One Hundred Years
Having released three critically acclaimed albums, each supported by Arts Council England and Help Musicians, my new album project One Hundred Years builds directly on a period of sustained artistic development and further support from Arts Council England through the DYCP programme. That funding enabled me to dedicate time to learning how to compose for jazz quartet and large ensemble, supported by mentoring from composer and saxophonist Tim Garland and practical workshops with Engines Orchestra. I’ve loved experimenting with new musical colours and textures within this expanded lineup and hearing how the orchestra has brought my songs to life with such power and emotion.
The title track of the album encapsulates so many of the themes I've been thinking about recently such as women’s struggle for equality; how it has improved and yet also regressed in certain parts of the world. And then also thinking more generally about the challenges faced by other marginalised groups within society.
Writing in 1928, Virginia Woolf said:
“Moreover, in a hundred years, […] women will have ceased to be the protected sex. Logically they will take part in all the activities and exertions that were once denied them. The nursemaid will heave coal. The shopwoman will drive an engine. All assumptions founded on the facts observed when women were the protected sex will have disappeared”.
In composing One Hundred Years, I imagined what Virgina Woolf might have been thinking about around a hundred years ago and how she imagined opportunities for women might have changed. Then I considered what life might be like in another hundred years - across the world would civilisation have improved for people? Alongside themes of inequality, marginalisation and loss the album also celebrates hopefulness, friendship and the power of community.
