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Raymond Antrobus & Evelyn Glennie
Another Noise
Raymond Antrobus and Evelyn Glennie’s new album, Another Noise, is a first-time collaboration between the two of the most famous, living deaf artists in the world. Produced by Grammy-winner, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, Ustad Saami, Parchman Prison Project), the album was recorded 100% live in a single UK afternoon without rehearsal and with almost every track being a first take. Glennie’s parts were 100% improvised without her having prior knowledge of any poem performed.
Dame Evelyn Glennie is the most renowned solo percussionist in the world and the only deaf musician to ever win a Grammy (which she has done twice, while also being nominated five other times). She has recorded almost fifty albums and collaborated with the likes of Björk, Fred Frith, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, and filmmaker Danny Boyle. She was the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary, Touch the Sound. Her stated mission is to “teach the world to listen.” She has also won the coveted Polar Music Prize and the Royal Academy of Music Award, amongst others.
Only 36-years-old, Raymond Antrobus is a Jamaican British, Ted Hughes Award winning poet. He has read and performed at major festivals around the world, including South Africa, Kenya, the USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Nigeria, Ireland, and Italy. His book The Perseverance was chosen as the Poetry Book of the Year (2019) by two of largest English-speaking newspapers in the world— The Guardian and The Sunday Times.
In his poetry, Antrobus often tackles the struggles faced as a deaf individual and the racism encountered as the son of a Jamaican immigrant father. For the poems on this album, Glennie fashioned “soundscapes” that unfolded as Antrobus spoke.
Glennie said, “In all my years of playing, this is something I’ve never done— collaborating with a poet. It is an entirely new approach.”
Brennan states, “The project was born out of the exceptional artistry of these two artists. The fact that both Evelyn and Raymond are deaf is essentially incidental, a minor factor among many other larger ones.”
Both Antrobus and Glennie have formally been awarded honorific titles by the Queen. Antrobus holds an MBE (Knighthood); Glennie the rare title of Dame.
One track “The Noise” features guest vocals from blind singer, Precious Perez, who is the current President of RAMPD.org who fight for stage accessibility and other rights for disabled performers in music. Through their campaigning, RAMPD convinced the Grammy Awards to provide sign language interpreters at the award show for the first time.