Unforgotten Voyages
A SELECTION OF GRAND UNION ORCHESTRA PIECES FROM UNFORGOTTEN VOYAGES, which were showcased at our hugely successful and well-received show in June 2023 at the Hackney Empire Theatre in London, telling the back-story of the Windrush Generation, the African diaspora and Transatlantic Slave Trade. Read the background here.
The chant of the Yoruba orisha Eleggua, the shape-shifter, guardian of borders and protector of travellers, calling on him to open up the doors and come in to bless the gathering. He is still venerated in West Africa, Northeast Brazil (candomblé), Cuba (santeria) and other regions (the Caribbean and Southern States of the USA) exploited during 500 years of colonisation through the Transatlantic slave trade. (More examples here and below.)
An Afro-Cuban interpretation, and…
A big band arrangement of Eleggua’s chant
This Blog Post by Tony Haynes is instructive https://wp.me/p1EvPu-TT as it analyses the music and provides some background.
Yémanyá, known as Jémanjá in Brazil, is the orisha of the sea and rivers. Here their respective chants are sung together.
A full ensemble version of Yémanyá’s chant, with voices and brass, set to a characteristic West African 12/8 drum rhythm.
Worksong, a powerful 4-part harmony number with lyrics by South African writer John Matshikiza; words and music here.
Defiant song of an enslaved Caribbean plantation worker about his life in the ’new world’
Two joyous upbeat numbers based on Ghanaian songs, delightfully sung by Sarah Laryea.