Following the release of their critically acclaimed album Black To The Future, which is currently on course to chart in the UK Top 40 this week, Mercury-nominated quartet Sons of Kemet have released a moving music video for “Pick Up Your Burning Cross” (released via Impulse! Records).

Watch here: https://sonsofkemet.lnk.to/PUYBCvideo

For “Pick Up Your Burning Cross,” the core group – Theon Cross (tuba), Edward Wakili-Hick (percussion), Tom Skinner (percussion) – recruited two American musicians: singer-composer Angel Bat Dawid from Chicago and poet-activist Moor Mother from Philadelphia, to emote over the strength it takes to strive for black power. Directed by Ashleigh Jadee, the music video for “Pick Up Your Burning Cross” gracefully depicts the message of “reconnecting with ancestral energies by confronting our fears and insecurities,” as explained by bandleader Shabaka Hutchings.

With special guests such as grime emcees D Double E and Kojey Radical and UK poet Joshua Idehen amongst others, Black To The Future is a bigger affair than previous Sons of Kemet records. The dynamic album begins and ends with powerful lyrical and musical statements of rage and frustration, expressed outwardly in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the subsequent BLM protests. The album flows inwards from the start and finish to deeper, inner journeys – looking to forgotten cosmologies and searching for new ways of existing. GET BLACK TO THE FUTURE HERE

Shabaka Hutchings says, ‘Black to the Future is a sonic poem for the invocation of power, remembrance and healing. It depicts a movement to redefine and reaffirm what it means to strive for black power.”

“The meaning is not universal, and the cultural context of the listener will shape their understanding,” he continues. “Yet in the end, the overarching message remains the same: For humanity to progress we must consider what it means to be Black to the Future.”

For Black To The Future, Shabaka sequenced and named each track in a specific order so that the song titles reflect a single poetic statement to which a depth of symbolic meaning can be intuited in combination with the music/sonic information.

The statement reads: “Field negus - pick up your burning cross - think of home - hustle - for the culture - to never forget the source - In remembrance of those fallen - Let the circle be unbroken - Envision yourself levitating - Throughout the madness, stay strong - Black.” Read Shabaka Hutchings’ mission statement here.

BLACK TO THE FUTURE UK TOUR DATES 2021

Wed, JUL 14 – LAFAYETTE – LONDON

Thu, AUG 19 – WE OUT HERE FESTIVAL – ABBOT RIPTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Fri, AUG 27 – ALL POINTS EAST – VICTORIA PARK, LONDON