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Outlook: Seven songs to mourn seven black men

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Eric Garner tribute

06/01/2021 GMT

Seven songs to mourn seven black men

BBC World Service - Outlook, Seven songs to mourn seven black men

Joel Thompson is behind a composition about the killing of black men in the USA

Joel Thompson is the composer behind Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a piece of music mourning black men killed by police and authority figures.

In the aftermath of a highly-publicised killing of an African American man by police in 2014, composer Joel Thompson started channelling his anger and sadness into music. He began setting the last words of seven black men, killed by police and authority figures in America, to music in a complex choral arrangement. The result was a composition called Seven Last Words of the Unarmed. He spoke to Outlook's Emily Webb.

Grecia is a toucan from Costa Rica whose beak had been crushed and completely amputated. The bird's chances of survival were poor, but animal rescue expert Ronald Sibaja was determined to save Grecia’s life. He got support from an unlikely source - 3D printing companies that normally fabricate noses for commercial aircraft. Outlook's Clayton Conn visited Grecia back in 2019.

Photo: Memorial for Eric Garner
Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Lichtenstein

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