Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah — the jazz auteur formerly known as Christian Scott — is back with a new name, a new album, and new single. Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning is due out July 28th via Ropeadope, and he’s previewing the release with its lead single “Xodokan Iko – Hu Na Ney.”
Pooling together influencing ranging from rock ‘n’ roll to New Orleans jazz and traditional West African music, Bark Out Thunder documents Chief Adjuah’s “journey into Cheifdom, the gathering of community, and the inspiration it created and continues to foster.” Now releasing music under his reclaimed name as a distinguished tribal leader of Xodokan Nation, he adds: “Everything from call and response to thunderous drums, music theat lives with us in celebratory, proclamatory, preparatory, joyous, and determined moments of our journeys. It was without measure the amount of healing it did to sing the old songs the old way and the new, the new.”
Chief Adjuah even invented a new instrument used throughout the project, called “Chief Adjuah’s bow.” He continues: “Each [song] is sung and sewn with the song and story of the Xodokan Nation, and that of the Nations of my kin, ancestors, and predecessor Chieftain: My grandfather who led many nations, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. of the Guardians of the Flame, and my uncle NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. of the Congo Square Nation.” Pre-orders are ongoing.
“Xodokan Iko – Hu Na Ney” perfectly captures those stories Chief Adjuah aims to convey, as he leads an emphatic chant over lively percussion. It honors those who continue to fight for liberation today, as well as those who joined the fight long before the acknowledgement of Juneteenth. Listen to it below, and then keep scrolling to see the album artwork for Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning.
Chief Adjuah’s last album was 2019’s Ancestral Recall, which Consequence named one of the best of the year.
Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning Artwork:
