How Precious They Are

Our world is ruled by a system that values the accumulation of wealth over life itself and conceals this fact by pretending the opposite. Lorraine Hansberry understood this profoundly, in contrast to most of her contemporaries, as encapsulated in this brief excerpt from her play Les Blancs:

“In one century men choose to hide their conquests under religion, in another under race. So you and I may recognize the fraudulence of the device in both cases, but the fact remains that a man who has a sword run through him because he will not become a Muslim or a Christian—or who is lynched in Mississippi or Zatembe because he is black—is suffering the utter reality of that device of conquest. And it is pointless to pretend that it doesn’t exist—merely because it is a lie.”

— Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry was a Black, homosexual woman at a time when all three characteristics guaranteed even more disadvantage and prejudice than today. Understandably, she considered herself a radical in the true sense of the word. She lived her life with immense courage and tenacity, always remaining true to herself and never yielding in the face of adversity. The authorities treated her as subversive; the FBI maintained a file on her.

Although her two close friends James Baldwin and Nina Simone have in recent years had their legacies restored to some extent, Lorraine’s story has been all but written out of history by a capitalist, patriarchal and homophobic system. It is in defiance of this system that we release our tribute to her. We hope that it may help reclaim her legacy so that her extraordinary contributions and vision can be better recognised. On behalf of all musicians struggling with mental & physical health issues we also want people to know that this album was born out of an extremely challenging period for us. It is a celebration of overcoming those challenges but also a call to overturn a system that values profit above life.

Lastly, we’d like to give a huge shout out & thanks to all of our collaborators on this project who helped out despite pandemic adversity. Leeds’ jazz guru Emma Johnson for the magnificent horn sections, beloved Irish folk musician Kieran O’Malley for the exquisite strings, and of course the exceptional eloquence of UK poet Mr Gee.