After moving Heaven and Earth with a powerful new album (and secret EP) earlier this year, Kamasi Washington has now shared a video for album cut "Hub-Tones."
In a statement, Washington said the song is "me trying to connect my ancestors via music," and Jenn Nkiru took a similar personal route in directing the video.
Nkiru elaborated on her connection to the clip as follows:
With the visual for "Hub-Tones," I wanted to invoke the immediate ecstatic connection it gave me: There's a traditional ceremony called Oboni in the Ikwerre tribe, my parents' tribe — the tribe of my heritage. The idea is through repetition, instrumentation and movement, to channel spirit, going deeper and deeper with the changing of each tone within the music till it becomes hypnotic and transcendent. I felt this level of immediate connection to "Hub-Tones" plus with this being a Freddie Hubbard cover and him being the king of tones in jazz it all felt so symbiotic and fated. I then went about giving the women featured the choreography, movement and codes to take us deeper into that spirit-space. I was also thinking about what an abstract Pan-African connection could feel like so I included the Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers' Alliance by artist Larry Achiampong, makeup and crystal adornment in the style of Nina Simone and the lighting seen in the courthouse of the hearings of Anita Hill and of course — the call to Nation Time emblazoned on the sashes of each women. There are other hidden gems too but i'll allow the audience to uncover them
Watch the video for "Hub-Tones" below.
Washington kicks off a tour of North America tonight in Seattle. A lone Canadian date will bring him to Toronto's Sony Centre on November 5. You can see all his upcoming dates here.
In a statement, Washington said the song is "me trying to connect my ancestors via music," and Jenn Nkiru took a similar personal route in directing the video.
Nkiru elaborated on her connection to the clip as follows:
With the visual for "Hub-Tones," I wanted to invoke the immediate ecstatic connection it gave me: There's a traditional ceremony called Oboni in the Ikwerre tribe, my parents' tribe — the tribe of my heritage. The idea is through repetition, instrumentation and movement, to channel spirit, going deeper and deeper with the changing of each tone within the music till it becomes hypnotic and transcendent. I felt this level of immediate connection to "Hub-Tones" plus with this being a Freddie Hubbard cover and him being the king of tones in jazz it all felt so symbiotic and fated. I then went about giving the women featured the choreography, movement and codes to take us deeper into that spirit-space. I was also thinking about what an abstract Pan-African connection could feel like so I included the Pan African Flag for the Relic Travellers' Alliance by artist Larry Achiampong, makeup and crystal adornment in the style of Nina Simone and the lighting seen in the courthouse of the hearings of Anita Hill and of course — the call to Nation Time emblazoned on the sashes of each women. There are other hidden gems too but i'll allow the audience to uncover them
Watch the video for "Hub-Tones" below.
Washington kicks off a tour of North America tonight in Seattle. A lone Canadian date will bring him to Toronto's Sony Centre on November 5. You can see all his upcoming dates here.