Akua Naru - All About Love: New Visions (CD)

Akua Naru's latest feat is an album entitled, All About Love: New Visions, inspired by and an ode to Black feminist icon Bell Hooks and her titanic classic text of the same name, in which hooks examines society and its ideals of love.

To honour and take up Hooks' understanding of "love as a practice of freedom," especially in these times, Naru's forthcoming offering is a new vision for her love songs: recorded live by a large band ensemble supported by the highly decorated classical orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz. Naru reimagines old hits like the people's favourite, Poetry: How Does It Feel? and Seraphim, alongside deep cuts like (Love) Right Now, Joy and Runaway. An exploration of the various iterations of love, not only contained within the romantic, Naru also includes new tracks that among other things celebrate the enduring power of unconditional love through the tenderness of motherhood.

This album intends to provide a sonic balm to listeners. A necessary emotional-audio experience for those who understand the fortifying power of love and its urgency, especially during dark and perilous times.

With the release of her 2011 debut album, ...The Journey Aflame, Akua Naru entered the scene, a titanic force of Liberation politics on beats, a true wordsmith whose music, deeply nuanced, poetic and wise, centres the experiences of Black women through rhyme, along a sonic spectrum from jazz to soul.

Called the "Toni Morrison of hip hop" by acclaimed scholar Dr. Cornel West, Akua Naru's journey, like her debut album, has been set aflame. To date, she has released four albums: ...The Journey Aflame (2011), Live & Aflame Sessions (2012), The Miner's Canary (2015) and The Blackest Joy (2018). Her current project, entitled All About Love: New Visions, a collaborative LP with her own band and the renowned string orchestra Ensemble Resonanz, is set for Spring 2024 release.

Naru has worked with Tony Allen, Eric Benét, Angelique Kidjo, Tuneyards, Questlove, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Christian Scott, Rah Digga, Mulatu Astatke, Bernard Purdie, Cody ChesnuTT, and more. Known for electrifying performances spanning across continents, she has rocked shows in more than fifty countries across five continents with her six-piece band. Her artistry is a testament to the legacy of soul music and the powerful, trailblazing Black woman artist tradition upon which it builds.

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Tracklist:

1. Urgency [feat. Cornel West and Ensemble Resonanz]
2. Sugar (Honeyicetea) [feat. Takuya Kuroda and Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
3. Somebody Mama
4. Seraphim feat. Bryanna Brown and Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
5. Surrender (Masi's Joint) [feat. Tricia Rose]
6. Poetry: How Does It Feel? [feat. Takuya Kuroda, Edson Sean and Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
7. Falling [feat. Jakeya Limitless and Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
8. (Love) Right Now [feat. Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
9. The Question [feat. Edson Sean and Ensemble Resonanz]
10. Run Away [feat. Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
11. Joy [feat. Taylor Samuels and Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)
12. Affirmation [feat. Panashe Chigumadzi and Ensemble Resonanz]
13. Mr. Brownskin [feat. Ensemble Resonanz] (All About Love Version)