Dave Okumu

Dave Okumu announces the special live release of his critically acclaimed album 'I Came From Love (Live from the Roundhouse)' accompanied by a choir of extraordinary young singers, led by Alice Grant and ESKA, as part of In The Round series. The live performance was captured by filmmaker Nicolas Premier who shot the album's music videos, and comes later next year.

“On 20th April 2023, I enjoyed the immense privilege of celebrating the imminent launch of my first album as The Seven Generations with a life-changing performance at The Roundhouse as part of their In The Round series. We built a village of storytellers to bring the vision of the record to life on stage.

With the support of The Roundhouse, a choir of extraordinary young singers, led by Alice Grant and ESKA, was constructed from the ground up to embody and deliver the deeply personal and universal stories contained within the record. In addition to this, I surrounded myself with a host of dream-weaving musicians, my creative collaborators who elevate me by their presence alone.

I’ve always been captivated by the intersection of depth and immediacy that only performance can bring about and this night stands as a personal highlight of that shared experience. It has become increasingly important for me to find ways of archiving these special moments and I can think of no one better equipped to get to the essence of this particular journey than my dear friend and collaborator, the filmmaker Nicolas Premier. Reflected back at me in this film is the very heart and intent of the process. A play date with the divine.” – Dave Okumu

‘I Came From Love' is a tapestry of Black experience that explores ancestry, the legacy of slavery, and what it means to exist in an unjust society. The album sees Okumu reflect on his own family history, remembering how out of place he felt growing up in Vienna, but also how disconnected from his culture he felt visiting Kenya. In preparation for the album Okumu took on hours of research, allowing the work of CLR James, Aimé Cesaire, James Baldwin and others to influence the project. It is a body of work that wears its literary influences on its sleeve, presenting the album in chapters; You Survived So I Might Live [tracks 1-4], The Intolerable Suffering Of (The) Other [5-8], Seduced By Babylon (9-11), and Cave Of Origins (12-14).