1. Vivid abstract art features a seated figure, eyes, red shapes, black lion, faces, and dancers. Bold text highlights Soweto Kinch: White Juju by LSO Live with the London Symphony Orchestra and Lee Reynolds.
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Soweto Kinch: White Juju

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This sensational recording from LSO Live features the world premiere of Soweto Kinch’s new work for jazz quartet and symphony orchestra, written in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Black British history and the lockdown era.

Beginning with the deafening silence of quarantine in 2020, it conjures sounds such as a bird call in Central Park, and the statue of a slaver crashing into Bristol’s River Avon, interwoven with Kinch’s barbed, incisive lyrics. The piece is deliberately danceable and intentionally seeks to subvert expectations of orchestral music.

Kinch’s music melds his distinct approach to jazz and hip hop with classical music: drawing broad inspiration from European folklore, the African Diaspora and divisive national myths to create a uniquely contemporary tone poem.

White Juju was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and Serious, supported as part of Serious' Giant Steps scheme funded by Help Musicians and Cockayne Grant for the Arts.

Composer Soweto Kinch
Saxophone & Vocals Soweto Kinch
Piano, Keyboards & Sampler Rick Simpson
Bass Nick Jurd
Drums & Sampler Gregory Hutchinson
Conductor Lee Reynolds
Performers London Symphony Orchestra

1. Intro Audience
2. Chaos
3. I. Dawn
4. II. The Old Normal
5. III. March of the Unicorns
6. Snarling Beast
7. IV. Beneath the Myth
8. V. Curated Chaos
9. The Cycle of Violence
10. VI. Sanctuary
11. VII. The Natural Order
12. Sunlit Uplands
13. VIII. Tall Tales of Yesteryore
14. Idiots
15. IX. Eternal
16. Casting Out
17. X. Clarity

Release Date 2 December 2022
Digital LSO5110-D | 0822231511069
Vinyl LSO5110-LP | 0822231511014

Excecutive Producer Soweto Kinch
Live Recording Producer Andrew Cornall
Engineers Neil Hutchinson and Jonathan Stokes for Classic Sound Ltd
Additional production & mixing Tony Platt
Mixed at "Have Ears, Will Travel"
Mastering Cicely Balston for Alchemy Mastering at AIR Studios
Recorded 19 November 2021, Barbican, London

FLAC - 24bit 96kHz - Compatible with Windows and Android devices
MP3 - 320kbps - Universal compatibility
LP - Compatible with all Vinyl players

Available on streaming services

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Reviews

“

★★★★★ ‘It’s an incredibly potent and provocative socio-political commentary on Covid-era Britain set to a thrilling soundtrack where jazz, hip-hop, and classical music collide.’

- Record Collector
“

★★★★ ‘In all, this suite is that rare thing: an album that escapes the dourness of “political” music and seems wholly life-affirming.’

- The Daily Telegraph
“

★★★★★ ‘Unmissable.’

- BBC Music Magazine