Rhiannon Giddens on the real story of an enslaved Islamic scholar that inspired her first opera
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- Опубліковано 18 лип 2022
- Grammy-winning banjo player and singer Rhiannon Giddens just had her first opera debut. It's called Omar and it tells the story of a 19th-century Senegalese slave named Omar ibn Said. Giddens joined Tom Power to talk about this new work and how she hopes her music can change false narratives in American history.
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I love hearing her discuss her process. Been a fan for years and looking forward to whatever you do. Thanks for having her on!! Black Girls Rock and Banjo and Opera... keep on keeping on Rhiannon! 💃🏾🥰💕
thank-you both so much for this conversation...
It really wasn't an interview in the normal sense...
It was the opposite of what Samuel Johnson once said:
"we had talk enough but no conversation; there was nothing discussed."
You spoke about Everything that matters!
IN spired//in SPIRIT
That which cannot be named, coming through...
I had to look up the origin of the word "conversation"
it comes from convertere "to turn around"
In the Hindu spiritual tradition, it is said that in the darkest times,
all that we can do is Chant.
As a child, I could not "sing"
I could not ven think of a song and sing it and have it recognized
as to what song I was singing
It was that "bad"
Yet I LOVED Music...
I was always the 1st person to stand up, cheering and giving a standing Ovation.
BUT... I could not SING!
I ended up, even though I was very "academic" going to a state School in Western Pennsylvania.
there I joined a "Folksong society"
where EVERYBDDY waS ALLowed to participate!!!
It was sooo enlightening!
And someone actually MADE me a dulcimer
(I had never met anyone who could make an instrument before.
I thought that was something you bought in a store!))
THEY made me a dulcimer, because, it turns out, due t the MODES
That "you can't play a wrong note on it."
****
Years later, I had a Vision
calling me to a Spiritual Teacher in India.
In his Presence, something spontaneously & instantly healed...
SUDDENLY, I COULD SING!
I was already in my early 30's.
I don't know how it happened.
Something about being around "Coherent Energy"
Something like that "transmission" you talked about.with your teacher.
Teaching by "ear" by vibration, by Coherence
I am practically babbling here, forgive me,
I am not trying to fill up space,
Just a kind of "call & response"
a kind of mirroring back, all the places inside of me,
that this Conversation stirred in me,
Like a Confluence of Many rivers, All Returning to the Sea...
****
"Have you ever read the Amazing book, brilliantly made in cartoon form:
"ADDICTED TO WAR." (Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism) addictedtowar (dot) com
ADDICTED To WAR takes on the most active, powerful and destructive military in the world. It tells the history of U.S. foreign wars - from the Indian Wars to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - in comic book format.
Addicted to War is being used as a history textbook in hundreds of high schools and colleges. It is carefully documented with 161 reference notes. Howard Zinn, author of 'A People's History of the United States' says: - "Addicted to War is a witty and devastating portrait of U.S. military policy, a fine example of art serving society."
****
I am Dreaming up what our World will look/feel, taste/smell/SOUND like
When we take all the 858 Billion dollars we are spending CURRENTLY IN THE USA
Our Resources
to kill people we've never even met, 1/2 way around the globe,
I AM DREAMING how we will re-invest that money to support each and every BE*ing
to Fully Thrive and come ALIVE.
May everyone have a place at the table
recognizing that everyone & everything is a part of the Circle,
this "Sacred Hoop."
MAY EVERYONE SING & DANCE TOGETHER!
Or as someone shared further down here in the Comments below
in our interwoven Community,
(thank-you dear Parlando...)
"May Music Find a Way..."
SO BE IT, SO IT IS!
thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
Many years ago, I read an account from an owner ledger of his human property of what was clearly a Muslim slave murdered by his master for practicing witchcraft. It was apparent in the explanation he was teaching the Koran to the other slaves and and writing in Arabic. It hit and still hits me very hard and I’ve never forgotten him. His name was unknown, but I see him every time the word slave is used perhaps he was also been a scholar. I’ve not been able to find a full video if your opera, but have watched everything I could find. It’s impact in me I cannot put into words. Thank you.
Just ordered "The Slave's War" because of this interview. Now I need to find out where her opera is playing. I love Ms. Giddens' music and mission. Thank you for letting us in on your conversation.
Admire the honest expression in this interview, particularly as Giddens talks near the end about the narcissism that is (best as I can tell) unavoidable in the arts. So, if it's unavoidable (my fear/observation) -- how can we mitigate it? Giddens, I believe, is trying to show us a possible way.
I'll close with the musician and composer's prayer: May music find a way.
What a gift! This was an amazing conversation.
Ray Charles country album was his breakthrough hit!
love rhiannon's music!!! hope she got paid nice for the beyonce feature!!!
"The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves" by Andrew Ward