What do you get when your parents are not musicians but all seven of the children in the family are possibly, according to Simon Cowell, “the most talented family in the world?”
Give up? Well, the answer is, you get Sheku, Isata, Braimah, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata and Mariatu Kanneh-Masons, seven British brothers and sisters, dedicated to performing and playing a broad range of classical music.
“It started with Isata,” mother Kadie explains in an interview with the DailyMail. “We started her on the piano because she was very bright and we wanted to give her something more than schoolwork. She would be given one piece a week, and have mastered it in ten minutes. Isata set the tone and, when the others were born, music practice was normal.”
Isata, 19, playing violin and viola, studies full-time at the Royal Academy of Music under a scholarship paid for by Sir Elton John, with whom she has performed, in LA in 2013. Second born, Braimah, 18, is a violinist who also joined his older sister at the Royal Academy of music this fall.
Next in line is seventeen-year-old Sheku. Sheku didn’t pick up a cello until he was six-years-old; however, he has recently been crowned with the dubious distinction of becoming the first black youngster to win the coveted BBC Young Musician 2016 Award. Falling in line behind her three older siblings is 15-year-old Konya. Konya studies both piano and violin, while her sister, thirteen-year-old Jeneba started playing piano at the age of three, studies piano and cello.
Ten-year-old Aminata studies both violin and piano. All of the siblings have received their Grade 8 standards, in both instruments that they play, at early ages, receiving various awards, scholarships, and distinctions because of their talents. The only one who hasn’t gotten their Grade 8 in at least two instruments is the baby of the family, six-year-old Mariatu; however, that doesn’t mean she’s not playing catch up with her siblings as she’s begins her study of the violin. To find out more about these amazing siblings and their musical prowess, visit their website!
