Better Git Yer Learnin’
When I was just a little pick (*)
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inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 17:56
I Knew I Could Fly
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Leyla McCalla, vocals and guitar;
Rhiannon Giddens, minstrel banjo;
Allison Russell, backing vocals;
Dirk Powell, mandolin
L’altra ex Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leyla McCalla, è la lead singer in “I Knew I Could Fly”, tutta voci e corde (chitarra, minstrel banjo e mandolino), dedicata a Etta Baker, chitarrista, esponente del Piedmont blues, la quale abbandonò la sua carriera dopo il matrimonio e nove figli, incidendo solo in età matura, dopo la morte del marito che le aveva impedito di esibirsi.
blogfoolk.com
Alli and I co-wrote the lyrics to this song, thinking of discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience; as we were writing the words, we realized that they could equally apply to the life and legacy of Etta Baker.
I used to practice guitar to Etta Baker’s album Railroad Bill. Etta was a Piedmont blues... (continua)
Leyla McCalla, vocals and guitar;
Rhiannon Giddens, minstrel banjo;
Allison Russell, backing vocals;
Dirk Powell, mandolin
L’altra ex Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leyla McCalla, è la lead singer in “I Knew I Could Fly”, tutta voci e corde (chitarra, minstrel banjo e mandolino), dedicata a Etta Baker, chitarrista, esponente del Piedmont blues, la quale abbandonò la sua carriera dopo il matrimonio e nove figli, incidendo solo in età matura, dopo la morte del marito che le aveva impedito di esibirsi.
blogfoolk.com
Alli and I co-wrote the lyrics to this song, thinking of discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience; as we were writing the words, we realized that they could equally apply to the life and legacy of Etta Baker.
I used to practice guitar to Etta Baker’s album Railroad Bill. Etta was a Piedmont blues... (continua)
I didn’t know why
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(continua)
inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 17:39
Quasheba, Quasheba
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Allison Russell, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and min- strel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, cello;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, baritone electric guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
“Quasheba, Quasheba”, firmata da Allison Russell (già con Birds of Chicago e Po’ Girls), è l'esplorazione della sua linea familiare autobiografica indietro fino ai tempi della tratta.
blogfoolk.com
I met my biological father, Michael George, and my paternal family when I was 30 years old. I learned that I am a first-generation Canadian on my father’s side. He was born and raised in Grenada, one of 13 children. I found out that ours is a family that values education deeply. I found out that we have a historian in the family who has traced our line back to an enslaved woman named Quasheba, who was sold off the... (continua)
Allison Russell, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and min- strel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, cello;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, baritone electric guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
“Quasheba, Quasheba”, firmata da Allison Russell (già con Birds of Chicago e Po’ Girls), è l'esplorazione della sua linea familiare autobiografica indietro fino ai tempi della tratta.
blogfoolk.com
I met my biological father, Michael George, and my paternal family when I was 30 years old. I learned that I am a first-generation Canadian on my father’s side. He was born and raised in Grenada, one of 13 children. I found out that ours is a family that values education deeply. I found out that we have a historian in the family who has traced our line back to an enslaved woman named Quasheba, who was sold off the... (continua)
Quasheba, Quasheba
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inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 17:22
Mama’s Cryin’ Long
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals and handclaps;
Amythyst Kiah, vocals;
Allison Russell, vocals;
Leyla McCalla, vocals;
Jamie Dick, percussion
Il call & response a quattro voci, hand clapping e il battito percussivo di Dick esaltano “Mama’s Cryin’ Long”, portata in stile prison working song, e ispirata a racconti di schiavi: una donna violentata dal suo sorvegliante bianco finisce per ucciderlo; la prospettiva adottata è quella del figlioletto.
blogfoolk.com
This song was inspired by a collection of slave narratives; in the story, a woman, after being repeatedly abused by the overseer, kills him. Nobody knows who has done it until her son is overheard singing a little song about the blood on her dress. It’s very much written from the child’s viewpoint. — RG
Dal libretto dell'album
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals and handclaps;
Amythyst Kiah, vocals;
Allison Russell, vocals;
Leyla McCalla, vocals;
Jamie Dick, percussion
Il call & response a quattro voci, hand clapping e il battito percussivo di Dick esaltano “Mama’s Cryin’ Long”, portata in stile prison working song, e ispirata a racconti di schiavi: una donna violentata dal suo sorvegliante bianco finisce per ucciderlo; la prospettiva adottata è quella del figlioletto.
blogfoolk.com
This song was inspired by a collection of slave narratives; in the story, a woman, after being repeatedly abused by the overseer, kills him. Nobody knows who has done it until her son is overheard singing a little song about the blood on her dress. It’s very much written from the child’s viewpoint. — RG
Dal libretto dell'album
Mama’s cryin’ long and she can’t get up
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inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 17:46
You’re Not Alone
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Allison Russell, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and minstrel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, cello;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, accordion, piano, keys, electric guitar, and bass
Russell è, invece, la prima voce nella ballata “You’re Not Alone”, dichiarazione della forza della consapevolezza comune, un omaggio alla resilienza delle antenate da parte delle quattro Native Daughters, che chiude questo capo d’opera.
blogfoolk.com
I became a mother to my daughter Ida Maeve almost five years ago. She’s been on the road with her dad and me since she was four weeks old. Nobody warned us about the unending fear and worry that attached to the deepest, truest love known to human- kind—and yet never had I felt more pow- erful and more connected to the ancestors than I did in giving birth to my... (continua)
Allison Russell, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and minstrel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, cello;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, accordion, piano, keys, electric guitar, and bass
Russell è, invece, la prima voce nella ballata “You’re Not Alone”, dichiarazione della forza della consapevolezza comune, un omaggio alla resilienza delle antenate da parte delle quattro Native Daughters, che chiude questo capo d’opera.
blogfoolk.com
I became a mother to my daughter Ida Maeve almost five years ago. She’s been on the road with her dad and me since she was four weeks old. Nobody warned us about the unending fear and worry that attached to the deepest, truest love known to human- kind—and yet never had I felt more pow- erful and more connected to the ancestors than I did in giving birth to my... (continua)
Hey, my little evening star
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inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 18:09
Blood and Bones
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals, 5-string banjo, and percussion;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals, minstrel banjo, and percussion;
Allison Russell, percussion;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, electric guitar and percussion;
Jason Sypher, bass and percussion
La voce di Kiah diventa ancora protagonista in “Blood and Bones” scritta di suo pugno.
blogfoolk.com
The chorus to this song had been floating around in my head, given life by my voice and banjo, but it didn’t really have a home in a song. I wrote it not long after reading reports and watching videos of white nationalists feeling more confident about asserting their views after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. There’s “not enough steel to reconcile” our humanity and our sense of selves. The verses were inspired by both a photo I saw of a black slave child... (continua)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals, 5-string banjo, and percussion;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals, minstrel banjo, and percussion;
Allison Russell, percussion;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, electric guitar and percussion;
Jason Sypher, bass and percussion
La voce di Kiah diventa ancora protagonista in “Blood and Bones” scritta di suo pugno.
blogfoolk.com
The chorus to this song had been floating around in my head, given life by my voice and banjo, but it didn’t really have a home in a song. I wrote it not long after reading reports and watching videos of white nationalists feeling more confident about asserting their views after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. There’s “not enough steel to reconcile” our humanity and our sense of selves. The verses were inspired by both a photo I saw of a black slave child... (continua)
Blood and bones are what we're made of
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inviata da Dq82 13/4/2019 - 18:03
Slave Driver
Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals and minstrel banjo;
Amythyst Kiah, vocals;
Allison Russell, vocals;
Leyla McCalla, vocals;
Dirk Powell, guitar and electric guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
L’unica cover presente nel disco è “Slave Driver” di Bob Marley, l’artista resistente per eccellenza, proposta in un bell’adattamento.
blogfoolk.com
Here we honor a man who used music as his weapon in the battle for human rights. Bob Marley sang about spirituality and sensuality, but also about militant resistance to oppression. His message, in total, was uni- fied—he was, in the words of his wife Rita, “a revolutionary.” Like Martin Luther King, his militancy has been whitewashed in the years since his death. But this song is more relevant than ever, not only for stating the... (continua)
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals and minstrel banjo;
Amythyst Kiah, vocals;
Allison Russell, vocals;
Leyla McCalla, vocals;
Dirk Powell, guitar and electric guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
L’unica cover presente nel disco è “Slave Driver” di Bob Marley, l’artista resistente per eccellenza, proposta in un bell’adattamento.
blogfoolk.com
Here we honor a man who used music as his weapon in the battle for human rights. Bob Marley sang about spirituality and sensuality, but also about militant resistance to oppression. His message, in total, was uni- fied—he was, in the words of his wife Rita, “a revolutionary.” Like Martin Luther King, his militancy has been whitewashed in the years since his death. But this song is more relevant than ever, not only for stating the... (continua)
Dq82 13/4/2019 - 17:48
Barbados
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals;
Dirk Powell, banjo and guitar;
Jamie Dick, percussion
Voce recitata di Rhiannon, con un bell’inciso strumentale di voce, banjo, chitarra e percussioni, in “Barbados”, brano che riprende i versi anti-schiavisti del poeta inglese William Cowper (da “Pity for the Poor Africans”, 1788).
blogfoolk.com
This haunting tune is a direct reading of a line of music written down many years ago; said to be the first western notation of New World enslaved music, it was put down
by D. W. Dickson in Barbados in the 18th century. This scrap of melody has of course been through a lens—the man who wrote it down would have had a firm western sense of melody and rhythm, and most likely would have corralled any kind of partial tone to fit the western scale; and if he didn’t write it down on the spot, he was then relying... (continua)
Rhiannon Giddens, vocals;
Dirk Powell, banjo and guitar;
Jamie Dick, percussion
Voce recitata di Rhiannon, con un bell’inciso strumentale di voce, banjo, chitarra e percussioni, in “Barbados”, brano che riprende i versi anti-schiavisti del poeta inglese William Cowper (da “Pity for the Poor Africans”, 1788).
blogfoolk.com
This haunting tune is a direct reading of a line of music written down many years ago; said to be the first western notation of New World enslaved music, it was put down
by D. W. Dickson in Barbados in the 18th century. This scrap of melody has of course been through a lens—the man who wrote it down would have had a firm western sense of melody and rhythm, and most likely would have corralled any kind of partial tone to fit the western scale; and if he didn’t write it down on the spot, he was then relying... (continua)
I own I am shocked at the purchase of slaves
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inviata da Dq82 12/4/2019 - 12:01
Black Myself
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals and guitar;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and minstrel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, backing vocals;
Allison Russell, backing vocals;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, electric guitar and accordion;
Jason Sypher, bass
Dai versi finali della stessa “John Henry”, nella versione del “musicista delle colline” Sid Hemphill, il bluesman compositore e pluristrumentista registrato da Alan Lomax, arriva il titolo del R&B di apertura, “Black Myself”, scritto da Kiah, la più giovane del quartetto, esponente del alt-country blues, nativa del Tennessee, che lo interpreta con la sua voce soul.
blogfoolk.com
This song was inspired by a line from north Mississippi hill country musician Sid Hemphill’s “John Henry:”
I don’t like no red-black woman Black myself, black myself
This sentiment is linked... (continua)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals and guitar;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and minstrel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, backing vocals;
Allison Russell, backing vocals;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, electric guitar and accordion;
Jason Sypher, bass
Dai versi finali della stessa “John Henry”, nella versione del “musicista delle colline” Sid Hemphill, il bluesman compositore e pluristrumentista registrato da Alan Lomax, arriva il titolo del R&B di apertura, “Black Myself”, scritto da Kiah, la più giovane del quartetto, esponente del alt-country blues, nativa del Tennessee, che lo interpreta con la sua voce soul.
blogfoolk.com
This song was inspired by a line from north Mississippi hill country musician Sid Hemphill’s “John Henry:”
I don’t like no red-black woman Black myself, black myself
This sentiment is linked... (continua)
I wanna jump the fence and wash my face in the creek
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inviata da Dq82 12/4/2019 - 11:34
Polly Ann's Hammer
Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and fiddle;
Jamie Dick, drums;
Dirk Powell, guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
Per capire meglio in cosa consistano riappropriazione e rovesciamento di punti di vista, partiamo dagli stilemi folk di “Polly Ann’s Hammer” – guidata dal violino di Giddens – che riscrive il tradizionale “John Henry”, storica protest song sullo sfruttamento dei lavoratori, qui centrata sulla vedova di John, che appare nella parte finale della canzone originale («John Henry had a woman / Well her name was Polly Ann /Well John Henry took sick and he had to go to bed / Well and Polly drove steel like a man (well, well)/ Well and Polly drove steel like a man»). Nella riscrittura delle Daughters, Polly si appropria del martello con cui è stato ha ucciso il marito e ne fa un simbolo... (continua)
Amythyst Kiah, vocals and 5-string banjo;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and fiddle;
Jamie Dick, drums;
Dirk Powell, guitar;
Jason Sypher, bass
Per capire meglio in cosa consistano riappropriazione e rovesciamento di punti di vista, partiamo dagli stilemi folk di “Polly Ann’s Hammer” – guidata dal violino di Giddens – che riscrive il tradizionale “John Henry”, storica protest song sullo sfruttamento dei lavoratori, qui centrata sulla vedova di John, che appare nella parte finale della canzone originale («John Henry had a woman / Well her name was Polly Ann /Well John Henry took sick and he had to go to bed / Well and Polly drove steel like a man (well, well)/ Well and Polly drove steel like a man»). Nella riscrittura delle Daughters, Polly si appropria del martello con cui è stato ha ucciso il marito e ne fa un simbolo... (continua)
John Henry had a woman
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inviata da Dq82 12/4/2019 - 11:23
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Rhiannon Giddens, vocals and minstrel banjo;
Jamie Dick, percussion;
Dirk Powell, fiddle;
Jason Sypher, bass
La melodia di “Better Git Yer Learnin’ è attribuita al banjoista ottocentesco Thomas F. Briggs, ma al testo originario, pieno di luridi stereotipi razzisti, le nostre hanno sostituto liriche considerando il punto di vista di uno schiavo emancipato.
blogfoolk.com
The tune for this song is attributed to the banjo performer Thomas F. Briggs, found in a banjo method book published in 1855 entitled Briggs’ Banjo Instructor. It provides an early glimpse into that first truly American cultural sensation, the minstrel show. These tunes were published with no words, which gave me the opportunity to engage with them as pieces of music with no baggage. After learning quite a few, I braced myself to read the original lyrics,... (continua)