“Premiering Aug. 1 as part of Ravinia Festival in Chicago, African Queens features new songs by eight leading Black composers: Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, Will Liverman, and Joel Thompson. The texts by Lorene Cary, Alicia Haymer, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, and Jay Saint Flono (Slack’s creative collaborator on the project) each represent a different African queen, from the Queen Mother of the Zulu Nation to Nanny of the Jamaican Maroons.”