Sharrifs
New York, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2023 | SELF | AFTRA
Music
Press
The Black Lives: From Generation to Generation project, initiated by Brussels-based producer Stefany Calembert, was an immediate musical response to the social tensions that surfaced following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Recording started under pandemic conditions — remotely at first, then in studios when restrictions relaxed — and a double CD of the same name, themed broadly on giving black lives a voice, was released early last year. The 20-track album, recorded across three continents, featured more than 60 musicians in various combinations.
This first-house gig at Ronnie Scott’s captured the recording’s common cause and grand design with a series of musical vignettes that drew on a 14-strong cast including three drummers, two drum kits, brass, vocals and spoken word. As on the album, compositions flowed logically from lyrical jazz to African lilt and hardcore rap.
The evening started with the sampled sound of a protest march, the scratchy bite of DJ Grazzhoppa’s turntables and American guitarist David Gilmore channelling the Delta blues. With the scene set, light-touch funk set up the spoken word of “WE ARE HERE”, delivered imperiously by SHARRIF SIMMONS as a mix of poetics and rap. The layered lines and programmed drums of the recording were expanded by a live rhythm section, Simmons rapping in French and with solos for tenor sax. “Friendship” came next, with a gorgeous grand piano introduction from Federico González Peña, female backing vocals and Peña’s synth bringing the piece to a high. - Financial Times
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Sharrif Simmons is a poet, musician writer, and arts educator. His performance career spans three decades, beginning with his education at U.C.L.A (University on the Corner of Lenox Avenue) aka Liberation Bookstore. The famed establishment, founded by his Aunt Una Mulzac, served the Harlem community for over 35 years, 5 of which found Sharrif as a book salesman and avid reader. After seeing veteran poet Sonia Sanchez at the Schomburg Center for Black Research, Sharrif was inspired to make spoken word poetry his vocation. Often referred to as his generation’s Gil Scott-Heron, his musical influences range from The Last Poets, Abiodun Oyewole, Richie Havens, Bill Withers, Bob Marley, and Jimi Hendrix to Rage against the Machine, Parliament Funkadelic, and Hip Hop artists Old Dirty Bastard and Biggie Smalls.
He’s toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States, playing his unique blend of poetry and acoustic guitar for festivals, concert halls and poetry readings.
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