Kanneh-Masons Honor Bob Marley with "Redemption Song"

Kanneh-Masons honour a musical legend with their arrangement of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," originally released forty years ago in October 1980, via Universal Music. The new music video for the track, filmed at Abbey Road Studios, shows all seven of the siblings - Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu - performing the work together in their own emotive arrangement that showcases the enduring nature of Marley's music. 

The original song featured on Bob Marley and the Wailers' twelfth album, Uprising, with key lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey, "The Work That Has Been Done." At the time of writing the song in 1979, Marley had been given the diagnosis of cancer that, four years later, would take his life at the age of 36. Marley's widow Rita later suggested that 'Redemption Song' was a conscious reflection on the artist's mortality.

This weekend, the Kanneh-Mason siblings also launch a competition in partnership with the Barbican Centre, where they will perform together as a family for the first time on October 22nd in a groundbreaking live and live-streamed event. The competition offers budding young artists the chance to submit their own illustrations on the theme of 'Carnival of the Animals'. The winner will be chosen by children's illustrator Emma Chichester Clark, who has designed the artwork for the Kanneh-Masons upcoming album.

Watch the Barbican Livestream HERE 

The siblings explain, "To celebrate 'Carnival of the Animals' and the amazing illustrations that Emma Chichester Clark created for our album cover, we want you to draw your very own carnival of animals! It can be any combination of animals, and you can draw as many as you want, from ants to antelopes, giraffes to jellyfish, xeruses to zebras - anything goes!"

To enter, participants must upload an image of their drawing to www.carnivaldrawingcompetition.com before 12pm EST/5pm BST on October 19th. The winner will be chosen by Emma Chichester Clark on October 21st, with the prize being a signed deluxe CD of the new album Carnival, a 'House Of Music' bundle and an online ticket for the family concert at the Barbican on October 22nd.

About the Kanneh-Masons

The Kanneh-Masons are seven brothers and sisters ranging in age from 11 to 24 years old, all of whom play either violin, piano or cello. Described as "the world's most musical family" by Simon Cowell, they have won many awards and appeared on numerous TV shows; the five eldest performed at the BAFTA awards in 2018 and all seven appeared on the 2019 Royal Variety Performance in the UK. They have also been the subject of a number of documentaries, including CBS Sunday Morning, BBC One's Imagine... This House is Full of Music and BBC Four's Young, Gifted and Classical, as well as a documentary 'Playing to Inspire' with the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on ABS. All the children attend or have attended London's Royal Academy of Music and its Primary and Junior Academies. They were raised in Nottingham, England, by parents Stuart Mason, a business executive and Dr Kadiatu Kanneh, a former university lecturer who has just published her own memoir, House of Music - Raising the Kanneh-Masons. Both parents played musical instruments to a high standard but never pursued professional careers. Born in Sierra Leone but moving to Wales as a young girl, Kadiatu lectured in English at the University of Birmingham, while Stuart, both of whose parents were born in Antigua, was born in London and works for a luxury experiential travel company. www.kannehmasons.com

The seven Kanneh-Mason siblings are:

Isata Kanneh-Mason, age 24 (piano)

Braimah Kanneh-Mason, 22 (violin)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 21 (cello)

Konya Kanneh-Mason, 20 (piano & violin)

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, 18 (piano & cello)

Aminata Kanneh-Mason, 15 (violin & piano)

Mariatu Kanneh-Mason, 11 (cello & piano)

www.kannehmasons.com

 

 

 

 

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