Friday, November 27, 2020

TheTimes.co.uk: Chineke!/Edusei review — defiance, rage, triumph and a seam of deep compassion

The programme was incisively conducted by Kevin John Edusei

MARK ALLAN


November 24, 2020

When the Black Lives Matter protester Patrick Hutchinson was photographed in June rescuing an injured white counter-protester, the striking picture went viral. “I’ll stare at this image numerous times,” the poet Yomi Sode begins, “and then it will hit me . . . We have been here before.” His is a powerful critique, a response to current affairs that’s rooted in centuries of trauma. It forms the heart of a new piece by James B Wilson, Remnants, premiered in this Black Legacies streamed concert by Chineke!.

In truth, Wilson’s music is mostly a frame for Sode’s performance, anguished, urgent and eloquent. 

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