Pianist/composer Amina Figarova pairs her stellar sextet with a choir of orphaned and at-risk children from Liberia on her masterful new album
Suite for Africa, due out May 3 via AmFi Records, features Wayne Escoffery, Bart Platteau, Alex Pope Norris, Yasushi Nakamura and Rudy Royston, joined by West Africa’s Matsiko World Orphan Choir
The Amina Figarova Sextet & World Orphan Choir will appear at the 29th annual Litchfield Jazz Festival, Saturday July 27 at 3 PM Joining Figarova are Wayne Escoffery, on saxophone, Bart Platteau, flutes, Alex Pope Norris, trumpet, Luques Curtis, bass and Rudy Royston, drums.
The 24-voice Orphan Choir from Liberia was created under the auspices of the educational organization Matsiko Children International. Matsiko uses music in its mission to turn “the pain of loss, hunger, and hopelessness into personal empowerment.” The choir tours internationally and has performed at the White House under three administrations, at the Rose Bowl and other major league sports stadiums, and at Disneyland and Disney World.
Azerbaijan-born, New York-based pianist and composer, Amina Figarova formed her sextet in 2005 and has toured with them worldwide. One of the venues she found herself returning to several times was the annual Joy of Jazz Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, in 2018, she premiered her Suite for Africa. She found on this visit young musicians in her master classes who were every bit as talented as any she had encountered around the world. But this group faced a serious challenge: they were short on instruments and opportunities. As she recalls, “I left thinking— What can I do? How can I help? I decided to write a piece for a children’s choir, and maybe they could become ambassadors for other kids.”
However, Figarova’s desire to reprise and record the Suite to include young voices was thwarted by the global pandemic. In time, life returned to a semblance of normal, and she found herself back to work in Europe, and then on a last-minute flight home from Brussels to New York City.
On that flight, she met two gregarious young girls. “We’re from Africa,” they told her, “and we’re going to America to sing!” “They were so enthusiastic, and then I saw that their t-shirts said, ‘Matsiko World Orphan Choir’.” Sensing the hand of fate, Figarova introduced herself to the choir’s conductor and fellow passenger, Zach Windham, and discovered the children were from war-torn Liberia.
A week later, she was contacted by the Choir’s creative director, Mark Hegarty. Hegarty was eager to involve the World Orphan Choir in Figarova’s project, and, a songwriter himself, he offered to pen lyrics for the Suite tailored to the young singers’ experiences. “His contributions,” Figarova says, “made the project complete. It felt like the music I had written in 2018 was waiting for those lyrics. Every word, every phrase written means the world to these kids.”
“Africa is my homeland,” they sing in the first movement, “Spirit Africa, Spirit Liberia,” continuing, “MotherAfrica, my soul.” The second movement, “Fifteen as One,” refers to the disparate Liberian tribes from which these children hail. Often violently antagonistic at home, they stand united and harmonious in the choir. “Forgotten Children,” the final movement, is an urgent plea to their elders to take heed of the example they set and the future they yearn for. “Forgotten children sing,” they intone, “using our voice for change.”
“They sing from the bottom of their heart and that translates to the audience in volumes,” the pianist says.“With the extraordinary energy that comes from them, it’s like they’re pouring love out while they sing. I’ve never seen a full concert hall so emotionally involved. Afterward, we found the crowd waiting for us, asking how they could help these children. It was the most emotional concert I’ve played in my lifetime.” The Choir will spend 12 months performing at churches and festivals across the US where they hope to raise 1,000 educational sponsorships for their friends and family members.
Suite for Africa is the centerpiece of the project Amina Figarova will bring to the Litchfield Jazz Festival mainstage with her Sextet and the charming Matsiko Choir, and it is her most dazzling and ambitious work to date.