los angeles master chorale

Ready, Bright is a piece of music by Composer, Derrick Skye, and was released on Juneteenth. Skye describes the composition as ‘a desire to be released from restraint’ using the mind, body, soul, and voice. A celebration of freedom, and a reflection on the work that still needs to be done.

Stylistically, Ready, Bright layers jazz, gospel, and pop vocal traditions. Ready, Bright incorporates body percussion, inspired by the call and response and repeated tension (silence) and release (collective sound) found in Black work songs. The piece includes polyrhythmic layering of 3 against 2 found in traditional EÊ‹e music from the Volta region of Ghana. Featuring the choreography of Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole. Yeko’s dance vocabulary incorporates contemporary movements interwoven with her family’s deep roots in traditional EÊ‹e music and dance.