The voices of leading gospel choirs and Beverley Knight will fill Newcastle Cathedral this October during a special concert to commemorate the 55-year anniversary of the time Dr Martin Luther King came to the city.
The famous 1967 visit by the civil rights campaigner will be recalled in Songs of Freedom which will take place in the cathedral on October 14. Soul legend Knight will be joined on the line-up by the Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir and Voices of Virtue Gospel Choir. The concert, being presented by Northern Roots, will tell the powerful story of the civil rights movement through music acting as a soundtrack to the struggle for social and racial equality.
Newcastle was the only place, outside of London, that King ever visited in Britain and when he was presented here with an honorary degree from Newcastle University he famously made a long speech. During it he said: “There are three urgent and indeed great problems we face .... the problem of racism, the problem of poverty and the problem of war."
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Songs of Freedom director Paulette Randall, whose previous work includes the role of associate director on the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, has liaised with young creatives from diverse local communities and with popular award-winning local rappers Kema Kay and Kay Greyson to ensure that the concert reflects the story of young black people growing up in UK today.
It also will reflect Northern Roots' mentoring work which is led by Kay and Greyson. Kay, who is also producing the concert, said: “As we approach the 55th anniversary of Dr King’s visit, we must ask ourselves has there ever been a time when King’s words were as relevant as they are today." He added that the Black Lives Matter movement shows that racism remains as great a problem today, coupled with the cost of living crisis and war in Europe.
Graduates from the Northern Roots mentoring programme, including singers called Maxine, Tia Leoni and Sisi, also will be involved in the concert, having been initially invited during the pandemic to develop their music talents while in lockdown. Others will include Colourblind and Neeko who will join dance crews Patrick Ziza’s Dandies and Vitamin Noir as well as Young Sinfonia.
And actor Luke Wilson will reprise his role of King from the theatre show The Mountain Top to help capture the story during the concert. Songs of Freedom will start at 7.30pm on the night. For tickets see here.
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