A centuries-old insurance document detailing the trafficking of enslaved Africans began with the words: \u201cIn the name of God, Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Dr Errol Francis, the artistic director and chief executive of the arts and heritage charity Culture&, the contradiction was striking: an invocation of God in a document that treated human beings as cargo.<\/p>\n
It gave him an unusual idea: what if the documents that once insured the trafficking of enslaved Africans could instead be used to create a requiem in their memory?<\/p>\n
The new work, Atlantic Requiem, by the Manchester-based composer David \u00d6na\u00e7, will premiere on Sunday at LSO St Luke\u2019s in London, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers.<\/p>\n
Commissioned by Culture&, the project grew out of research into Lloyd\u2019s of London, the historic insurance market whose members helped insure ships and enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by Lloyd\u2019s, the 40-minute, five-movement work brings together Catholic liturgy, historic insurance documents and testimony concerning the killing of an enslaved African woman aboard a ship in 1790.<\/p>\n
Its musical language combines contemporary classical composition with jazz, gospel and other traditions that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
The performances, taking place during Black History Month, will be conducted by the Grammy award-winning conductor Malcolm J Merriweather.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a really complicated situation in how religion is being used. Religion was used to convert the indigenous people then, the indigenous people often took up religion as part of emancipation,\u201d Francis, who was a member of the steering group overseeing research into Lloyd\u2019s historical involvement in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was why I thought to myself, \u2018Maybe we should write a Requiem Mass, because that would really bring out these contradictions and also use these documents for a different purpose than what they were intended for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When Culture& approached \u00d6na\u00e7 about Atlantic Requiem, he jumped at the opportunity. \u201cThe styles that I\u2019m interested in come from both sides of the Atlantic, so it just felt like I finally had this grand canvas on which I could explore these dual interests, allow the two styles to enrich one another,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The account of John Cranston, preserved by the Newport Historical Society. Photograph: David \u00d6na\u00e7\/Guardian<\/p>\n
For \u00d6na\u00e7, who is of mixed heritage and hails from both sides of the Atlantic, the piece was an opportunity to explore longstanding questions about where he belongs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a pianist, sometimes the piano itself and the layout or the geography is an inspiration to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you took the five black notes and two of the significant white notes from the other set, you got this seven-note blues scale, which is the product of the musical and cultural experience of enslaved Africans from the other side of the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while the work ultimately moves towards reconciliation and joy, some of its most harrowing passages confront the violence of enslavement directly. The second movement draws on a 1791 grand jury testimony concerning the killing of an enslaved African woman aboard the brig Polly, commanded by James DeWolf.<\/p>\n
The testimony, preserved by the Newport Historical Society, records the account of John Cranston, a crew member who described a horrific incident during the ship\u2019s voyage from Africa to the West Indies in 1791.<\/p>\n
According to Cranston, an enslaved woman suspected of having smallpox was bound to a chair, gagged and thrown overboard on the captain\u2019s orders, amid fears she would infect others aboard the ship.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Cotton Capital<\/p>\n Starting with the Guardian\u2019s own history, Guardian journalists explore the legacies of enslavement and reparative justice around the world<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Dr Errol Francis said the work acknowledges suffering but also survival. Photograph: Randerick Photography<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s bits in it that I get tearful even just talking about it,\u201d Francis said. \u201cIt is about people who\u2019ve passed away, but it\u2019s also about the fact that we have survived this incredible trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n For \u00d6na\u00e7, the combination of the words and the music were at times so powerful that it felt overwhelming.<\/p>\n \u201cThe captain\u2019s words were that he was sorry because he\u2019d lost such a good chair,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt we needed to hear and see and experience what the human impact is here. What is the emotional impact? What is the loss of culture? What is the blindness to value?\u201d<\/p>\n Lloyd\u2019s has acknowledged its historical links to enslavement, and after the publication of the Underwriting Souls <\/a>interactive archive, it announced its Inclusive Futures programme<\/a>, aimed at supporting Black and ethnically diverse communities.<\/p>\n For some, this artistic project doesn\u2019t go far enough. But Francis is careful to distinguish the requiem from important questions of financial redress.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about reparations; it\u2019s about an artwork that acknowledges the suffering, but also the survival of African people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00d6na\u00e7 added that the requiem is not only a response to historical atrocities but a commentary on modern society.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything\u2019s so polarised and segregated and polemical right now, it seems to me, and I\u2019ve tried to portray that in the black and white notes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just for then; it\u2019s a commentary on now as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A centuries-old insurance document detailing the trafficking of enslaved Africans began with the words: \u201cIn the name of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-642959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}