Tayo Aluko and Andrew Barney: Black Activist Song Cycle

Part of the Yoko Ono Lennon Lunchtime Concert Series

Baritone Tayo Aluko and composer Andrew Barney present a programme including a new song cycle inspired by Black History related to Liverpool.

Aluko has compiled words taken from a letter written by Nigerian Pastor Daniels Ekarte of Liverpool’s African Churches Mission in 1941; an interview with Gee Walker (mother of Anthony) forgiving her son’s murderers; a Slavery Remembrance Day lecture given at Liverpool Town Hall by Professor of African History Hakim Adi on the teaching of Black History and referencing the Haitian Revolution, and a poem by Aluko himself, inspired by a Black Lives Matter Protest at St. George’s Plateau in 2020.

Nigerian-born Tayo Aluko worked as an architect in Liverpool for several years before switching to full-time writing and performing. He has since toured the world with two plays: Call Mr. Robeson and Just An Ordinary Lawyer. His latest, Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, was premiered in May 2024 and is part of a forthcoming festival devoted to the composer.

Local scouse composer Andrew Barney is the tenth and current winner of the Rushworth Composition Prize with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. A polyglot and genre-spanning musician, he weaves language, culture and identity into powerful musical storytelling while supporting Black creatives through PRS Foundation’s Power Up.

The Tung Auditorium Lunchtime Concert Series is supported by Yoko Ono Lennon via Spirit Foundations.

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