I believe in living

a responsive improvisation to the poem Affirmation by Assata Shakur

Release Date: 16 July, 2023

I believe in living is a responsive improvisation to Assata Shakur’s poem Affirmation. Through solo cello and voice, Simone Seales springboards off of Shakur’s evocative language to create a sound world which holds space for discomfort, beauty, hope, and grief. Each track title is the excerpt from Shakur’s poem that Simone responded to.

This album was recorded in 2021 as part of Simone’s final year of post-graduate study. A culmination of their study in improvisation and research of Black Women writers, this album is a time capsule of Simone’s sound at a time when they were settling into themselves as an intersectional feminist and trauma-informed educator. After reading works by bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Assata Shakur, Simone felt empowered to no longer be silent, and to no longer assimilate to the white structures of classical music. I believe in living is Simone’s first step into honouring themselves and the sound world they live in.

Collage of two Black women and one non-binary person. Text is overlayed in yellow font with the words Simone Seales, Cello, I believe in living, a responsive improvisation to the poem "Affirmation" by Assata Shakur"

Credits:

Cello and Voice - Simone Seales
Sound Engineer - Tim Cooper
Mixing and Mastering - Sonia Killmann
Recorded in Ledger Recital Room at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Album Artwork - CK Probus

Artist Bio:

Originally from Florida, Simone Seales is a Glasgow-based cellist who completed their postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2021. They focus on free improvisation, poetry, and devising music for theatre.  

Simone is passionate about exploring sound, how sound can reflect emotional states of being and how emotions are embodied. Their creative influences come from Black feminist leaders such as Audre Lorde, Assata Shakur and bell hooks. Within Simone's creative work, they centre Blackness, sexuality, intersectional feminism and anti-racism. They believe Western Classical musicians are capable of making meaningful social change.  

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