Rhiannon Giddens, Americana’s Queen, Goes Global

Rhiannon Giddens, Americana’s Queen, Goes Global

By the standards of any musician, Rhiannon Giddens has taken a twisting and complex path. Trained as an operatic soprano at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory, Giddens fell almost by chance into the study of American folk music. Alongside two like-minded musicians, she formed the Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she plays banjo and sings. The group is focussed on reviving the nearly forgotten repertoire of Black Southern string bands, but the audience for acoustic music remains largely white. Giddens tells David Remnick she was heartbroken that her largest Black audience was at a prison concert. “The gatekeepers of Black culture are not interested in what I’m doing,” she says. “This is a complaint I’ve heard from many, many people of color who do music that’s not considered Black—hip-hop, R. & B.” Her view of Black music is more expansive: “There’s been black people singing opera and writing classical music forever.” As a solo artist, Giddens is moving increasingly further afield from African American and American music; her new album, “There Is No Other,” recorded in Dublin in collaboration with the musician Francesco Turrisi, explores folk styles from the Middle East, Europe, and Brazil, as well as early America. She and Turrisi perform “Wayfaring Stranger,” the ancient ballad “Little Margaret,” and the tarantella “Pizzica di San Vito.”

This segment was previously aired in 2019.

Episoder(1020)

Donald Trump’s War on Culture Is Not a Sideshow

Donald Trump’s War on Culture Is Not a Sideshow

The term “culture wars” is most often associated with issues of sexuality, race, religion, and gender. But, as recent months have made plain, when Donald Trump refers to the culture wars, he also mean...

29 Aug 202531min

How Extreme Heat Affects the Body

How Extreme Heat Affects the Body

The Korey Stringer Institute, at the University of Connecticut, is named after an N.F.L. player who died of exertional heatstroke. The lab’s main research subjects have been athletes, members of the m...

26 Aug 202517min

How Big Tech Sets the Agenda in Trump’s America

How Big Tech Sets the Agenda in Trump’s America

Donald Trump is the most tech-friendly President in American history. He enlisted social media to win office; he became a promoter—and beneficiary—of cryptocurrency, breaking long-standing norms aroun...

22 Aug 202532min

A Palestinian Journalist Escapes Death in Gaza

A Palestinian Journalist Escapes Death in Gaza

Mohammed R. Mhawish was living in Gaza City during Israel’s invasion, in the immediate aftermath of the October 7th attack. He witnessed the invasion for months and reported on its devastating consequ...

18 Aug 202526min

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington on a Reunion Making “Highest 2 Lowest”

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington on a Reunion Making “Highest 2 Lowest”

Spike Lee and Denzel Washington first worked together on “Mo’ Better Blues,” released in 1990. Washington starred as a trumpet player trying to make a living in jazz clubs; Lee, who directed the film,...

15 Aug 202523min

Richard Brody Picks Three Favorite Clint Eastwood Films

Richard Brody Picks Three Favorite Clint Eastwood Films

With seven decades in film and television, Clint Eastwood is undeniably a Hollywood institution. Emerging first as a star in Westerns, then as the embattled cop in the Dirty Harry films, the ninety-fi...

12 Aug 202516min

Your Questions Answered: Trump vs. the Rule of Law

Your Questions Answered: Trump vs. the Rule of Law

From the attempt to end birthright citizenship to the gutting of congressionally authorized agencies, the Trump Administration has created an enormous number of legal controversies. The Radio Hour ask...

8 Aug 202534min

Jamaica Kincaid on “Putting Myself Together”

Jamaica Kincaid on “Putting Myself Together”

Jamaica Kincaid began writing for The New Yorker in 1974, reporting about life in the magazine’s home city. She was a young immigrant from Antigua, then a British colony; she had been sent to New York...

5 Aug 202525min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
popradet
aftenpodden-usa
stopp-verden
fotballpodden-2
det-store-bildet
nokon-ma-ga
rss-gukild-johaug
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
hanna-de-heldige
rss-ness
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik
aftenbla-bla
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
chit-chat-med-helle
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2