Album Notes

BlackNotes is a musical ensemble based in Washington, DC that features soulful singing, progressive poetry/spoken word/rap, sweet keyboarding, hot horn playing, funky basslines, and spicy African drumming, blended harmoniously to produce what BlackNotes calls SWARM [Spoken Word * African Rhythms * Melodies] music. BlackNotes' original SWARM music uses skillful wordplay and beautiful singing to deliver positive, insightful and uplifting messages emanating from the African-American experience and African heritage, creatively combined with dynamic musical instrumentation to provide unique, high-level entertainment.

BlackNotes' new CD, "Insights", is a groundbreaking project that represents high-level development of the unique artform that BlackNotes has pioneered--SWARM music. In the words of music critic and acclaimed poet Kenneth Carroll, "Insights" is a "great production inside and out!" Each track on the CD has a distinctly different sound, a different flavor, and all of them are dynamic original compositions that feature a balanced blend of the various elements of SWARM music, allowing each aspect to flourish and touch the listener somewhere deep inside. "Insights" offers the listener a collaborative artform unlike any other.

"Insights" delivers music and lyrics that are sincere and full of meaning, a very spirited presentation of art and culture; it offers messages that uplift, inspire and educate; it offers soulful singing with beautifully rich harmonies and scintillating lead vocals; it offers spicy West African drumming--both traditional and contemporary rhythms--drumming that moves and rocks people in a place that is fundamental to the rhythm of life; it offers horn playing that combines the beauty, creativity and cutting edge nature of the African-American jazz tradition with the spirit of liberation pouring from Pan-Africanist music innovator Fela Kuti's horns; it offers piano/keyboarding striking chords and melodies with fingers on the pulse of the sweetness of well-composed R&B ballads; it offers bass lines that ground the music with funky foundational vibrations; and it offers spoken word with insightful and powerful messages--messages that cover a lot of ground, from the need for balance and a positive perspective in one's life to African-American and African history, culture and spiritual concepts to contemporary social, political, economic and cultural issues to the importance of family and healthy living to respecting and appreciating the Black woman and more--all delivered with exquisitely crafty wordplay, utilizing a variety of poetic and spoken word techniques, including positive message hip-hop. "Insights" brings you the powerfully progressive SWARM Music, BlackNotes' beautiful, unique, dynamic artform, a treat like none you've ever experienced!

"Insights" features BlackNotes' founder and director Lasana on spoken word, piano/keyboard and percussion; Maimuna and Tilishia on vocals; Udoh Opiotennione, Abeeku Lorenz Wheatley and Antonio Parker on horns; and Kweku Akoto, Kofi Akoto and Yerodin Sanders on drums. Several tracks on the CD also feature James McKinney on piano/keyboard, Kayaswonna Shaw on background vocals and Kalonji Mack on spoken word.

Check it out!!! After you hear the CD and fall in love with it, you'll thank yourself for making the purchase!!