The international release of our new album ‘But Not My Soul’ will take place on March 8, 2024 (International Women’s Day).

This album is a tribute to composers who, despite opposition, have always remained true to their soul. Our own souls are not related to the work songs of African slaves, Czech folk music, or African-American spirituals. But we want to make the voices, souls and music heard.

Dvořák wrote his ‘American’ string quartet in the US, where he was invited to research original American music. He concluded that there was a wealth of material to be found among the black population – something that was not universally appreciated.

When we discovered the second string quartet by the African-American composer Florence Price, our jaws dropped in amazement. Why didn’t we know about this beautiful work?! We heard a lot of kinship between Dvořák and Price. Everything fell into place and, with the addition of the piece At the Purchaser’s Option (a song arranged for string quartet by Jacob Garchik for the Kronos Quartet), the album was complete.

The latter work was written by Rhiannon Giddens, also a woman of color and a contemporary singer-songwriter. Giddens explores African-American influences on the development of folk and country and incorporates this into her music. Behind this piece there is a poignant story: Giddens came across a 19th century advertisement in which a young woman was offered for sale, with her 9-month-old baby ‘at the purchaser’s option’. She sings:

You can take my body

You can take my bones

You can take my blood

But not my soul

The beautiful artwork for this CD comes from artist Joana Choumali (Ivory Coast).

The release concert of But Not My Soul is on April 6 at the Vereeniging in Nijmegen.

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