Shabaka announces major-label solo project debut

Acclaimed saxophonist, philosopher, bandleader, and musician Shabaka Hutchings, now professionally known as Shabaka across all solo musical efforts, has announced his first major-label solo body of work, Afrikan Culture, which will be released on the iconic Impulse! Released on 20 May 2022.

Entirely written by Shabaka, the eight-track digital-only EP showcases him on various wind instruments and focuses on the aural meditative space.

“Afrikan Culture was made around the idea of meditation and what it means for me to still my own mind and accept the music which comes to the surface,” says Shabaka. “It features various types of Shakuhachi flutes and a new technique of creating that I’ve been experimenting with in layering many flutes together to create a forest of sound where melodies and rhythms float in space and emerge in glimpses.”

Produced by Shabaka and frequent collaborator Dilip Harris, Afrikan Culture takes you on a sonically healing journey. Immersed in a sea of sound, diverse instruments that include the Shakuhachi (a Japanese end-blown flute), a Kora (a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa), a Mbira (a “thumb piano” from Africa), and a music box envelopes the listener in a soothing sound that lingers on well past the last played note.

Later in 2022, we will see a World Exclusive UK Jazz Supergroup performance, as the Shabaka Hutchings-led outfit Sons of Kemet will be playing alongside fellow powerhouse saxophonist Nubya Garcia at Love Supreme Festival 2022.

Afrikan Culture Tracklist:

1. Black meditation

2. Call it a European paradox

3. Ital is vital

4. Memories don’t live like people do

5. Ritual awakening

6. Explore inner space

7. The dimension of subtle awareness

8. Rebirth

Who is Shabaka Hutchings?

The British-born Barbados-raised saxophonist and clarinettist is the centrifugal force in three critically acclaimed bands: Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and the South African-centered Shabaka and the Ancestors

The Comet Is Coming, Sons of Kemet, and Shabaka and The Ancestors – as well as numerous ad hoc ensembles – are separated by personnel and sound palette but the records naturally talk to each other. He writes the music for Sons of Kemet and composes for Shabaka and the Ancestors, whilst the music for The Comet is Coming is developed from within improvised jam sessions. It’s a rich set of overlapping musical worlds in which music is written whenever the opportunity arises.

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