Exclusive: Chineke! suspends its founder
NewsWe learned earlier today that Chi-chi Nwanoku has been suspended from any involvement in Chineke!, the diversity orchestra that she founded.
No specific cause is being given, as this is deemed to be an HR issue, but we asked for an official statement from Chineke! and were issued with this:
“We can confirm that independent investigations into potential breaches of the foundation’s code of conduct are currently ongoing. These include conflicts of interest that undermine the foundation and its operations, so we are determined to respond quickly and robustly. It would not be appropriate nor fair to comment further until these investigations have concluded. Until then, our focus will be on supporting our employees and orchestra.”
Chi-chi Nwanoku, CBE, was founding doublebass of the period-instrument Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is also professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
A social reformer with strong opinions, loudly voiced, she has not hesitated to make enemies in pursuit of her cause. More worrying, there have been allegations of bullying and weak management at the orchestra.
Some of her friends were removed from the board, now chaired by Frank Douglas. Chi-chi’s role was reduced to artistic director, from which she has now been suspended.
UPDATE: When a founder is fired
This along with the BLM movement are among the biggest scam scenarios of the 21st Century.
That’s an interesting perspective Sue #yawn
The whole saga of woke is being dismantled now that the agents behind it are seen as the grifters they truly are.
Glad you could tear yourself away from GBeebies long enough to offer those pearls of wisdom.
But true.
Have you seen where funds have gone? Have you seen the scams that these orgs have taken advantage of to filter funds to individuals and not the greater cause? I didn’t say Black lives don’t matter, I said, this movement is a scam. Big difference. But you yawn, it’s hard to be you.
What is a scam scenario? Have you been reading the angry internet again
You think you’re being funny, but just remember there is a new US president that said, “everything woke turns to sh!t”. So I don’t need to say anything more to you.
If you look up “social justice warrior” in the dictionary it says 1. (n) See _bully_
I think you, Sue are a scam…
Stop this BS now! Nowadays, BAME children are not more disadvantaged than British or European people. If people want their children to succeed, they need to educate them like everyone else.
‘Positive racism’ strategies and organisations need to banned. They are dishonest, toxic and they go against a country’s unity. Often these organisations are cash cows for ‘certain people’ not to mention the fact that they do not help anyone. Could you imagine being chosen for a job or something because of your skin colour or your sexual orientation? I would be embarrassed!
It’s striking to unpack the layers of visceral racism in your comment, but I’ll try:
Generalisation and Racism:
Your comment conflates the actions of one person of colour with all people of colour, reflecting a common racist trope. This mindset stems from your inability—or refusal—to see us as individuals, reducing our identities to stereotypes.
Exclusionary Language:
Your separation of “BAME children” from “British” and “European” implies that you do not consider BAME people British or European. This is patently false, as the majority of BAME children in the UK are born here and are, therefore, just as British as you. If you meant to say “white” or “white-British,” say it plainly instead of cloaking it in euphemisms.
Disadvantage and Evidence:
Your claim that “BAME children are not more disadvantaged than British or European people” is baseless. Government data (2023) shows:
Child poverty rates: 46% of Bangladeshi and 39% of Pakistani children live in poverty, compared to 19% of white children. Black children are twice as likely to experience poverty as their white peers.
Employment discrimination: A 2019 Oxford study found that ethnic minority job applicants had to send 35–95% more applications than white candidates with identical qualifications to receive the same number of callbacks.
“Positive Racism” and Logical Leaps:
Where in the article is “positive racism” mentioned? What evidence do you have to support this assertion? Organisations like Chineke! do not practice “positive discrimination.” They address systemic exclusion by creating opportunities for underrepresented musicians, ensuring access to a field that has historically marginalized them.
Contradictions in Your Argument:
You claim BAME families “don’t educate their children” while also denying they face systemic disadvantages. By your own logic, wouldn’t this supposed lack of education prove they are disadvantaged? This contradiction reveals your bias and unwillingness to engage with the real challenges faced by BAME families in education and beyond.
Structural Racism in Context:
Your entire comment ignores decades of evidence showing systemic racism’s impact on ethnic minorities in the UK, from education to employment. If you’re genuinely interested in these issues, I encourage you to explore the wealth of data available. Ignorance, after all, is a choice.
Hey Musician, many thanks for such a clear and thorough antidote to the vitriol of – sadly – many of the contributors to this thread.
Have you read the black scholar Thomas Sowell, who has proven that ‘systemic racism’ doesn’t exist and that to insist on this false notion perpetuates a culture of black victimhood, and more importantly negates the many achievements of black people down the centuries?
You also clearly don’t know that all research shows time and again that white British boys do worse in every way as children (Indian and other ethnic minority parents usually are in stable marriages, for instance – a key factor in children succeeding at school and in life).
Positive discrimination always takes from one group to give to another cf Asian students missing out on Harvard places due to the latter’s racial quotas favouring the intake of black students. You don’t right a historical wrong by committing yet another. (That’s why slavery reparations are nonsense too: no one in history paid for the sins of their ancestors and they would be astonished we are even discussing it, mainly because all tribes have been enslaved during the course of history. The reason a Christian mission was sent to England from Italy in the 5th century was because the Pope saw blond, Angle tribe slavechildren for sale at a market in Rome.)
I understand the freshness of new ideas and new orchestras. But music-making should be about bringing everyone together according to merit – not segregating (which is a form of apartheid, of course).
The fact that you’d attempt to cite an American economist and political commentator as any kind of authority on UK race relations and UK-based statistical research demonstrates that you’ve never actually read any of Sowell’s books. He’s written next to nothing on the subject, his focus being primarily on the US. Not only does it suggest a conflation between two entirely distinct cultural contexts, but it also shows an inability to separate the African-American experience from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic-British experiences here in the UK—underscoring, yet again, your racism.
Today, Sowell is largely considered irrelevant by fellow economists and other social scientists in the US, having done little serious scholarly work since the 1970s. Frankly, I’m astounded that you’d even mention him. Can you name any major study he’s conducted here in the UK on racial equality? What was the last blind-test study he conducted here in the UK?
In his role as a political commentator, Sowell has written a series of popular books aimed at providing a veneer of scientific legitimacy to conservative beliefs or policies. These books, while framed as intellectually rigorous, often lack the depth and comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed academic research. Instead, they serve to reinforce conservative viewpoints, using selective data or narrow interpretations to support preconceived ideological positions. Conservatives, particularly those aligned with his views, often search for outlier opinions in order to invalidate the overwhelming body of research. This strategy mirrors the tactics of climate-change deniers, anti-vaxxers, or flat-earthers, who focus on the 1% of scientists who may offer dissenting views in an effort to discredit the scientific consensus. By highlighting these outlier opinions, they aim to create the illusion of credible debate, despite the overwhelming evidence on the other side.
What do you think of historian Barbara Ransby’s work, sociologist William Julius Wilson, Ibram X. Kendi, Cornel West, or Frances Cress Welsing, and the hundreds of other thinkers and scholars who’ve critiqued Sowell’s views? Their recognition and acknowledgment of racial inequality across several decades did little to prevent any of them from achieving great success and acclaim in their respective fields, which only renders both Sowell’s claims and your beliefs, that acknowledging the existence of racial inequity places minorities at a disadvantage, patently false.
YOUR COMMENT: You also clearly don’t know that all research shows time and again that white British boys do worse in every way as children.
As an educator of 25 years, scholar, professional musician, and a person of colour from a working-class background, I am well aware of the challenges faced by children from working-class backgrounds, having spent a portion of that time teaching in majority white working-class areas. I’m also aware that no research on this subject suggests the barriers faced by students who are white and working class are inherently linked to their ‘whiteness’. While their class presents a barrier to progress, their ‘whiteness’ does not, especially in a society where they make up the majority 75% racial demographic. It’s worth noting that the majority of people of colour (PoC) and ethnic minorities are also from working-class backgrounds.
Your descent into Twitter-level Fox News talking points and random comments about slavery reparations isn’t really worth my time, frankly. You’re clearly not from the UK.
There is no shortage of white representation in the 12+ major professional orchestras in the UK, whose demographic is 99% white. In the case of Chineke!, which was created in response to the lack of demographic representation in classical orchestras and the lived experience of most Black classical musicians, your comments and those of others merely highlight the necessity for its existence.
Don’t pretend that you care about racial equality when you espouse rhetoric laced with assumptions, stereotypes, false equivalencies, inaccuracies, and a casual disregard for the UK BAME experience.
That is nonsense, including the government stats. Many British and European children in the UK are unable to study an instrument because their parents cannot afford one and tuition is beyond their means. That is not different to people from other continents living in the UK. Children are all suffering from bad education because of Tory policies and massive academisation, and the precarious job world and high inflation.
With regard to my comment which you twisted: some BAME parents are great, others aren’t, like any other parent. It has to do with education.
What can impact BAME children negatively are situations where certain parents do not learn the native language (completely or sufficiently). This often causes a general delay in language and in learning. Apart from this, everyone is in the same boat except the rich.
Your comment reflects a lack of understanding of systemic inequality and its impact on various groups. The fact you would leech off the working-class issue to deny, or at the very least, downplay the existence of systemic racism is offensive to both people from financially underprivileged backgrounds and to the subject of racism. Recognising one does not diminish the other. This doesn’t mean white working-class people are not disadvantaged; it means systemic barriers impact different groups in different ways. Acknowledging inequality as a barrier to social mobility is not the same as promoting a “victim narrative.” Is this an evidence-based claim, or is it simply an assertion?
Your argument against “positive discrimination” fails to acknowledge that targeted support is often essential to address systemic inequality. For example, placing wealthy CEOs—such as those of Amazon, Google, Shell, or ExxonMobil—in a higher tax bracket while reducing taxes for those well below the breadline is a form of redistribution aimed at fostering social welfare. This, by your reasoning, is also “positive discrimination.” Should we, therefore, raise taxes on the poorest families on the grounds that assisting them would hinder their chances of social mobility, fostering a “victim complex”?
When applied to racial inequality, your argument aligns disturbingly with the very Thatcherite policies you appear to condemn elsewhere. These policies dismissed the structural factors underlying inequality and promoted a sink-or-swim mentality that exacerbated the struggles of marginalised communities. Recognising and addressing systemic barriers is not about unfairly advantaging one group over another; it’s about ensuring equity and opportunity for all.
Furthermore, your statement, “If people want their children to succeed, they need to educate them like everyone else,” implies that children from disadvantaged families, whether white working-class or from BAME backgrounds, should receive no additional support. By your own reasoning, does this mean we should not assist white working-class children whose parents struggle to educate them? Is providing them with additional opportunities, assistance, and resources the “positive discrimination” you oppose? Or does your endorsement of such assistance only apply to families who are white?
It’s a strange leap of logic to assume that educational barriers faced by children of colour are rooted primarily in parental disinterest. Even if that were true, how would that justify withholding support from the child? Surely, society’s responsibility lies in addressing barriers to education, not penalising children for circumstances beyond their control.
There’s also an inherent contradiction in your argument. You claim that acknowledging inequality has a negative impact on social mobility, yet you repeatedly highlight the urgent need to address class-based inequities. Where is the evidence that recognising systemic barriers impedes mobility? The suggestion that discrimination sends a message of inferiority overlooks the fact that discrimination itself—whether acknowledged or ignored—is the barrier that stifles opportunity.
‘Racism’ or ‘exclusion’ and ‘gatekeeping’? Do you think that white British working class people are privileged and do not suffer setbacks? Of course there was slavery/racism but these were and continue to be addressed.
How do you explain the fact that many children from ex-British colonies (colonisation was not exactly a model of democracy) in Europe or some other continents do extremely well? How do you explain that many Asians in West London go to grammar schools and later do well?
So how does being BAME correlate with achievement and social mobility? The self-victimisation narrative is unhelpful and detracts from political issues. People, except the rich, are all in the same boat.
You forgot to say how much money people leading these organisations make!
If you read properly I said “If people want their children to succeed, they need to educate them like everyone else.” This applies to every person regardless of their ethnic background. It has to do with the way families function and their values.
There are many successful BAME children who did not need any positive discrimination to succeed in various fields. Their families educated them (i.e. valued education). The same applies to working class British children, who are not exactly privileged.
Positive discrimination sends a message that the receiver is inferior and cannot make it with what is already available to them. I appreciate that music adds a further strand of difficulty because of expensive instruments and tuition, but this is a tough situation for everyone. That’s the Thatcher legacy for you!
Unite and don’t play into ‘divide and rule’!
There is nothing even remotely related to music in your speech, Musician.
BAME people are British and European
“BAME children are not more disadvantaged than British or European people”
1) a quick google will show you numerous recent studies that prove you wrong. I didn’t see single one to back up your argument. 2) BAME people in the UK are often British and/or European.
It is utterly irresponsible to say that BAME children are not at any kind of disadvantage, disregarding all the evidence that inequality in the UK is among the worst in developed economies, and social mobility has been going backwards for more than a generation. Opportunity very often follows from money and connections, things that BAME people typically have less access to.
One thing is for certain: music in schools is in a parlous state, especially in areas of deprivation; a higher proportion of BAME kids, especially those of African or South Asiain descent, grow up in areas of deprivation; therefore it is harder than ever for them to access traditional western instruments at all, let alone reach a professional level, so they do need more help.
Two of the comments here demonstrate that Slipped Disc is increasingly becoming a haven for right wing claptrap from Trumpian-like commentators who cannot accept that generally and thankfully in the UK the world has moved on to a more diverse society. CGDA should be ashamed to write in this way
Diversity in Europe is certainly working out great!
How much have you worked with BAME families? Or are you just repeating what you read?
What do right wing politics have to do with addressing problems that are mainly political? Tokenism is not the way forward! People…not ethnic groups, except the rich, are all in than the same boat!
There is nothing ‘right wing’ about selecting musicians purely on merit. Racial quotas such as that adopted by the touring orchestra of the English National Opera, which resulted in the sacking of ten of its members for having the wrong colour skin, is pure racism, and it was opposed as such by the Musicians Union.
Scratch out her CBE. I am somewhat amazed at her hypocrisy in having accepted it in the first place.
She is one of the worst bullies in the ENTIRE UK classical scene. I hardly know a single person who’s played for Chineke! who hasn’t fallen victim to her sociopathic wrath at some point. She is harmful to the organization and frankly to human decency.
Just see how many sensible comments are downvoted to gauge the self-delusion still oh-so-prevalent among the chattering classes. Maybe they’ll grow up one day.
Are you the Anthony Sayer that was a cellist in BBCSSO? Wow
Not as far as I know.
Whoever he is he’s a very nasty piece of work indeed. There is no place for such attitudes in classical music.
There is probably more to this sad narrative than is widely known, but one thing is clear to me: Chi-chi founded Chineke with an entirely admirable ambition, namely to address inequalities of opportunity for BAME musicians in the UK. To refer to Chineke as a “scam scenario” or a “cash cow” is deeply offensive.
Moreover, it is ludicrous (and ignorant) to claim that “BAME children are not more disadvantaged than British or European people”.
By the way, I’m also pretty sure that I’ve heard senior figures in Chineke say that once those inequalities have been eliminated, Chineke will have achieved its objective and will therefore no longer be needed.
From the brief article/statement and a couple of comments by people who appear to know a little about Chineke, the issue has nothing to do with scams and more to do with behaviour. I think it would be wise to cease speculation, let alone accusation, until more has been revealed.
All one needs to do is read the many instances of misappropriation of funds, fraud, and more. This is not a secret. And at the top are people like this, who are arrogant, self serving, opportunists. And they are going down, or gone. Nobody needed to take them down, they did it themselves, with no help. It was a matter of time.
I know her personally, it is because of her behaviour. She’s an entirely narcissistic, self-absorbed, and highly toxic individual who I had the misfortune of experiencing throughout 2020.
What is the proof of inequalities? My entire life (47 years) I’ve seen people of colours in orchestras from Edinburgh to Vienna.
not before time.
This woman is out of control and her bullying and aggressive reputation needs to be halted once and for all.
RAM need to look into her bullying of students there now
Some heated and faintly unsavoury comments here. Whatever your thoughts on Chineke!’s extra-musical objectives and policies, they are irrelevant to this issue, which concerns the personal conduct of one individual within the organisation, and is being dealt with via that organisation’s internal processes. We would do well to wait and see what they conclude.
Meanwhile, American commenters should note that this has nothing whatsoever to do with Trump. It is a different country with a different history and a different culture. We appreciate that some of you are currently upset, but not everything is about you.
The only racist Orchestra in the UK. Good riddance to her
Oh, but she is a good racist, didn’t you know. There are good racists and bad racists, good murderers and bad murderers, good fascists and bad fascists, and so on.
Good.
Now throw her in jail and deport her.
That is an outrageous comment! We’re talking about tokenism which is everywhere. It detracts from real political issues and effective strategies.
What, deport her to Fulham?! Because that’s where she was born. Hmmm interesting, I didn’t know that was a thing… Thanks for your words of knowledge, learn something new everyday, eh!
Oh God!
Nic pic of Chi-chi collecting her Royal Philharmonic Society Gamechanger Award.
Absolutely shocking racist comments on here. Many of you should be ashamed of the conclusions you are jumping to.
The situation is NOT as it seems so please, save your bile.
Whatever the context, it’s on balance better to see the racist commentators below the line here: flushed out into the cold light of day, your filthy hate can remain memorialised here as long as this blog stays active.
Emboldened by the Zeitgeist of Trump and Farage, you think your moment has arrived, forgetting of course that the world has dealt with the likes of you before. History is never kind to you, and you will ultimately return to the grubby dark corners where the gestation of your world view festers.
I’m particularly grateful to those that sign themselves off as ‘Symphony Musician” or any nom de guerre that betrays their profession. It’s good to know that one should guard against the enemy within, behind the polite smiles of any given rehearsal room.
Sue, CDGA – your un-evidenced, irrational comments are simply naked racism. You are vile, knuckle-dragging trolls with congealed vomit for brains. If you want to fling shit, then clear off to a sewer to fling it at each other (and at all those who up-voted your comments), and only come back when you have learned to behave as tolerant grown-ups. None of you who talk and think like this deserves to have classical music in their lives.
Yes, let us now listen to Miraculous Mandarin, Carmen, and La Traviata, good olde fashioned tramps, whores, and pure things not found in classical music.
Its very clear without seeing any pictures that lots of these angry comments against BLM etc have been most likely written by caucasian people. How any of them feel like they have any authority commenting about growing up as a black or ethnic minority in the UK is beyond me. It’s like a man explaining to a woman what it’s like to feel pregnant….impossible!
That’s easy. Fat.
Surveying the thrust of many of the comments above I wonder why I despair. Voices demanding to be heard I guess where, behind a convenient anonymity racism can flourish.
Oh good, more vague accusations investigated behind closed doors without any specific known details!
Chi Chi difficult (very difficult), Chineke! and all its musicians great. Thats it!