A group of artists and producers have come together to release a single supporting Black Minds Matter UK. ‘Birds’ is a collaboration between the renowned Tongue Fu collective and three leading poets: Salena Godden, Vanessa Kisuule, and Hollie McNish.

The single is available to purchase from our Bandcamp page and will remain exclusively on that site until the new year. 100% of all profits will be donated to Black Minds Matter UK.

Black Minds Matter UK’s mission is to connect Black individuals and families with free mental health services – by professional Black therapists to support their mental health. To make this happen, they want to make mental health topics more relevant and accessible for all Black people in the UK, removing the stigma and remodelling the services to be relevant for the Black community.

The single sleeve features a specially commissioned illustration by Leeds-based artist Saifur Rehmaan Manzoor-Khan.

“We’re extremely excited to be able to collaborate with Tongue Fu and three incredible poets for this beautiful piece ‘Birds’ which will help us to raise funds at Black Minds Matter. The poem manages to articulate the many difficult and unfamiliar emotions that we have all experienced in some way this year; giving us a sense of comfort in this shared experience and hope for brighter days ahead.”

Olivia Weigel | BMM UK Marketing Manager

Tongue Fu is one of the UK’s leading spoken word and music projects, led by Chris Redmond. They mix spoken word, music, film, and improvisation. Over 13 years they have toured nationally and internationally and worked with the likes of Kae Tempest, Akala, Irvine Welsh, Soweto Kinch, and hundreds more.

Their début studio album ‘Boat Building’ will be released on 27 November and features collaborations with artists including Amyra León, Dizraeli, Zia Ahmed, and Rafeef Ziadah. ‘Birds’ is one of several new Tongue Fu collaborative commissions funded by Arts Council England’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund.

“2020 has been a time of communal mourning and grief and anxiety. The poem we have written seems to underpin all of that, and it’s an honour to be releasing it in support of BMM UK.”

Salena Godden

The video of the track received its world première as part of a Nymphs & Thugs x Tongue Fu event, which was streamed live on Facebook on Thursday 12 November and is available to stream back in full below.