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Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts enthralls, educates 黑料网 audience

In the days leading up to her powerful Friday night performance before a full house at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre, Grammy Award-winning singer and musician Rhiannon Giddens was already on campus spreading the word with 黑料网 students, faculty, and staff about her life鈥檚 mission.

Like the painful history she has excavated over the years that inspires much of her musical storytelling, it鈥檚 complicated. And it begins with the banjo.

鈥淢y mission in life is to tell as many people as possible that the banjo is actually an African-American instrument,鈥� the 2019-20 黑料网 Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts told the audience soon after she kicked off two hours of songs drawn from folk music, gospel, blue grass, Gaelic and even Italian lore as she played banjo or fiddle, while musical partner Francesco Turrisi jumped from accordion to frame drums, lute to  piano.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know this either鈥擨 didn鈥檛 know this growing up,鈥� said Giddens of her ancestors鈥� banjo backstory.

鈥淚t鈥檚 only when I started playing it that I started getting told the history, and I was like, what? WHAT? What else haven鈥檛 they told us?鈥� added the Greensboro, N.C.-born daughter of a white father and a Black mother. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 kind of what started my quest.鈥�

It propelled her, years ago, to visit Africa and the Gambia, where she studied a pre-banjo instrument fashioned from a gourd, versions of which later made their way to America with African slaves. Eventually, Giddens鈥� journey led her to purchase and use a replica 1858 American minstrel-style banjo鈥攕imilar to the commercial banjo hoop style we know today. By that time, it was a staple of white performers who had capitalized on the musical genre's popularity, albeit in black face and lampooning African-Americans鈥攁nother shameful historic note, 鈥渁nd one of the reasons we don鈥檛 talk about it,鈥� said Giddens.

For decades after, she added,  was the most popular form of entertainment in America, what she calls 鈥渢he first cultural American export.鈥�

鈥淪o it鈥檚 kind of a big deal, and it鈥檚 shot through every aspect of American culture,鈥� said Giddens. But much of the music was derived from those old-time African-American banjo players and Black string bands who are often forgotten and overlooked, as she clarified in the recent . 

Not surprisingly, some of the most haunting songs Giddens performed Friday night with Turrisi are rooted in racism. 

鈥淎t the Purchaser鈥檚 Option鈥� takes its cue from an historic advertisement for a young Black female slave for sale, and her nine-month-old baby, who was, the printed ad noted, 鈥渁t the purchaser鈥檚 option.鈥�

I've got a babe but shall I keep him
鈥橳will come the day when I'll be weepin'
But how can I love him any less
This little babe upon my breast

You can take my body
You can take my bones
You can take my blood
But not my soul

You can take my body
You can take my bones
You can take my blood
But not my soul

鈥淚 thought about the courage it would take to get up, day after day,鈥� Giddens told the audience of her songwriting inspiration, 鈥渨ithout having any part of your life under your own control, not even your children.鈥� 

鈥淭en Thousand Voices鈥� traces the story of the trans-Saharan Arabic slave trade in the 500 and 600 A.D. centuries that ensnared many talented female musicians and their renowned books of repertoire鈥攕ome reportedly containing 10,000 verses鈥攕old along with them.

鈥淵eah,鈥� Giddens quipped before taking up the mournful verses she had conjured, 鈥淚鈥檓 the girl who鈥檚 fun at parties.鈥�

Her renderings of other tales of melancholy were elegant, from 鈥淲ayfaring Stranger,鈥� an American folk and gospel song about the end of a protagonist鈥檚 life, to forceful, as in 鈥淟ittle Margaret,鈥� a heart-pounding traditional English ballad about an anguished ghost visiting her beloved at his marriage bed, sealing his fate. (Both songs are included on the duo鈥檚 latest album, .) 

But Giddens鈥� glorious voice and deftness with banjo and fiddle, together with Turrisi鈥檚 varied instruments, lit up brighter, faster-paced jigs and toe-tapping tempos including the mostly instrumental 鈥淏riggs鈥� Foro,鈥� and 鈥淧izzica di San Vito,鈥� the latter a tambourine-based piece inspired by Turrisi鈥檚 Southern Italian heritage, and sung in Italian by Giddens. 

Turrisi鈥檚 own global insights about the accordian, and the history of the frame drum's Central Asian and Mediterranean influences, offered the audience some lighthearted segues, as did the duo鈥檚 gentle banter often while preparing for their next song.

Shortly before Giddens launched into the Irish classic 鈥淢olly Branigan,鈥� for example, Turrisi tickled the crowd when he declared that 鈥渢he song is OK ... but what comes before the song is possibly the pinnacle of this evening. 

鈥淎rguably,鈥� he continued in jest as his onlookers chuckled, 鈥渢he reason why you all came out tonight is the tambourine solo. Because my mission tonight is to convince you鈥攖o make you walk out of here knowing and believing鈥攖hat the tambourine is a serious and respectable instrument.鈥�

More often, the grinning Turrisi confessed, 鈥淚 get the case out, and they (audience) go ugh.鈥�

The Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts, established in 1980, is hosted by the Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. The residency seeks to feature performance artists with a strong physical presence on campus, who live out the University鈥檚 fundamental values to teach, learn, create and study across disciplines to advance human understanding. Giddens will return to campus in early 2020 to give other performances on campus, work with students, and engage with the University community on special projects.