Posted by Poppy Ajudha has shared the powerful video for her take on ‘Watermelon Man (Under The Sun)’.
The song appears on new album ‘Blue Note Re:imagined’, in which stars from the new wave of UK jazz and related sounds tackle the label’s esteemed catalogue.
Poppy opted to re-work Herbie Hancock’s wonderful standard ‘Watermelon Man’, choosing to re-build the song from the ground up.
Writing her own lyrics, the striking performance is rooted in Black identity, a celebration of the Black experience and the communities that underpin it.
Shooting a new video, the songwriter taps into the energy of the Black Lives Matter movement, resulting in a powerful, timely watch.
She comments: “I based the lyrics on my research of Watermelon Men in America, aiming to capture what it may have been like to be a black man in America at that time – newly emancipated but still heavily oppressed – and the race relations that had brought him to this point.”
“I wanted the video for Watermelon Man to be a celebration of blackness in all its forms, I wanted it to show joy and community. I cast my sisters, my best friends, and my grandma amongst all of the other beautiful souls. It was a really special video for me, and the team captured this vision incredibly. The feeling was unspoken because they just knew what I wanted and why it was important, they felt it too, I’m so happy with how it turned out.”
Tune in now.
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