NEW MUSIC | APEX ZERO ‘DRUMMER WARRIOR STORYTELLER (PART TWO)

By Rishma Dhaliwal • On Classics, Poetry, Visual Arts, What is New , , , , , , , , , ,

Apex Zero has released ‘Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller (Part Two)’, as he con­tin­ues to devel­op his liv­ing visu­al album along­side numer­ous, bril­liant, mul­tidiscip­lin­ary artists. The liv­ing album (so far) con­sists of films, paint­ings, metal­work, pho­to­graphy, inter­views, con­ver­sa­tions, cos­tume design, drum circles, cur­ated install­a­tion exhib­i­tions, immers­ive theatre pro­duc­tions and more.

‘Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller (Part Two)’, the second film and EP in the series, is built around the tracks Sev­enth Dimen­sion (On Per­spect­ive) fea­tur­ing Mali­an Mas­ter Kora play­er and Gri­ot Moussa Dembele, as well as  ‘You (On Love)’ and ‘Live Life (On Liv­ity)’ fea­tur­ing Ghanai­an song­stress Elia-Naa, both pro­duced by legendary UK Hip Hop beat­maker Mic­all Parknsun. 

The film and EP sym­bol­ise a sig­ni­fic­ant change in the ideas and style expressed in the albums first part, break­ing from the often por­trayed ‘strug­gling’ Black fig­ure, aim­ing to express joy, love and aspir­a­tions to live and grow des­pite society’s obstacles. ‘Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller (Part Two) cel­eb­rates life, hon­ours Ancest­ors and The Most High, express­ing grat­it­ude and appre­ci­ation for exist­ence and creation.

The film was made with vis­ion­ary film­makers Chiba Visu­als, Slim Year­wood, Alicia Warner and Ekua McMor­ris, shot across Bar­ba­dos, Venezuela, Peru, Uganda, and Eng­land. It fea­tures pion­eer­ing metal­s­mith Rox­anne Simone, cul­tur­al poly­math Muti ‘Mutiv­a­tion’ Musafiri, jew­ellery from rising star Lucie Gled­hill, Ugandan tra­di­tion­al drum­mers Nilotika Cul­tur­al Ensemble, foot­age from Break Fast Jam 2018 and Afri-cans Street Art Fest 2018 and deeply per­son­al pho­to­graphs and foot­age of Apex’s imme­di­ate fam­ily across four generations. 

Earli­er releases from Sev­enth Dimen­sion (On Per­spect­ive) and ‘You (On Love)’ are now fol­lowed by ‘Live Life (On Liv­ity)’, an uplift­ing, up-tempo, soul­ful banger that moves any­one that hears it. The organ driv­en pro­duc­tion by Mic­all Parkn­sun gives Apex a plat­form to show his lyr­ic­al dex­ter­ity, mov­ing effort­lessly between chant-like and rap­id-fire word­play. The hook espe­cially shows Apex’s skill as a lyr­i­cist, hold­ing the same multi-syl­lable rhyme scheme for the whole sec­tion, work­ing bril­liantly with the eth­er­e­al vocals of Elia-Naa as they stake their claims and encour­age oth­ers to mani­fest bril­liant futures and live life to its maximum. 

‘Live Life (On Liv­ity)’, like each track on Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller (Part Two), will have its own indi­vidu­al release on Apex’s new offi­cial artist chan­nel, as well as the release as a full short film. ‘Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller’ is a liv­ing, on-going pro­ject, with more releases, install­a­tions and events set for the 2023 and bey­ond, includ­ing a full album release and more live theatre shows. 

For more inform­a­tion, head to https://www.apexzero.co.uk/ 

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You can see/hear ‘Drum­mer War­ri­or Storyteller (Part One)’ here:

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.