Kasinda wrote “This Life” in Accra and recorded it in Melbourne, where she lives. It is a reggae song led by her flute, the instrument she trained on at the Melbourne Conservatorium and plays in most of her work, across classical, jazz and the city’s African diaspora scenes with The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, Owelu Dreamhouse and Afrospace Jazz Industry. This is her first release under her own name.

The song is written for Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Miriam Makeba and Yaa Asantewaa, who fought for African freedom on the continent and in the diaspora. Kasinda uses them to ask the listener a direct question: whether what you do leaves the world better for the people who come after you. Her point is that we the people shape that world, and that everyone has a part in it.

Ghanaian producer Slim Drumz co-produced. The band comes from the Melbourne scene Kasinda plays in, with musicians from Surprise Chef and Owelu Dreamhouse: Lachlan Stuckey on guitar, Henry Jenkins on bass and keys, Hudson Whitlock on drums and Nic Ryan-Glenie on trumpet, under her flute and tenor saxophone.

“This Life” is the title track of an EP due on Northside Records in September, the Fitzroy shop and label that has sold and released Melbourne soul and funk since 2002.

Stream “This Life” and purchase your copy of the single HERE