Shabaka

990 fans

Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace by multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings is, in a sense, a debut album. And yet, the album also serves as a reintroduction to the artist, a levitating, stunning work chock full of the lessons he’s learned over the course of his life and career. And perhaps, most importantly, it represents the spirit of exploration that the artist is most tapped into these days.

London-born, Hutchings spent much of his childhood in Barbados. Beginning at age nine, he studied the clarinet, playing in calypso bands while studying classical repertoire, often practicing over hip hop beats by artists such as Nas, as well as to the music native to Barbados. He imparted that at the time, “The idea of being a particular ‘type’ of musician who limited themselves by genre was totally alien to me and my peers, it was just about playing with skill and dedication, and whether music moved me or left me cold.”

Consequently, after studying clarinet at Guildhall School of Music from 2004-2008, he collaborated on a kaleidoscopic range of projects: recording and/or touring with Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics, Soweto Kinch, Floating Points and Courtney Pine amongst many other bands, as well as being a part of the London Improvisers Orchestra. He’s also composed pieces for the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ligeti Quartet, and performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten Sinfonietta as well as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Over the course of the past decade, the lion’s share of his touring and recorded work has been with three bands: Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors. “In these formations,” he shared, “I’ve been able to display a fundamental approach to creative practice in different contexts spanning Afro-Caribbean fusion, London dance music club culture and the rich South African jazz tradition - all within the freedom afforded by the legacy of the American ‘jazz’ tradition.” That approach reflects a mantra he absorbed early in his life.

“My primary school teacher told me ‘the music isn’t hard, just practice it mechanically then relax and let your soul shine through’. This is an adage which I’ve kept throughout my life of learning how the musics and instruments of different cultures relate to my personal vision of sound.”

His musical exploration includes employing a variety of flutes, including the ancient Japanese Shakuhachi, which he started playing in 2020 during the pandemic. “Since then, it has slowly changed the scope of my musical inner landscape and drawn me towards a multitude of other instruments in the flute family,” he explained. “As more flutes have been added to my arsenal including Mayan Teotihuacan drone flutes, Brazilian Pifanos, Native American flutes and South American Quenas, I’ve started to appreciate the underlying principles that cause these instruments to resonate most fully and use this understanding to form a concept allowing me to freely move between instruments.”

On New Year’s Day 2023, in the wake of the release of his 2022 debut EP, Afrikan Culture (which notably featured the artist primarily on flutes), Shabaka announced that beginning in 2024 he’d take a hiatus from playing the saxophone publicly. He clarified in July 2023 on his Instagram page his intention to cease playing with bands in which the saxophone was his primary instrument (including The Comet Is Coming, Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors).

For the flute-forward album Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, Hutchings tapped into a remarkable cadre of players, including percussionist Carlos Niño and bassist Esperanza Spalding. Vocalists including Saul Williams and Lianne La Havas contributed to “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become” and “Kiss Me Before I Forget”, respectively. Floating Points, with whom Shabaka shared a stage with for their performance of Promises at the Hollywood Bowl, provided additional production on the track “I’ll Do Whatever You Want".

“I invited a bunch of musicians I’ve met and admired over the past few years of touring throughout the United States to collaborate and everyone said yes, which I constantly find breathtaking,” he disclosed. His aim was to gather the musicians at Rudy Van Gelder’s historic studios, which he says “informed the sound of so many seminal jazz albums that have shaped my musical aptitude. We played with no headphones or separation in the room so we could capture the atmosphere of simply playing together in the space without a technological intermediary. After recording hours of inspired interactions, I set to work producing an album from the material.”

When asked about the meaning of the song’s titles, he explained that his previous album’s song titles can be read as poems, respectively. “The narrative aspect of my albums is always intentional,” he explained. “Around the release of the Shabaka and the Ancestors album We Are Sent Here by History, I coined the term ‘sonic poems’ to express how I’m intending the listener to relate to the words associated with the sounds contained on the disc. Each title on this disc was extracted from a longer poem written specifically for the album which only achieved its full meaning in the presence of the music.”
He further relayed that “How the listener interprets the words in relation to the sounds is personal and it’s this subjective unravelling of complex ideas that’s an integral part of the journey I intend to take the listener on. This idea permeated sons of Sons of Kemet’s Black to the Future album whereby each track title reads as a poem. Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace follows in this tradition of titles as symbolising a narrative which is necessarily subjective and expansive in relation to the listener’s experience with the heard music.”

Top tracks

02
As The Planets And The Stars Collapse
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:35
Composers: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Shabaka Hutchings
03
Insecurities
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
04:39
Composers: Moses Sumney - Charles Overton - Shabaka Hutchings
01
Timepieces
Shabaka
Possession
02:22
Composers: Jason Moran - Shabaka Hutchings
02
Call it a European paradox
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
03:37
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
04
Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
03:11
Composers: Saul Williams - Shabaka Hutchings
01
End Of Innocence
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:36
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
04
Cycles Of Growth
Shabaka
Possession
04:09
Composers: Esperanza Spalding - Shabaka Hutchings
03
To The Moon
Shabaka
Possession
07:46
Composers: Dave Okumu - Shabaka Hutchings - Andre Benjamin
01
Black meditation
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:01
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
03
Ital is vital
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:50
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
10
Kiss Me Before I Forget
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:57
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
05
The Wounded Need To Be Replenished
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:44
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
11
Song Of The Motherland
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
04:44
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
09
Breathing
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
04:27
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
06
Body To Inhabit
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
07:28
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings - Chaz Jerome Hall
08
Living
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
03:41
Composers: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Eska Mtungwazi - Shabaka Hutchings
08
Rebirth
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
01:54
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
06
Explore inner space
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
06:26
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
05
Reaching Back Towards Eternity
Shabaka
Possession
04:13
Composers: Nduduzo Makhathini - Carlos Niño - Surya Botofasina - Shabaka Hutchings
05
Ritual Awakening
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
01:34
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
07
The dimension of subtle awareness
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:33
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings

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  • Discography
Albums
℗ 2024 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
12-04-2024
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
01
End Of Innocence
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:36
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
02
As The Planets And The Stars Collapse
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:35
Composers: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Shabaka Hutchings
03
Insecurities
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
04:39
Composers: Moses Sumney - Charles Overton - Shabaka Hutchings
04
Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
03:11
Composers: Saul Williams - Shabaka Hutchings
05
The Wounded Need To Be Replenished
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
02:44
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
06
Body To Inhabit
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
07:28
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings - Chaz Jerome Hall
07
I’ll Do Whatever You Want
Shabaka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
07:34
Composers: Laraaji - Sam Shepherd - Shabaka Hutchings
Access the complete album info (11 songs)
℗ 2022 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
20-05-2022
Afrikan Culture
01
Black meditation
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:01
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
02
Call it a European paradox
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
03:37
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
03
Ital is vital
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:50
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
04
Memories don’t live like people do
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
01:41
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
05
Ritual Awakening
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
01:34
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
06
Explore inner space
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
06:26
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
07
The dimension of subtle awareness
Shabaka
Afrikan Culture
04:33
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
Access the complete album info (8 songs)
2007 Frederick Cole
01-01-2007
Black Loyalist
01
African Spirit
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
04:05
Composers: Frederick Cole
02
Black Loyalist
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
03:41
Composers: Frederick Cole
03
Black Loyalist II
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
03:41
Composers: Frederick Cole
04
Mr. Jackson
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
04:06
Composers: Frederick Cole
05
See Dem a Come
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
03:50
Composers: Frederick Cole
06
See Dem a Come II
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
03:57
Composers: Frederick Cole
07
Who Is the Enemy/African Mafia
Shabaka
Black Loyalist
04:41
Composers: Frederick Cole
Access the complete album info (31 songs)
01-01-2001
Shabaka
01
Shoa'a (feat. Yanni Giovanos)
Shabaka
Shabaka
03:26
02
El Mowatin El Salih (feat. Omar Kamel & Salah Fahmy)
Shabaka
Shabaka
02:06
03
El Sitt (feat. Yanni Giovanos)
Shabaka
Shabaka
03:15
04
Human Rights (Yawm El Ghadab) [feat. Omar Kamel]
Shabaka
Shabaka
04:10
05
Hal Toureed an Togarib? (feat. Yanni Giovanos)
Shabaka
Shabaka
01:26
06
Any Day Now (Ma'a Wogoud El Internet) [feat. Omar Kamel]
Shabaka
Shabaka
04:07
07
Al Computer (feat. Yanni Giovanos)
Shabaka
Shabaka
03:28
Access the complete album info (16 songs)
EPs
℗ 2024 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
06-12-2024
Possession
01
Timepieces
Shabaka
Possession
02:22
Composers: Jason Moran - Shabaka Hutchings
02
I’ve Been Listening
Shabaka
Possession
05:06
Composers: Brandee Younger - Charles Overton - Esperanza Spalding - Chris Sholar - Shabaka Hutchings - Chaz Hall
03
To The Moon
Shabaka
Possession
07:46
Composers: Dave Okumu - Shabaka Hutchings - Andre Benjamin
04
Cycles Of Growth
Shabaka
Possession
04:09
Composers: Esperanza Spalding - Shabaka Hutchings
05
Reaching Back Towards Eternity
Shabaka
Possession
04:13
Composers: Nduduzo Makhathini - Carlos Niño - Surya Botofasina - Shabaka Hutchings
Technicolour
04-08-2017
A.R.E. Project
01
The Doctrines Of Swedenborg
Hieroglyphic Being
A.R.E. Project
07:48
Composers: Jamal R. Moss - Shabaka - Sarathy Korwar
02
Calling The Loas
Hieroglyphic Being
A.R.E. Project
04:52
Composers: Jamal R. Moss - Shabaka - Sarathy Korwar
03
Dimensions Of Frequency & Vibrations
Hieroglyphic Being
A.R.E. Project
08:09
Composers: Jamal R. Moss - Shabaka - Sarathy Korwar
04
Ashrams
Hieroglyphic Being
A.R.E. Project
04:23
Composers: Jamal R. Moss - Shabaka - Sarathy Korwar
Singles
℗ 2024 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
15-11-2024
Timepieces
01
Timepieces
Shabaka
Timepieces
02:22
Composers: Jason Moran - Shabaka Hutchings
℗ 2024 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
21-03-2024
I’ll Do Whatever You Want
01
I’ll Do Whatever You Want
Shabaka
I’ll Do Whatever You Want
07:34
Composers: Laraaji - Sam Shepherd - Shabaka Hutchings
℗ 2024 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
28-02-2024
End Of Innocence
01
End Of Innocence
Shabaka
End Of Innocence
02:36
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
℗ 2022 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
05-05-2022
Black meditation
01
Black meditation
Shabaka
Black meditation
04:01
Composers: Shabaka Hutchings
Innovative Leisure
15-09-2021
Breathe Suite B
01
Breathe Suite B
Ben Marc
Breathe Suite B
06:47
Composers: Ben Marc
Technicolour
20-07-2017
The Doctrines Of Swedenborg
01
The Doctrines Of Swedenborg
Hieroglyphic Being
The Doctrines Of Swedenborg
07:48
Composers: Jamal R. Moss - Shabaka - Sarathy Korwar
Featured in
℗ 2025 Verve Label Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
13-06-2025
Gadabout Season
01
Reckoning
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
02:05
Composers: Brandee Younger - Rashaan Carter - Allan Mednard
02
End Means
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
04:12
Composers: Shabaka - Rashaan Carter
03
Gadabout Season
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
04:45
Composers: Brandee Younger
04
Breaking Point
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
02:43
Composers: Brandee Younger
05
Reflection Eternal
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
02:18
Composers: Brandee Younger
06
New Pinnacle
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
04:49
Composers: Brandee Younger
07
Surrender
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season
05:26
Composers: Brandee Younger
Access the complete album info (10 songs)
2024 Psychic Hotline
01-03-2024
Y'Y
01
Mapinguari (Encantado da Mata)
Amaro Freitas
Y'Y
01:34
Composers: Amaro Freitas
02
Uiara (Encantada da Água) - Vida e cura
Amaro Freitas
Y'Y
03:55
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03
Viva Naná
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02:28
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Dança dos Martelos
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08:25
Composers: Amaro Freitas
05
Sonho Ancestral
Amaro Freitas
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04:53
Composers: Amaro Freitas
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Y'Y
Amaro Freitas
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05:17
Composers: Amaro Freitas
07
Mar de Cirandeiras
Amaro Freitas
Y'Y
03:50
Composers: Amaro Freitas
Access the complete album info (9 songs)
℗ 2025 UMG Recordings, Inc. FP
23-05-2025
Domingo de Indie-Pop
01
Sailor Song
Gigi Perez
Domingo de Indie-Pop
03:31
Writer: Gianna Perez / Composers: Gianna Perez
02
Walk On By
Lola Young
Domingo de Indie-Pop
03:32
Writer: Lola Young - Will Brown - Jared Solomon - Conor Dickinson / Composers: Lola Young - Will Brown - Jared Solomon - Conor Dickinson
03
Carmen
Olivia Dean
Domingo de Indie-Pop
04:46
Writer: Matt Hales - Olivia Dean / Composers: Matt Hales - Olivia Dean
04
The Path
Lorde
Domingo de Indie-Pop
03:41
Writer: Ella Yelich O'Connor / Composers: Ella Yelich O'Connor
05
RIDIN (SOLO)
Jessie Reyez
Domingo de Indie-Pop
03:00
Writer: Jeff Gitelman - Stefan Johnson - Jordan K. Johnson - Jessie Reyez / Composers: Jeff Gitelman - Stefan Johnson - Jordan K. Johnson - Jessie Reyez
06
Timelapse
Dora Jar
Domingo de Indie-Pop
02:41
Writer: Dora Jarkowski - Cole Carmody / Composers: Ralph Castelli - Dora Jarkowski
07
Cocoon (Acoustic)
Catfish and the Bottlemen
Domingo de Indie-Pop
03:44
Writer: Van McCann / Composers: Van McCann
Access the complete album info (34 songs)