Abel Selaocoe (pronounced Se-lau-chwe), the innovative South African cellist, composer and vocalist, announces the release of his second album, Hymns of Bantu out February 21, 2025 on Warner Classics. Abel follows the acclaimed release of his 2022 debut Where Is Home (Hae ke Kae) with a remarkable new body of work celebrating his South African heritage and tracing his ancestral path that leads into his vast influences including Western classical repertoire. Selaocoe will also perform tomorrow night (October 26) at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and his tour will continue into the fall across the UK and Europe. See below for his full itinerary.
Today Selaocoe has also shared the first preview of the album - listen to “Emmanuele” here: https://w.lnk.to/emman + watch the video here: https://youtu.be/foRRJP013o4
Delving into the unique modal scales and overtone harmonic systems of South African music before Western four-part harmony was introduced, Hymns of Bantu explores how cultural histories evolve. Across 12 tracks written for ensembles varying from his own Bantu Ensemble with African percussion to orchestra, solo cello and electric bass, Abel interprets traditional Bantu music alongside compositions by Bach and Marais, highlighting the synergies between musical legacies rather than their differences. “The crux of the album is about celebrating those that have come before us, and how we are all connected,” he says. “It’s allowing classical music to again sit in the same space as where I’m from – allowing Bach to sit next to overtones and the world of throat singing.”
Exploding onto the music scene in 2016 with the formation of his genre-breaking ensemble Chesaba, Abel has since established himself as a unique talent fusing the throat singing and instinctive vocalizations of his South African heritage with a distinct, forward-thinking approach to the cello. Straddling the musical worlds of classical, Global and beyond, Abel finds himself equally at home for his 2021 solo BBC Proms debut as he is onstage at mainstream music festivals, and now gives his personal cultural exploration its fullest expression on Hymns of Bantu.
Opening with the trilling fanfares of his longtime collaborators the Manchester Collective strings on “Tsohle Tsohle”, Selaocoe sings movingly to the melody of a traditional South African hymn, translating as ‘everything everything.’ “It means that we are all somehow connected,” Selaocoe explains. “I’m relating this traditional South African hymn to something that is worldly, letting people realize how this music merges with other traditions.”
That merging takes place as the lilting harmonies of “Tsohle Tsohle” seamlessly transition into the upbeat groove of following South African hymn “Emmanuele,” typically dedicated to the religious savior of the same name but reappropriated in honor of working people by Selaocoe in his composition featuring Alan Keary’s lively bassline. Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: IV. Sarabande,” arranged for cello and string ensemble, is given yearning expression in Abel’s bowing before Dudù Kouaté’s African percussion, and Fred Thomas’s prepared piano takes precedence on the fractal and enigmatic “Dinaka”, featuring the rumbling bass-weight of Abel’s throat singing. Giovanni Sollima’s “L.B. Files” suite is played with emotive vigor and crescendoing intensity by Abel and the Manchester Collective strings.
Yet it is on “Voices of Bantu” that Abel immerses himself in his musical family history, finding the fabric that binds a South African way of singing with Western classical repertoire most fully. Here he produces an achingly beautiful improvisation of Marais’ “Pièces de viole, Livre II, Suite No.3,” transposing melody through the modal overtones of his Bantu singing.
Ultimately Hymns of Bantu is an album aiming to highlight the shared universalities of people, the healing power of song, and allowing us to draw constant inspiration and understanding from those who came before us. With voice and cello as a vessel, Hymns of Bantu characterizes a vast array of human beings and invites a freeing, deep listening experience.
“It is taking what once hurt and turning it around, since when I listen to South African hymnal music it doesn't ring of colonial hurt,” he says. “It just rings of healing. Everything is in the process of healing and even if we don't realize where this music came from, we make it our own and create something new that sustains everybody. I would like people to feel when they listen to Hymns of Bantu that there's a fabric that binds all people together.”
Hymns of Bantu - Track List:
Tsohle Tsohle
Emmanuele
Kea Morata
Tshepo - I
Tshepo - II (Rapela)
Bach: Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012 - IV. Sarabande (Arr. Thomas for Cello & String Orchestra)
Dinaka
Voices of Bantu (Improvisation on Marin Marais' Les Voix Humaines)
Takamba
Giovanni Sollima : LBFiles : Concerto
Giovanni Sollima: LBFiles: Igiul
Camagu
Upcoming performances: https://www.abelselaocoe.com/#upcoming-events-section
