Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Feminists Around the World: Rhiannon Giddens

Transcript

Feminists Around the World: Rhiannon Giddens · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome stuff. Never
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: told your protection to buy Heart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And is that time of year here in the US
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: that we come to celebrate Black History Month? Just to
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: put a time stamp, it is February fourth, twenty twenty five.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: And yes, this month is really difficult for me to pronounce,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: so that's just going to be a whole flub. Apologies
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: in advance because I can't say February. Well, there's too
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: many rs in there anyway, And yes, it is when
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: we celebrate Black History Month, and ain't nothing any racist
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: group can say about it, because we're going to do
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: it and as in fact, we're going to stretch it
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: out as long as we want to. So with all
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of that, we thought we want to we would start
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: off with a bang for a feminist around the World
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: segment and talk about the American musician storyteller and I'm
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: calling her a historian, Rhianna and Giddons. I have seen
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: an influx about her work and her contributions to the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: music world as well as to the black community recently,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: and I love it because she deserves all the flowers,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: and she does get a lot of flowers, but we're
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: gonna keep going. I don't want to brag, but I
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: am going to about the fact that I've actually known
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: about her for quite some time. In fact, Rihanna and
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Giddens is one of those that I was able to
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: see live a few times. And this is when I
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: was actually going out and doing things and socializing and
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: actually liked going to listen to music live music. I
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: don't like it now, I'm too old. I'm that crowd
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: that was like, it's too loud to wash my airplux.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: But once upon a time when I did like it,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I was able to see her in the band Carolina
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Chocolate Drops, and I'm telling you their shows. I still
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: clearly remember some of the best performances. I can't even
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: remember the name of a venue you, but I remember
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the performances, including her dancing, and I believe they call
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: it flat footed dancing. So good, it's so good. But
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: with that, even though again she's already a worldwide figure
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: and has been praised for a lot of her work
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: in art artistry, we still wanted to celebrate here on
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the show her work and legacy as she continues to
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: build it. Obviously, because it's still going so Giddons is
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: a gifted musician with many talents under her belt, including fiddle, banjo, dancing,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: and of course singing. Her music is filled with soul,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: ancestral tributes, and storytelling. She grew up with her family
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: in the mountains of North Carolina. Her lineage includes African American,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Native American, and European American, so they say it's very diverse.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Both she and her sister have grown up with the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: love of music and went on to get degrees in
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: conservatories as in fact, I believe her sister runs one,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: so lot lot of music and a lot of talent
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: in this family. Giddens even studied opera at Oberlin College
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and that's one of her specialties. And her voice is
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: so unique. It's such a beautiful uh sound and tone,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: so many things. Gidden's background also includes Scottish traditional music
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: and has performed and contributed to many different folk groups
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and festivals and even beyond, including operas. I believe she's
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: worked with Italian artists. She's definitely worked with a lot
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: of classical people. Yo Yoma believe he's one of the
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: people that she has worked with as well. She's a
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: giant list of all the big and famous people that
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: she's worked with. I think she opened up for Elvis Costello,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: which you know, our friend of the show, Hollyween, huge fan,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: huge fan, but they've opened up for them as well.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And with her amazing ability to perform and showcase her talents, Uh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: she's able to add storytelling to her artistry. Like everything
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: that she does, even if it sounds just like a song,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: has a story. She does a great rendition of do Right,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: which I know from Roger Rabbit, but I believe, I
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: believe's a pathty Cline song. But she does a great
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: rendition of that song. You have going to good chance
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to listen to it. And here's a bit from her
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: own site. Rihannon Giddins has made a singular iconic career
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: out of stretching her brand of folk music, with its
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: miles deep historical roots and contemporary sensibilities, into just about
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: every field imaginable. A two time Grammy Award winning singer
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and multi instrumentalist, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, pull A Surprise winner,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and composer of opera, ballet, and film, Giddons has centered
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: her work around the mission of lifting up people whose
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: contributions to American music history have previously been overlooked or erased,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: and advocating for a more accurate understanding of the country's
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: musical origins through art and yeah, obviously we're gonna go
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: a little bit deeper into what she's been doing. But
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: that's exactly why I feel like she's one of those
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: that should start off our Black History Month, people who
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: are able to accurately portray as well as dictate and
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: give us and some of her works should be celebrated immediately.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: So in two thousand and six, she helped form the
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: group Carolina Chocolate Drops with Don Flemons and Justin Robinson.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: So here's a bit of information about the group from
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: her sight Rhannegiddons dot com. The Carolina Chocolate Drops were
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: an innovative black string band founded in two thousand and six.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: The original members Don Flemons, Rhann and Giddons and Justin
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Robinson's with assists from Souley Greg Wilson, spent a lot
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: of time with the revered string band. Elder Joe Thompson,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: an eighty six year old fiddler from Mibin, North Carolina.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: His music formed the core of their original set list,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: but blues drug band members, originals, novelty songs, ballads, and
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: other kinds of Americana rounded out their repertoire. They won
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the last Official Folk Music Grammy in twenty ten for
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: their None Such release, and if you get a chance
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: to listen to their award winning album, it is fantastic.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: There's so many good things and I'm I'm pretty sure
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: and I need to look back into this that some
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: of these songs were actually songs from enslaved people's from
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: way back when and they just brought it back again.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Such a phenomenals album, such great music. Their performances are amazing,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and yeah, they do a lot of like jug playing.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I believe they did a lot of like mouth music
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: as well as a watchboard. So good, so good, I
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: can't talk a less about it. She was the last
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: original member of the group and even since then she's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: not slowed down. Her performances and musical contributions has earned
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: her many different awards, including the first American to be
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: awarded as the Folk Singer of the Year from the
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: BBC two Focal Awards, and the first woman in person
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of color to be awarded the Steve Martin Price for
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Excellence in Banjo and bluegrass, and I feel if you
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: know who Steve Martin is, you know he is a
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: really great banjo player. Yeah, her work in artistry in
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: playing the banjo is mesmerizing, and it's obvious she has
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: a deep connection to this specific instrument. In an interview
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: she did for Variety, she talks about the legacy of
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: the banjo and its connection to the black community in
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: an article written by Chris Willman. In that article, she says, well,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I'll always have to start here, and I'm surprised. I
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: don't know why that it's still such an unknown thing
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: that black people invented the banjo. If that's your only takeaway,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I've done something. But if you weren't lucky enough to
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: know somebody who knew the real story, why would you
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: know that. I didn't know that until I was an adult.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And that shifts your whole view of what we've been
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: told about American music. If the very foundation of what
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: we've been told is as wrong as it is, what
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: does that mean for everything that's built on top of it?
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And then she continues elaborating history isn't simple, especially American history,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: which is super complicated because of the way that America
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: came to be, and the amounts of different cultures that
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: mixed and mingled, and the economic juggernaut that was slavery.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: The banjo is existing in this world, and I guess
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: what I want people to understand is that you can't
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: talk about the banjo without talking about slavery. You have
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to talk about slavery. You have to talk about minstrelsy.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: You have to talk about the segregation of American music.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Those are the three main points. And if you're not
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: talking about those things when you talk about the banjo,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: then you're just serving a simplified narrative that's actually doing
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: us harm because it's not just simplified, it's actually false.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: It actually lies, which is amazing to me how deeply
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: rooted they are and how powerful they are. So this
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: article was talking about a special she was doing about
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: the history of the banjo and music and all that,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and I found that article really fascinating and a great read,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: because yes, we have talked about how often history has
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: been whitewashed and taken away from those who truly contributed
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: and then forgotten. So I love that we are talking
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: about it, and she has continued to talk about it
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: to elevate the story with her platform and with her
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: taking the time to educate people on the true history
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: of music. She's been hard at work and telling those
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: stories and unearthing the many who have contributed even more so.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Here's a quote from a UNC dot Edo article titled
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Rihannon Giddens connects History and music, and this is kind
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: of the part of the work that she has done
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: in order to give us more and more information. Gidden's
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: residency began in spring twenty twenty two with a goal
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: of quote highlighting stories untold and voices unheard. She said,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: my aim was to celebrate the cultural contributions of those
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: who came before us in my art, and to bring
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: to light the impact of black and Indigenous populations that
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: resided in Chapel Hill. Gidden's work centers on uncovering and
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: lifting up overlooked people and forgotten or erased musical origins.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Before she conducted much of her historical research digitally, finding
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: sheet music from the eighteen hundreds, advertisements foreign slaved People
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: ads for runaways at Carolina Getten spent hours delving into
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: the robust archives of Wilson Library with the help of
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: archivists and research assistance. These kinds of things have played
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: a huge part in my songwriting and composition, she said,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: But I've never had the opportunity to hold documents in
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: my hand, to chase things down, to really dig into things.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: That's so much history. And again it's one of those
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: things that we have to acknowledge how much work she
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: has put in into telling us the truth, giving us
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: so much amazing information and content. And with all of this,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: of course, she continues to earn accolades on top of accolades,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: some of them we mentioned earlier including International Folk Music Awards,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Americana Music Awards, Grammy for the Best Folk Album, The Again,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the MacArthur Fellowship Again, and The Pull of Surprise in
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: music for Omar, an opera based on Omar bin said
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: and his life story. So this was actually something she
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: was working on, I believe during COVID, and so it
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: was released in twenty twenty two or twenty twenty three.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: And this is from her site. Here's what she's up
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: to currently. Quote. She is the current artistic director of
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: the Yo Yo Ma founded Silk Road Ensemble, hosts a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: TV show on PBS My Music with Rhiann and Giddons,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: and has hosted two podcasts, Aria Code from New York
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: City's NPR affiliated station WQXR, which ran for three seasons,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: and American Railroad from Silk Road. Giddens has published two
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: children's books and written and performed music for the soundtrack
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: of Red Dead Redemption two, one of the best selling
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: video games of all times. Pause here because my partner
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: was playing this and I did. I actually stopped a
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: way that music. Who's playing this? I was able to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: recognize and pinpoint who it was, just saying myself kudos,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: thank you. Anyway, going on, she's appeared as a recurring
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: cast member of ABC's hit drama Nashville. So she's doing
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: some acting as a music history expert on Kenburn's Country
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: music series on PBS, and in twenty twenty five, she
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: will launch her music her own music festival in Durham,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: North Carolina, called Biscuits and Banjo's to celebrate black culture
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: outside the mainstream. I really want to go to this.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: I think we need to go to this.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I'm in that's not that far.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: It's not far. It's not far, and I definitely want
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: to celebrate that. Obviously. Again, with all of her works
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: and accomplishments. We are condensing this down by a lot,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: by a lot, but go and take a listen to
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: her music and her work. It's something you have to
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: experience firsthand because when we talk about passion and soul,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: she to me is the epitome of that. The music
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: that she plays, that she writes, that she performs it
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: truly like is her. Like I said, I was able
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: to pick her out of a game that I don't
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: even know anything about outside of I think he dies
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: a syphilis. I don't know.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to I'm going to tell you that's
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: not what happened.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, maybe that's.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: What happened to your partner and his playthrough, but that's
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: not the ultimate ending.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Wow, maybe consumption is that when it
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: is one of those two things.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: No, still not right, But I appreciate that you're able
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to pick it out. That's I try it. Oh well,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is an amazing story and obviously she's
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: doing so so much a music festival and acting and
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: music and history. It's amazing video games. Well, listeners, please
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: let us know if you have any thoughts on this
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: or any suggestions for who we should cover next. You
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: can contact us in a variety of ways. You can
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: email us at Hello at stuff one Never Told You
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on blue Sky at
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I've Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We have
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a teap public store, and we have a book you
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: can get wherever you get your books. Thanks it's always
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to our super producer Christina, our executive crews of my
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and O contrutor Joey, thank you, and thanks to you
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: for listening. Stuff I'll Never Told You is projection by
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts or my heart Radio, you
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: can check out the heart Radio app, Apple podcast wherever
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.