Shabaka

Shabaka Hutchings, known as Shabaka, is a British jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the band Shabaka and the Ancestors, and used to lead Sons of Kemet before its dissolution in 2022. He is also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka. Shabaka’s work transcends conventional notions of genre and draws from a vast pallet of cultural influences. Whilst he’s undeniably a pioneering voice in the renaissance of British Jazz, his remit is much broader: he has also performed classical concertos with world-leading orchestras; led several hugely influential bands (Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, Shabaka and The Ancestors) and has recently released a critically lauded solo album; Afrikan Culture, a work of exceptional beauty and urgency, focussed around the eastern Asian instrument, the Shakuhachi, of which Shabaka is a major exponent.