The House of Music: Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason talks to us about her story

By Lark Music

A group of nine people, including adults and children, posed together with musical instruments such as cellos and a violin.

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It’s Monday afternoon and mother-of-seven Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason is on the phone talking to Lark Music after making ‘a mad train station dash’ with daughter Jeneba, who is travelling to Scotland for a concert. She is also sorting a three-way clash of her children’s performances with Isata playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; Konya performing St John’s Smith Square, London and Aminata and Mariatu both playing at a prize-giving concert.

Every day is a juggling act for Kadiatu because the children have individual careers as well as playing together – so the family’s hectic life revolves around rehearsals, concerts and recordings to 4am starts from their Nottingham home every Saturday so the younger ones can attend the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) junior academy in London.

It is an extraordinary life that’s vividly captured in Kadiatu’s new book House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons.

The book recently won the Lark Music-sponsored Royal Philharmonic Storytelling Award, and when Kadie, as she is known to family and friends, heard the announcement she literally jumped out of her seat. “I had never been so surprised in my life! I leapt up and hugged my husband and daughters – then suddenly panicked. Was it really me?” For once, it was Kadie in the well-deserved spotlight.

^{Kadie receiving her award at Wigmore Hall.}

“I really want to thank Lark Music because it was so wonderful for me to receive the award.”

The key to raising seven musically gifted children is belief, says Kadie.

“You can’t believe that all of your children will become classical musicians – that is something you can’t plan but you have to believe it is so worth it – and it gives them so much in terms of their personalities and other qualities to help them through life. You have to believe that.

“It’s incredibly expensive and requires a lot of sacrifice. The UK’s education system does not value music, it is not a core subject but my children were lucky, they all attended state schools where the head teachers were hugely supportive.”

To help drive changes in music education Kadie is heavily involved with Music Masters and the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST) while being on the Board of Trustees for ESTA and The Nottingham Education Trust.

“To be separated from your instrument is a very dangerous thing. It’s horrific because people in general have no idea that an instrument is irreplaceable and that is scary.”

Kadie and her husband Stuart have instilled into the children that their instruments are precious, regardless of their value. “Obviously, there have been mistakes because children have to learn. When Sheku was about eight we had to change trains at Grantham late at night. He was exhausted and when we ran for the train he left his cello in the waiting room. We realised just before the train departed so we all had to get off. Those moments stick in children’s minds and they don’t do it again. To be separated from your instrument is a very dangerous thing. It’s horrific because people in general have no idea that an instrument is irreplaceable and that is scary.”

^{The family on a walking holiday in Wales about three years ago}

“This Christmas, we are all going to stay at my sister’s in mid-Wales. All of the young people sleep in the converted barn!”

As the children get older, Kadie says she hopes to write another book. “It may be fiction, a bit more what is in my head and about me but I am not exactly sure yet. The children travel across the world in different directions but my husband Stuart and I still try to attend as many events as we can. Braimah is living in Budapest, studying violin at the Liszt Academy; Isata and Sheku both have busy concert careers; Konya is at the Royal Academy of Music studying piano; Jeneba is studying piano at the Royal College of Music while Animata studies violin and piano and Mariatu studies cello and piano.

Being together as a family is most important to Kadie. “This Christmas, we are all going to stay at my sister’s in mid-Wales. All of the young people sleep in the converted barn!”

The House of Music – Raising the Kanneh-Masons, by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, is published by Oneworld Publications. It gives a heart-warming insight into the family’s home life alongside flashbacks to Kadie’s childhood in Sierra Leone and Wales and meeting her husband Stuart at university, through to bringing up seven children, with landmark moments including Sheku winning the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition and his solo performance at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

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