Manchester composer uses historic insurance documents to write new requiem

Manchester based composer David Önaç has created a new requiem based on historical insurance documents detailing the trafficking of enslaved Africans, the Guardian reported on October 11. The composition project received funding from Lloyd's of London after research highlighted the organization's historical links to the transatlantic slave trade. [1]

The idea for the musical work originated with Dr Errol Francis, the artistic director and chief executive of the arts and heritage charity Culture&, according to the Guardian. Francis noted the striking contradiction in a centuries old insurance document that invoked God while treating human beings as commercial cargo. [1]

The project follows broader historical research into Britain's ties to transatlantic slavery. A database known as the Register of British Slave-Traders recorded 13,000 individuals in Britain who invested in the trafficking of over three million enslaved Africans between 1563 and 1807, as FTMQ News reported earlier. Additionally, a Global Threads study previously examined the historical connections between enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and 19th century workers in Manchester. [4][5]