At Historycal Roots we like to think of ourselves as ‘championing’ the work of Chineke! Who or what is (are?) Chineke! you may very well ask?
Anyone who attends concerts of so called ‘classical’ music will know that the orchestras are invariably, almost exclusively, made up of White musicians. A Black face on stage is a rarity. Audiences generally tend to reflect this. Even at the popular BBC Prom concerts the number of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) faces in the audience can usually be counted on the fingers of both hands (sometimes only one hand might be needed).
Chineke! is an orchestra made up almost entirely of BME players. We have been to three of their concerts; twice at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank and once at the Royal Albert Hall when they appeared during this year’s Proms programme. We were sorry that their concert at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall didn’t coincide with one of our visits to that city – especially as they performed a piece by our beloved Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
What is very noticeable about a Chineke! concert is that, as well as the very different appearance of the orchestra, the audience is also predominantly BME and, incidentally, much younger than usual for a classical concert.
This was so noticeable that we felt moved to write to ‘Gramophone’ magazine. Our letter obviously stuck a chord as it was chosen as ‘Letter of the Month’.
Do keep an eye open for any Chineke! concerts in your area, even if you aren’t particularly ‘into’ classical music the Chineke! experience may surprise you.