The London Sinfonietta commissioned the MacArthur Genius Fellowship-winning composer George Lewis to write a solo work for its piccolo performer, Michael Cox, in celebration of its very first concert. The shouts of celebration Hieperdepiep, hoera! at the end of a Dutch birthday song reminded Lewis of the African American fife and drum tradition in its onomatopoeia, inspiring his Celebration to give the piccolo both melodic and percussive roles.