Composer Shawn Okpebholo talks about his song cycle, Songs in Flight, which was released on Cedille Records on Feb. 14, 2025.
Shawn notes:
In 2021, I received a call from Martha Guth, celebrated soprano and co-director of Sparks & Wiry Cries. She spoke passionately about the Freedom on the Move database, an archive of over 30,000 advertisements for runaway enslaved individuals. Having experienced one of my previous compositions, Martha proposed an ambitious project: an expansive song cycle that would breathe life into these dehumanizing records. The project would include performances at prominent venues and collaborations with world-renowned musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Will Liverman, Reginald Mobley, Karen Slack, and Howard Watkins, alongside lead curator and poet Tsitsi Ella Jaji.
The recording features the singers from the premiere with pianist Paul Sanchez.
