Following a record year for Sheku, and amazing family promo during lockdown, the 7 exceptionally talented Kanneh-Mason children perform together on an album for the first time.

Decca Classics announces the release of Carnival, a very special collaboration between Academy Award-winning actor Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series The Crown), children’s author Michael Morpurgo and the seven “extraordinarily talented” (Classic FM) Kanneh-Mason siblings (aged between 11 and 24) – Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu. The brand-new Kanneh-Mason album, their first as a family, centres around Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals.

TRACKLISTING:

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
Camille Saint-Saëns’ suite
With a  new set of verses written by Michael Morpurgo
Narrated by the author, with Olivia Colman

Preamble
Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
Hens and Roosters
Wild Donkeys, Swift Animals
Tortoises
The Elephant
Kangaroos
Aquarium
Characters with Long Ears
The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods
Aviary
Pianists
Fossils
The Swan
The Finale
 
GRANDPA CHRISTMAS

Written by Michael Morpurgo
Narrated by the author with Mariatu Kanneh-Mason and illustrated in music

Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker Suite (Konya & Jeneba – piano duo)
Two Bartok duos from 44 Duos arr. two cellos:
Maypole Dance (Sheku & Mariatu – cello duo)
Mosquito Dance (Sheku & Aminata – cello duo)
Grieg Lyric Pieces: ‘Little Bird’ (Konya – solo piano)
Rimsky-Korsakov arr. Rachmaninov: Flight of the Bumble Bee (Isata – solo piano)
Castelnuovo -Tedesco arr. Heifetz: ‘Sea Murmurs’ (Braimah & Jeneba – violin & piano)
Maypole Dance (reprise)
Eric Whitacre arr. Parkin: ‘The Seal Lullaby’ (all seven children)

BONUS TRACK:
BOB MARLEY ARR. THE KANNEH-MASONS: REDEMPTION SONG