- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS PROMOTE THEIR NEW ALBUM "TIME FOR HEALING"
- Date: 22nd May 1997
- Summary: VARIOUS OF SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS SINGING THE REFRAIN FROM THEIR SINGLE "SPIRIT"X
- Embargoed: 6th June 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA9ICI4G64FWL0QDCDIINLT8QC0
- Story Text: It's not often that a group of musicians takes over an entire cafe just to exercise their throats over breakfast, but on Thursday (May 22) the American band Sounds of Blackness did just that.
The seventeen member touring ensemble is in London to promote their new album "Time For Healing".
Group members relish the opportunity to practice en masse and launched into an rendition of their new single "Spirit".
"Spirit" is the first single to be released from "Time For Healing" and features rapper Craig Mack.
Singer/ Songwriter Quan Howell said "Spirit" was about coping with day to day events in people's lives, "we all have an inner voice, and listening to your inner voice for whatever the answer might be, to whatever the problem in the situation that faces you...that you should heed to it." "When we talk about healing, we talk about getting back to a place we originated from", singer/ songwriter Core Cotton said.
"You start the healing from inside and it branches out to family and community and to nations...so I think that's also embodied in the song...Spirit", she added.
Many of the album's tracks feature cameo appearances by musicians. Another single on the album - "Hold On (Don't Let Go)" is a collaboration between the group and rappersSalt-N-Pepa.
"Sounds of Blackness" have won two Grammies, an NAACP image award and a Stellar award for their past three albums - Evolution of Gospel, The Night Before Christmas and Africa to America, which spawned half a dozen pop hits..
The group's director, Gary Hines, believes "Time For Healing" is the group's best album so far, "It is the most complete "Sounds of Blackness" album because it represents our repertoire which is the music of the African-American experience. Jazz, Blues, Gospel, R and B, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, Hip Hop, Be Bop, all of those sounds of blackness are what we sing." "Sounds of Blackness" was formed in 1971 at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota, where Hines assumed leadership of the group.
The group's big break came in 1988 when Janet Jackson attended a Sounds of Blackness concert with her producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Janet's enthusiasm for the group prompted Jam and Lewis to sign them and produce the majority of the tracks on the first three albums.
The new album is the first self-produced "Sounds of Blackness" release.
The album includes a diverse range of music including gospel-inspired ballads "Love Will Never Change" and "Familiar Waters" and a remake of the R&B hit "Love Train".
Hines insists that music has a power to change the world, "wherever you look around the world, with all the war and hatred and strife and indifference, intolerance, injustice...we want this music to touch people enough to make a difference," he said.
Cotton said she and other band members were excited about the possibilities the new album would create. "I think this project, this movement will be the impetus for other projects for us and for other artists as well and we look forward to it," she said.
"Spirit" was released on May 26th. The album "Time For Healing" was released on May 5th. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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