The SOVEREIGN Suite is PaviElle French’s heart-filled composition, about Black People’s Freedom, Sovereignty, and Liberation, and is the follow-up to 2021’s SOVEREIGN, a response record to the murder of George Floyd, the racial reckoning in America, and the Covid Pandemic. Commissioned by the Schubert Club and in collaboration with the Walker-West Music Academy, TruArtSpeaks, Michi Wiancko, American Composers Forum, the Jerome Foundation, The SPCO, and Bill and Susan Sands, the Sovereign Suite took nine months to compose and produce. This is a canon of work that includes SOVEREIGN (2021); I AM SOVEREIGN Documentary (2022); The SOVEREIGN Suite Film (2023); Liberation’s Suite (2024); SOVEREIGN: Aligned (2025); The SOVEREIGN Curriculum & Residency (2025); and there will be more to come!
The SOVEREIGN Suite carries the messages of 2021’s SOVEREIGN into an ambitious project focused on PaviElle’s vision of the future.
Parts two and three of SOVEREIGN are combined into The SOVEREIGN Suite, exploring themes of Black Liberation and Black Joy. Over 9 months, PaviElle composed, wrote, and performed the Suite on GarageBand, and the piece was transcribed by Michi Wiancko. The future PaviElle envisions in The SOVEREIGN Suite is a bright one, where Black people are able to reconnect, finding liberty, connection with the land, and reprieve from white supremacy.
Music Video Credits: Written, Conceptualized, and Performed by PaviElle French; Producer/Editor – Peter Myers Camera – James Christenson; Lighting Design – Mark Ruark; Makeup – Ashley Leonard; Production Assistant – Shellae Mueller; Artist Consultant – Ahanti Young; Filmed in 2023 at The Southern Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
PaviElle’s ACF Residency and Partnership Performances & Panel
The SOVEREIGN Suite Film Screening and Panel
Join vocalist and interdisciplinary artist, PaviElle French in a screening of and conversation about her film, SOVEREIGN Suite. As a continuation of the 2021 SOVEREIGN album, the SOVEREIGN Suite album and companion film focus on themes of hope for liberty and a unified future for Black people following the political and social unrest during the pandemic and after George Floyd’s death. A community discussion with artists, musicians, and educators will follow the screening. PaviElle French (PaviElle) is a professional vocalist and interdisciplinary artist from the historically Black Rondo neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Conversation panelists include Laura Krider, Dr. Shekela Wanyama, Tish Jones, and Natalia Romero Arbeláez.
