Shabaka

Sons of Kemet and beyond

Shabaka Akua Lumumba Kamau Iyapo Hutchings was born in London in 1984, moved to Birmingham at two and was raised in Barbados from six, where he took up the clarinet at nine. He returned to England at 19, studied classical clarinet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and came up through Tomorrow's Warriors in London. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2010 to 2012, won the MOBO for Best Jazz Act with Sons of Kemet in 2013 and the Paul Hamlyn Composer Award in 2014.

Sons of Kemet, with saxophone, tuba and two drummers, released Burn (2013), Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do (2015), Your Queen Is a Reptile (2018) and Black to the Future (2021), and ended in 2022. The Comet Is Coming, with Dan Leavers and Max Hallett and Hutchings as King Shabaka, made Channel the Spirits (2016, Mercury-nominated) and Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (2019). Shabaka and the Ancestors made Wisdom of Elders (2016) and We Are Sent Here by History (2020). In December 2020 he assembled London Brew after the pandemic cancelled Bitches Brew 50th-anniversary shows, with an album in March 2023. He directed the compilation We Out Here (Brownswood, 2018), curated part of Le Guess Who? in 2018, and co-founded Native Rebel Recordings with Matt Smith in 2020.

He began focusing on flutes in 2019, starting with the shakuhachi. On January 1, 2023 he announced on Instagram a hiatus from saxophone, citing strain from touring; his last live saxophone show was on December 7, 2023, Coltrane's A Love Supreme at the ICA in London. In January 2024 he held a Winter Jazzfest residency with five different ensembles. A 2026 release, Of the Earth, is listed on Wikipedia but we did not verify it. 2026 dates on setlist.fm include Village Underground in London on April 7, Harry Styles's Meltdown on June 12, Central Park on July 1 and Stockholm on October 14.