Following her singles release of Ginya and Earthly Speaking in early February & late March respectively, the Uganda-based artist, Suzan Kerunen, fifth studio LP has been highly anticipated by fans.
From Ashes We Rise is a collaborative multilingual effort which boldly tells our African story. The stories consist of our African triumphs, battles and more victories to come. The album is meant to inspire and give the African people a new hope despite the times. It talks about efforts that are ongoing such as decolonization, revolutions fought, and the empowerment of African women, black skin movement, not forgetting the celebration of our diversity while highlighting special ceremonies like marriages, childbirths, rites of passage, food and race.
“From Ashes We Rise is a reflection of not only my feelings and experience during the lockdown and before but also a sense of empathy that I felt for the millions of people on the African continent and beyond. The pandemic brought out very strong emotions, inspirations but also exposed humanity for what we really are. I decided to highlight some of the vices like racism, human trafficking, anxiety but also wanted to give hope to my listeners with a reminder of African celebration. In Africa we sing at weddings, funerals, childbirth, during harvest, at war and when we give thanks. All this mix makes us who we are when we go through the fire and when rise up from the Ashes. Just like the Phoenix. Afoyo” Suzan Kerunen shares of the celebratory LP made during lockdown, that promises hope as much as it covers sensitive themes such as racism, human trafficking & more.
The album is written and carefully crafted to bring out the diversity of art through spoken word, music, chants, riddles and proverbs, in celebration of who we are. It also addresses hard issues that are affecting our continent. Such issues include modern day slave trade, black skin stigmatization, human trafficking, war, governance and climate change issues that keep sucking the life and blood out of Africa by global and continental perpetrators.
It employs African voices to tell our stories featuring some of the continent’s rising stars like Kinobe Herbert (Uganda/USA), Bernice the Bell (Burundi), Mseto Nation (Ug), WD Alzain (Sudan Khartoum). Suzan Kerunen is using this collaborative album to root for a strong spirit of collaboration among African artists while addressing continental issues to a wider audience. Such collaborations break physical borders and help build a movement of African ambassadors around the world. It is also to encourage and develop a breed of artists who will create art not just for self-sustenance but rather look at art as a reproductive tool for humanity.
Suzan Kerunen (AlurQueen) is a Ugandan world music singer who writes and performs African Contemporary music in the local Ugandan language of Alur- Jonam (her mother tongue) as well as in English, Swahili and French. She is a double Kora award Nominee, A Pearl of Africa Award Winner, The National Tourism Ambassador, and an Honorary Ambassador for the Promotion of French language and culture.