Carleen Anderson
Photo by David Merritt
“MELIOR Opus Griot”, written and composed by Carleen Anderson, is about a little girl, Cassie, who was thought to be lost at sea. An Alkebulan Water Spirit rescues and ushers Cassie to the ocean floor society of MELIOR. For centuries, she time-travels, ranging in Earth years from age three to sixty-three, applying the Merpeople teachings of harmony to offer as uplift to land dwellers living in a world deep in chaos.
Closing one chapter and paving a path to the next...
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Welcome to the seafloor society of MELIOR
Music Storytelling Art - Concept and Purpose
⬆️⬆️ This clip was filmed by Neville Holness on 4th June 2025 at London’s SxSW Premiere in a space called The Ditch at Shoreditch Town Hall. Black Lives in Music showcased Carleen singing Live Vocals from scene excerpts to studio recorded orchestrations, plus a scene reference that Carleen sang and accompanied herself on piano. Visuals were provided by Manchester Art Factory/Sandra Whetham. The 90 -minute presentation included an interview with Tête-á-Tête Opera Festival Founder and Director Bill Bankes-Jones, about the concept of Carleen’s Blended-roots Opera.
MELIOR Opus Griot Promo Collage digital design by Tim Walton. Inset Images: Top Left ‘Cover Artwork’ by Lella Russo; Top Right and Bottom Left ‘Storyline Visuals’ by Sandra Whetham; Bottom Right photo by Hugh Hastings of the November 2022 Hall for Cornwall Preview Production Dress Rehearsal. MELIOR Opus Griot Logo by Jon Fletcher.
Carleen Anderson is a US American born/UK Resident Music Artist respected for her singing and songwriting. Her professional career began in 1990 as the vocalist, composer, arranger and recording artist for the Young Disciples. After six acclaimed solo albums and a multitude of collaborations she began developing her style of dramatic music storytelling for the theatre. This long-held creative passion of hers was supported by Arts Council England in 2014 for her first theatre production, CAGE STREET MEMORIAL. Barbican Centre staged a production of CAGE STREET MEMORIAL in 2016. Jazz FM nominated CAGE STREET MEMORIAL for an Innovation of the Year Award in 2018. In 2020, Arts Council England first supported MELIOR Opus Griot, which she labels as a Blended-roots Opera. Arts Council England awarded Carleen an additional grant for MELIOR Opus Griot in 2021. Hall for Cornwall produced a preview of this work in November 2022. Black Lives in Music showcased excerpts of MELIOR Opus Griot in June 2025, hosted by London’s SxSW Premiere at Shoreditch Town Hall. The presentation included an interview with Tête-á-Tête Opera Festival Founder and Director, Bill Bankes-Jones to discuss the concept to this fresh approach to the format of Opera.
This aquatic-themed fantasy aims to expand the creative space for the future of artistic vision in the theatre world.
Cover Artwork by Lella Russo
The Story of MELIOR Opus Griot
MELIOR Opus Griot is an ocean-floor, time-travel fantasy conceived, written and composed by Carleen Anderson. Performed in the dramatic theatre format of an Opera, it blends Gospel, Soul, Jazz, and Classical music for a fresh staging of theatrical storytelling.
A little girl, Cassie, is thought to be lost at sea. She is rescued by a mystical water spirit and guided to the seafloor society of MELIOR. It is a tale of surrealistic humans who use their gifts to advocate people choosing to behave better with each other in the midst of chaos and global destruction.
The music storyline and soundscape of this Blended-roots Opera is to be performed with a 20+ Chamber Music Ensemble, a 48-member Opera Chorus and Carleen in the lead role of Cassie from the age of three to sixty-three Earth years.
This Futuristic Opera style is rooted in Carleen’s early childhood memories of her Grandfather’s theatrical church productions. His congregation created costumes from scraps of cloths to actualise Biblical themes he directed for their immersion as a collective performing audience. From the age of seven Carleen would compose music for her Grandfather’s adult choir. Influenced by the combined-genre vocal stylings of her classically-trained Juilliard Scholar Aunt, Bettye Faye Anderson, who was also a much sought after Gospel singer during the 1960s Civil Rights movement before her death in 1970, Carleen’s work blends generations of traditional music art with contemporary sounds to source life into her fresh approach to dramatic music storytelling.
A New Music Storytelling Genre
Photo by Hugh Hastings
Carleen Anderson has a goal of establishing a ‘blended-roots’ Opera genre for established and emerging music artists to express their individual stylings on a broader dramatic music storytelling platform. In addition to an eclectic music instrumentation ensemble and a choreographed Opera Chorus, the staged production will also include digital imagery to parallel the narratives in each scene, as well as FX sounds to augment this aquatic-themed fantasy.
Prior to the staged production, Carleen aims to studio record each of the scenes for the benefit of the cast and director, as well as to serve as promotion for the staged performance. The results from this crowdfunding campaign so far has financed the studio recordings of three MELIOR Opus Griot music scenes. There are nine music scenes yet to studio record for this album to be released.
This link is to the Patron Rewards page to support these goals.
Photo by Hugh Hastings
Promo clip for the Single release of MOBOCRACY available now for download via this website.
Promo Video by Manchester Art Factory/Sandra Whetham
Clip of Carleen swimming in the Sea at sunrise by Neil Salter @DawlishBeachCam
MOBOCRACY single recorded at Sorting Room Studio, Dartington Trust, Dartmouth, England. Engineered and mixed by Tommy Williams, August 2022.
Carleen Anderson on all Vocals and Piano. Orphy Robinson on Vibraphone and Percussion. Sam Burgess on Bass.
All Hand Claps by Carleen Anderson, Orphy Robinson and Sam Burgess
The Futuristic Vision for MELIOR Opus Griot
Photo by @hannahmentz
MELIOR Opus Griot , expanding the context of Opera.
MELIOR Opus Griot - A Blended Roots OperaDescribing the MELIOR Opus Griot concept Anderson said: “Opus refers to the collection of compositions I wrote for this theatre production. Griot represents the African (ALKEBULAN), storyteller, a Diasporic style of melodic narration. In this fantasy, Cassie is cleansed from oppression and brings uplift gained from MELIOR to the land dwellers upon her every return to shore.”
Anderson aims to cultivate a futuristic approach to traditional Opera.
A UK resident since 1990 she was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 1992 with her Young Disciples band mates, Marco Nelson and Femi Williams. She was nominated for a Solo Independent Artist Brit Award in 1995 and named Jazz FM’s UK Vocalist of 2013. In 2017 musicologist Gilles Peterson presented her with a Worldwide FM Lifetime Achievement Award. Her CAGE STREET MEMORIAL album was nominated in 2018 for Jazz FM’s Innovation of the Year.
Having studied music on a scholarship at University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in the 1980s, and in the 1990s, was the vocalist and songwriter for a variety of collaborations and solo music releases, Carleen is focused on developing her artistry as a music composer and Opera scriptwriter for futuristic theatre.
Photo by Hugh Hastings at the Hall For Cornwall Playhouse MELIOR Opus Griot Preview Dress Rehearsal in November 2022: MELIOR Chamber Quintet (MCQ), Cornwall Choir and Carleen at the piano.
Supporters of MELIOR Opus Griot
Lella Russo Artworks
Jon Fletcher Design
Louise Bowen Watercolour Art
Diverse Arts HQ
James Brown, Godfather of Soul
“She’s not just good. She’s phenomenal. Carleen Anderson is one of a kind.”
“Carleen Anderson is a visionary creator. Her blended-roots Opera, MELIOR Opus Griot will be a major contribution to music theatre.”
“Carleen Anderson is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of her generation.”
“You have to see Carleen Anderson Live at least three times in your life. I would sit around all day just to listen to her soundcheck.”
As an Independent Music Artist, Composer, Lyricist, and Storyteller, I am humbled by the support from Arts Council England, Hall for Cornwall and Falmouth University’s Academy of Music and Theatre Arts that enabled the preview performance of MELIOR Opus Griot. Tremendous thankfulness to all who have helped in any way, as well as those who plan to contribute towards the future development of this new style of dramatic music theatre.
Carleen Anderson
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