Samora Pinderhughes Releases New Album 'Grief'

Composer, filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes' highly anticipated album GRIEF is out now.

The album is the most personal part of The Healing Project, Pinderhughes' years-long multimedia effort on loss, structural violence and possibilities for healing and liberation. The Healing Project also features a physical exhibition-on view at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts until June 19-and a digital archive.

Additionally, watch a special NPR Tiny Desk performance of "The Cry/Masculinity," "Holding Cell," "Grief" and "Process" filmed onsite at The Healing Project exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Pinderhughes wrote all the songs and makes his official debut as a singer on GRIEF. Written in the spirit of music from the '60s and '70s by artists like Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield who made powerful statements about life and social justice through their music, GRIEF aims to evoke feeling through texture and harmony by underlining the human voice as a bonding agent.

The album features an ensemble-Marcus Gilmore (drums), Brad Allen Williams (guitar), Boom Bishop (electric bass), Clovis Nicolas (upright bass), Immanuel Wilkins (alto sax), Lucas Pino (tenor sax), Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Argus Quartet (strings), Nio Levon (vocals), Jehbreal Jackson (vocals) and Pinderhughes himself on piano, production and vocals-and a rhythm section with the rare combination of two bassists playing at the same time.

The Healing Project's physical exhibition at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts runs through June 19; additional details and tickets are here. It is produced by Anna Deavere Smith, Glenn Ligon and Vijay Iyer and marks Pinderhughes' visual art debut. It features music from GRIEF as well as a constellation of films, sound works, physical pieces and contributed artworks from established artists like Titus Kaphar and currently incarcerated artists including Pitt Panther.

The heart of the exhibition is the Sound Room, where the interviews that Pinderhughes conducted over several years across 15 states for The Healing Project are scored to additional original music. The exhibition also includes workshops and events, all free and open to the public, and free performances featuring Pinderhughes and special guests.

The digital archive of the installation, which will come this spring is an open-source, mobile-friendly site built on AR/VR technology where people can listen directly to the recordings of The Healing Project interviewees scored to music. Pinderhughes created the digital archive alongside collaborators including Rafiq Bhatia, Chris Pattishall, Jack DeBoeand Adam O'Farrill, which features a brand-new visual world created by CRUX that site visitors can digitally walk through.

The Healing Project documents experiences of incarceration, detention and structural violence around the United States, while highlighting strategies of community care that imagine and nourish another world. By highlighting the specific stories of people such as Keith LaMar, Pitt Panther, Cyril Walrond and others who have urgent cases in regards to their imprisonment, The Healing Project aims to shine light on these situations and ultimately help free them.

Pinderhughes' attempt to communicate an abolitionist vision, the project took place over 10 years and is based on years of deep conversations with more than 100 people across 15 states about their experiences, stories and ideas.

Samora Pinderhughes is a composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist known for examining sociopolitical issues and fighting for change through his art. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Pinderhughes began playing music at the age of two years and went on to study music at Juilliard, where he met his primary artistic mentor, MacArthur-winning playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

Pinderhughes has collaborated and performed with a number of artists including Common, Robert Glasper, Karriem Riggins, Sara Bareilles and Herbie Hancock, and his compositional works have been commissioned by institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Sundance Film Festival and the Kennedy Center.

Listen to the new album here:

Watch the Tiny Desk concert here:

To post a comment, you must register and login.