Stories, Sites and Sounds

Members of the Chineke! Junior Orchestra explored the lives of three historical figures, and then created incredible pieces of music inspired by their stories.

In spring 2021, we worked with 12 members of the Chineke! Junior Orchestra to create new (and amazing) pieces of music based on the lives of three inspirational historical figures.

Getting together via zoom and using tools like Jamboard we researched, learnt about, and celebrated the lives of Abdul Karim, Dido Belle, and Sarah Forbes-Bonetta!

Working with composer James B Wilson, professional Chineke! musicians, each quartet created a piece of music inspired by the lives of their chosen people from history. These pieces were then recorded and performed at Kenwood House in August 2021.

The first group chose to tell the story of Dido Belle, the daughter of an previously enslaved woman and a Royal Navy Officer, who was raised as part of an aristocratic family at Kenwood House.

“We chose Dido Belle because it was interesting that she was illegitimate and mixed race and yet still brought up as an aristocrat. There were many positives, such as being taught to read, write and play music which would have been very unusual for a mixed-race person at the time, but we also know that she would have experienced judgement and racism from some members of society.”

Portrait by Mikéla Henry-Lowe

Another group chose to focus on Abdul Karim, an Indian servant at Osborne House who became a very close friend of Queen Victoria’s.

“We were inspired by the diversity at Osborne House, and the combination of Indian and English cultures. We then discovered Abdul Karim’s story – he had made the journey from India to England and then formed a friendship with Queen Victoria which interested us. In our music, we used the Purvi scale to represent his India, and English classical style to represent his time in England. We also split the music into sections, each section representing a different part of his life, from his journey to England, to his friendship with Queen Victoria”

Portrait by Heinrich von Angeli

And the final group chose Sarah Forbes Bonetta, an African princess who was brought to England and became Queen Victoria’s protégée.

‘We thought about her roots in Africa, her life as Queen Victoria’s protégée and we were especially interested in her marriage. She was reluctant to be married and we tried to express this in our music. We decided to use Mendelssohn’s Wedding March as the main theme for the piece as it was popular at the time, and we know that Queen Victoria liked Mendelssohn. It is possible that it was used in Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s wedding ceremony.”

Portrait by Hannah Uzor

You can now watch the full musical pieces and find out more about this project over on our Google Arts and Culture pages. We have four pages for you to explore:

You can find out more about how each of the groups created their pieces by visiting the ‘Making Of’ page here.

To watch ‘Life of the Munshi’, all about the life of Abdul Karim, click here.

To see ‘Dido Belle – A Musical Voyage’, click here.

And finally for ‘In Memory of SFB’, about Sarah Forbes Bonetta, click here.

The Chineke! Junior Orchestra is a youth orchestra of Black and ethnically diverse players aged 11-22. Alongside its sister ensemble, the Chineke! Orchestra, they aim to create opportunities for emerging and established musicians of Black and ethnically diverse heritage. You may have seen them in the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2020!