“The Kanneh-Masons, all nine of them, are off to Wales this week on a walking holiday,” writes Jane Warren in Thursday’s (8/1) Daily Express (U.K.). “The seven siblings and their parents, Stuart and Kadie, appear more like a chamber orchestra going on tour… seven musical prodigies between the ages of 23 and 10, and two rather bemused parents. Sheku, 20, and his elder sister Isata, 23, are now major recording artists … and their five siblings are following fast in their footsteps.… Woven into their precious holiday time together, along with lots of walks in the beautiful hills of mid-Wales, will be plenty of music practice.” Neither parent is a musician. “ ‘But a parent doesn’t need to be a musician to be able to encourage their child to do music,’ [says Sheku].… Money has been tight…. At one time the couple had to pull two of the children out of lessons because they could not afford the fees. ‘Amazingly, this wonderful teacher said she would teach our children for free,’ says Stuart…. The three older siblings, Sheku, Isata and their brother Braimah, have embarked on careers as performing musicians, while others are on full scholarships at the Royal Academy of Music.”
Posted August 7, 2019
