Local musician Colin Lett has loved music all of his life, and this summer his original music will reach new audiences.  Lett’s work will be premiered and performed by up and coming artist Carl Alexander this Saturday, June 23 in Chicago, Illinois.

“All of the music will be recorded to be a part of a project in the spring and a part of a CD that will be sold,” Lett said. “This Saturday will be a premier concert for five of those pieces, and my piece, ‘A Negro Lament’ was chosen.”

The spirituals “Nobody Knows the Trouble I See, Lord” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” were two of Lett’s main inspiration for the piece.

“‘A Negro Lament’” is an outcry for the fallen and the pain of an oppressed people,” Lett said. “This pain is doubled by the socioeconomic conditions and gun violence in our communities. Innocent lives are often lost without justice being served.”

He wants his piece to represent the pain and suffering of African American people, and let the music tell the story.

“The vocalise is a melodic wail releasing the inward pain as a prayer without words to the Lord,” he said.

The collaboration started as a project for Alexander in an effort to highlight the work of African American artists while focusing on social issues. Alexander reached out to Lett and told him about his ideas, and in January 2018 Lett composed “A Negro Lament” for the project.

“[Alexander] started this project called the ‘Voic(ed) Project’, where he’s trying to get music by unsung African American composers that deal with issues of social justice,”s Lett said. “He commissioned maybe 15 to 20 of us in the country to write pieces for a solo voice or any kind of accompaniment.”

Lett said the recognition is amazing and he is looking forward to hearing his piece performed this Saturday.