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    Ammar Kalia

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    ‘We have to fight – and I’ll do my part’: John Legend on Roe v Wade, Kanye West and his mother’s add
    • 5 days ago

    ‘We have to fight – and I’ll do my part’: John Legend on Roe v Wade, Kanye West and his mother’s add

    When he was 15, John Stephens of Springfield, Ohio, entered an essay competition run by McDonald’s for Black History Month. Asked “How do...
    Richard Jacques: ‘Orchestral scores in games provide such a human connection for the player’
    • May 12

    Richard Jacques: ‘Orchestral scores in games provide such a human connection for the player’

    Unlike typical teens, composer Richard Jacques was an early riser. Waking up with the dawn chorus was a necessity — not because his...
    Tan France: ‘I was conditioned to think light skin was better’
    • Apr 17

    Tan France: ‘I was conditioned to think light skin was better’

    When Tan France released his autobiography in 2019, it wasn’t the accounts of the constant racism he experienced growing up in Doncaster...
    Immanuel Wilkins Preaches the Word
    • Mar 29

    Immanuel Wilkins Preaches the Word

    “My work is the intersection between spiritual practice and Black aesthetics,” Immanuel Wilkins says. “The two symbols I draw from are...
    ‘My music is singular to me’: Arooj Aftab, the brightest new star at this year’s Grammys
    • Mar 25

    ‘My music is singular to me’: Arooj Aftab, the brightest new star at this year’s Grammys

    "Now I am a full-time artist, maybe I won’t just die of natural causes sitting at my office desk,” says a relieved Arooj Aftab. “Maybe...
    Jeremy Pope: ‘I’m in the healing business, since art can change the way that you think’
    • Feb 24

    Jeremy Pope: ‘I’m in the healing business, since art can change the way that you think’

    When Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s debut show of collaborative paintings premiered in 1985, it was panned by the critics....
    Music Always Remains : The Nubya Garcia Interview
    • Jan 4

    Music Always Remains : The Nubya Garcia Interview

    Nubya Garcia is finally back on tour. After two years of coronavirus-related delays and endless rescheduling, the saxophonist and...
    ‘Evolution is part of tradition’: musician Makaya McCraven on the future of jazz
    • Dec 3, 2021

    ‘Evolution is part of tradition’: musician Makaya McCraven on the future of jazz

    Each day we have so many choices to make and we are constantly improvising them, just like playing jazz,” says the drummer-composer...
    Balwinder Singh Rana: the fearless anti-fascist who fought racism at work – then on the streets
    • Nov 24, 2021

    Balwinder Singh Rana: the fearless anti-fascist who fought racism at work – then on the streets

    Balwinder Rana was 16 when he first spoke to a white person. It was 1963, on a sunlit but freezing spring day, and he had just landed at...
    ‘I reach a trance state. I’m almost sleepwalking’: the mystical jazz of Nala Sinephro
    • Nov 17, 2021

    ‘I reach a trance state. I’m almost sleepwalking’: the mystical jazz of Nala Sinephro

    Under a cold, moonlit sky in south London’s Horniman Museum conservatory, Nala Sinephro is cradling her pedal harp like a child softly...
    Duval Timothy is using jazz to reckon with his heritage
    • Oct 27, 2021

    Duval Timothy is using jazz to reckon with his heritage

    “I like my records to sound like my life. That’s why I always creatively involve the people in it, even if they’re not musicians,” Duval...
    ‘My mission has been accomplished’: how Susana Baca resurrected Afro-Peruvian music
    • Oct 20, 2021

    ‘My mission has been accomplished’: how Susana Baca resurrected Afro-Peruvian music

    Susana Baca has lived multiple lives in her 77 years. She is one of Peru’s most celebrated singers, and a champion of Afro-Peruvian...
    Oscar-winning composer Jon Batiste: ‘I see jazz as a superpower’
    • Oct 12, 2021

    Oscar-winning composer Jon Batiste: ‘I see jazz as a superpower’

    In June 2020, the composer and pianist Jon Batiste was on the move. During the week, he was scoring Pixar’s first Black-led feature,...
    Jordan Rakei Gets Personal on “What We Call Life”
    • Sep 16, 2021

    Jordan Rakei Gets Personal on “What We Call Life”

    When New Zealand-born and Australia-raised musician Jordan Rakei moved to London in 2015, he set himself a goal: to release five albums...
    Emma-Jean Thackray: Everything will flow
    • Jul 27, 2021

    Emma-Jean Thackray: Everything will flow

    For the horn player, breath is everything. From the plaintive, drawn out notes of Miles Davis’ trumpet, to Don Cherry’s ecstatic squeals...
    'Lynching was treated as a celebratory event': Adrian Younge on the history of US racism
    • Feb 24, 2021

    'Lynching was treated as a celebratory event': Adrian Younge on the history of US racism

    “I’m sacrificing myself to deliver a message,” says the composer, multi-instrumentalist and now podcast-maker Adrian Younge. “We aren’t...
    Darren McGarvey: ‘Class is a fundamental truth we can't ignore’
    • Feb 8, 2021

    Darren McGarvey: ‘Class is a fundamental truth we can't ignore’

    “I don’t want to be pigeonholed as a poverty pornographer, or even as a class warrior. But there are arguments that still need to be made...
    Malachi Kirby: ‘I used to go into auditions in character not as myself'
    • Feb 8, 2021

    Malachi Kirby: ‘I used to go into auditions in character not as myself'

    “I’m used to always doing dramatic work,” says 31-year-old Malachi Kirby. “There is something about my face that people must enjoy seeing...
    Regé-Jean Page on Bridgerton: 'We’re seeing this Regency romance through a feminist lens'
    • Dec 17, 2020

    Regé-Jean Page on Bridgerton: 'We’re seeing this Regency romance through a feminist lens'

    “As an artist, you have to constantly ask yourself: ‘Why this story? Why now?’”, says Regé-Jean Page. The 30-year-old actor is...
    Dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee: why Akram Khan embraced MMA
    • Nov 7, 2020

    Dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee: why Akram Khan embraced MMA

    "I’ve never felt so intimidated in my life,” the choreographer and dancer Akram Khan says. “I was in a room with all these alpha males...
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