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BLKBOK is a pianist and composer who believes music is medicine.
Artist and composer BLKBOK plays the piano and tours at the highest levels of the music industry. He has worked with Justin Timberlake, Rhianna, John Mayer, Demi Lovato and Cirque de Soleil’s Michael Jackson Immortal.
BLKBOK shares his professional journey, including his recent return to his roots in classical music. At his publisher’s request, began to compose a ten track classical piano album at the beginning of 2020.
While the pandemic shut down everything around him, BLKBOK got to work. He made a promise that he would compose – for others to see – every day for 100 days in Seth Godin’s The Creatives Workshop, where we met.
After 107 consecutive days of composing, writing and sharing, Charles thought his album was complete. But then he received a second request – to compose an eleventh track – a “George Floyd piece.”
In this conversation, BLKBOK shares what it was like to go back to the keyboard to compose a piece of music that encompasses his desire for equality, his many personal experiences of racism, and the global Black Lives Matter movement that George Floyd has come to represent.
Special bonus: During our interview, BLKBOK and I discovered we were both at the infamous Toronto SARS concert on July 30, 2003. I was in the audience, and he played keyboard for Justin Timberlake. If you’re familiar with the story, you’ll know it wasn’t Toronto’s finest moment. I’ll leave it for you to listen to the full story, but Charles was generous to send over some photos from that day.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Website – blkbok.com
- BLKBOK on Instagram – @BLKBOK
- Seth Godin – Akimbo Workshops
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