Cedille to Record Flutronix’s Genre-Defying Black Being in January

This January, Cedille Records will record Black Being, a genre-defying orchestral masterpiece composed and performed by the dynamic duo Flutronix — flutists Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull. This unique work will be performed by the Chicago Sinfonietta under the direction of charismatic conductor Mei-Ann Chen, making it an unforgettable collaboration of musical visionaries.

Black Being is an immersive, electro-acoustic journey that blends powerful flute lines with chamber orchestra, set to newly commissioned poetry by North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green. Through music and words, the piece explores the intricate layers of Black womanhood through themes of strength, sacrifice, beauty, fear, and survival.

Jaki Shelton Green, described the heart of her poem, saying:

“I dare not try to define what Black womanhood is… but I didn’t want it to dwell in the ‘oh-woe’ Black woman syndrome. It’s not about carrying the weight; it’s about how we’ve carried it and how we’ve thrown it off. We’re lighter, and we are light.”

Flutronix took Green’s compelling narrative and divided it into four deeply moving chapters, each with its own emotional resonance. The opening chapter, “Angels,” brings listeners into the heavy realities of human bondage, with the haunting sound of flutes and a mesmerizing vocoder capturing the confusion and fear of that experience.

Part two, “Water Babies,” flips on its head the harrowing imagery of people being thrown from slave ships and lays the foundation for what’s to come.

In the third chapter, “Moon Pies and Stardust,” we are invited into a warm, nostalgic world. It’s a celebration of simple joys and togetherness that Loggins-Hull describes as “leisure, ease, and some sweet hammock lifestyle.” The final chapter, “Black Lights,” is a triumphant declaration. By the end, the weight of history is cast off; what emerges is a powerful affirmation of the diversity and richness of Black womanhood in all its forms.

“So often, we get stuck into tropes of only being allowed to be this or that kind of Black person. What’s radical about this piece is that it acknowledges our universality without making us this monolith,” Joachim says.

Cedille Records is thrilled to bring Black Being to life with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc. The album is scheduled to be released in early 2026.

We encourage you to attend its concert performances on January 19 or January 20, 2025 for a sneak peek of this important work. (Please visit chicagosinfonietta.org for more information.)