses music as a front to teach life skills students haven't had
the opportunity to learn. Lokumbe's goal is to help his MLP students
to reclaim their lives through heritage and discipline.”
AfriClassical
interviewed Hannibal Lokumbe by phone on Feb. 13, 2012:
Thank
you very much for calling, Hannibal! It's a pleasure to be in touch
with you. I've been writing about you almost the whole time I've had
the blog, since 2007.
Thank
you very much!
Oh,
you're welcome! I think African
Portraits,
the opera, was the first item that I remember writing about; there
was a CD of that. Of course the one that made the biggest impression
in my area, Southeast Michigan, was Dear
Mrs. Parks.
Oh,
hallelujah!
Yes,
that's quite an amazing piece!
Thank
you!
It's
really a large scale, and now I see that you have something of very
large scale coming up again?
Yes,
it just keeps coming that way, I'm glad to say! I'm grateful!
The
title is In
the Spirit of Being?
Yes!
In
the Spirit of Being
is a work about my life, just the way Dear
Mrs. Parks
was a work about Mrs. Parks' life. So this piece is
autobiographical.
I
think I read that it was your life in four different stages?
Yes
sir! There are four Veils.
What
would those four Veils be?
The
first Veil is called The
Gift of Life,
and the second Veil has two parts. One is called The
Struggle,
and the second part is called The
Wall of Pain.
The third Veil is entitled Metamorphosis,
and the fourth Veil is entitled Ever
Unending Circles of Peace.
I
also read that this work is about an hour?
Yes
sir! It's about right at an hour.
The
four Veils are the movements, right?
Yes
sir! The Veils are a bit deeper. Once one is removed from our
consciousness, it's something more lasting than a movement. We can
move in one direction, and we can move backwards from that direction
in two minutes, but a Veil, once something is removed from you that
keeps you from seeing, once you see it, you will always see it. It
always leads to more sight, a deeper insight.
So
that is the concept behind the structure of the piece?
Yes
sir!
What
would you like to basically tell our readers as to the purpose you
had in mind with this work of music?
Basically
I want to share with them things in my life that might be helpful to
them in their lives. The fact that we have The
Gift of Life;
the fact that we exist; that is the most important of all things to
my mind.
I
see.
Because
all human beings, regardless of our economic and social station in
life, we all need the same thing, to exist and to have come here. No
one came here any differently from anyone else. We all came here the
same way, having the same force of power and spiritual essence and
biological essence to exist. And so I begin there with The
Gift of Life, something
we all have in common. None greater, none less. We exist, we
breathe, we need air and food to live. The
Struggle comes
when people disregard the lives of others, and they attempt by so
many methods to degrade and devalue the life of others. That's when
The
Struggle comes
in.
You
portray this in both vocal and instrumental music, right?
Yes
sir! There is the VocalEssence Chorus, along with the Ramsey School
Children's Choir, and there is the great vocalist Sister Tonia Hughes
who is going to be singing the part of Lela, or “peace” in the
Pele language, the language of my Great Grandfather.
Lela
– how is that spelled?
Lela,
but it's pronounced “lay-la” as opposed to “lee-la.”
So
she has that role as the soloist, and you have the whole choir from
the Ramsey School, and the VocalEssence Chorus, and you also have a
Jazz Quartet in which you are playing the trumpet?
Right.
The pianist for that is Sanford Moore, and there is a bass and a
drummer.
Is
this work associated in some way wih your Music Liberation
Project?
Yes
sir, because the Music Liberation Orchestra is actually the name of
the Quintet that I will be leading at the Ordway Center. I never use
“Quintet” anymore. Any time I play from here on out, the name of
my group will be the Music Liberation Orchestra. I am glad you
reminded me of that. I will never have “Quintet”; I will move
past that.
Okay!
As
a matter of fact, I am here now at the Boys Totem Town, where I have
been working with our young brothers. It's all part of the Music
Liberation Orchestra work.
Are
these young people who have run into disadvantaged circumstances of
one kind or another?
Yes
sir!
So
they have to overcome some challenge?
Yes
sir! It's so remarkable that on Sunday, at the pre-concert interview,
I've invited one to come and read some poetry for the entire world to
hear! And one is going to perform on the second Veil, Struggle.
What
else would you like people to know about this performance or the
work?
I
would like them to go that extra mile to be present, to witness,
because I feel deeply in my soul that it will be of help to them. It
would remind them of their divine selves. That's the purpose for
which I wrote it, to remind people of their divine selves. And to
inspire them to continue to dream, and to start the dream again. You
can't stop.
You've
been associated with VocalEssence on various projects, haven't
you?
Yes
sir! The last one was the Dear
Mrs. Parks project.
And
in 2007 weren't you involved with them in the series of four Witness
recordings?
That's
right, absolutely, because that's why we did Dear
Mrs. Parks.
Have
you seen the Teacher's Guide they have compiled, based on In
the Spirit of Being?
No,
I haven't.
You
should really see that! It's remarkable, it's the answer to my
prayer! I prayed 30 years ago, in Greenwich Village after I walked
off the stage of a jazz club. It is the manifestation of that prayer
of my desire to work as I am now working, on a much deeper level in
the community.
So
this is a project that you have wanted to do for a long time?
Yes
sir! And I have been working on it for a long time. This guide that
VocalEssence has compiled is really extraordinary. It's in the
schools and the teachers have been teaching it. On Feb. 21 and 22, a
Monday and a Tuesday, we're going to perform it for over 8,000
students that have been studying it!
That's
quite an undertaking!
It's
extraordinary!
It
certainly sounds like it!
Tuesday,
February 21 and Wednesday, February 22 we are going to have eight
concerts.
That's
quite a followup to the Sunday concert!
Yes
sir!
I
am compelled by the multicolored art work you stand in front of in
the various press releases; is that an African piece?
Oh
that's a wall! I love working in the arena of imagery, sound and
text! I believe strongly in that! There are so many destructive
images that are put upon our children, that I take every opportunity
I can to show them images of beauty and of power. Not destruction!
I
agree with you that you stand in contrast to a great deal of the
influences which are not necessarily positive!
Right!
Can
you think of anything else that you would like our readers to know,
before we finish our discussion?
I
would like very much for them to do all that they must to come to
peace with themselves. Whatever it takes, to find inner peace with
themselves! I thank you as well!
Oh,
you're most welcome! It's an honor to be in touch with someone who
has had such creative influence, and who has such a positive
direction in mind for our youth in particular. Thank you very much!
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