EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
603.646.3991
Rhiannon Giddens in concert, August 2
HANOVER, NH—Singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens—a Hop favorite with an unforgettable voice, who culls the music of our collective past to point the way to the future—performs on Wednesday, August 2, 8 pm, in Spaulding Auditorium of the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Her band includes revered roots master Dirk Powell, who also played on Giddens’ newly released album, Freedom Highway.
Well known to Hopaudiences as a singer/fiddler/multi-instrumentalistwith the Grammy–winning Carolina Chocolate Drops (who performed here in 2008, 2010 and 2013), Giddens has become a star in her own right. Since she stole the show at a 2013 multi-artist “Another Day, Another Time” concert at New York City’s Town Hall, curated by legendary record producer T-Bone Burnett, she has released two acclaimed solo albums, sung for the Obama White House and been seen onTV, including a recurring role in the current season of the CMT series Nashville.
Committed to giving voice to the hard truths and sharp edges of American history, her expertly curated and recorded 2015 album Tomorrow Is My Turn drew together covers that honored the work of overlooked AfricanAmerican artists like the soprano Florence Quivar alongside icons like Nina Simone. Her newly released album, Freedom Highway, traces the power of AfricanAmerican song from 200 years ago to today, juxtaposing songs about antebellum slave plantations with 1960’s Civil Rights anthems and narratives of 21st-century state violence. The record opens with “At the Purchaser’s Option”; with a title taken from a 1797 slave advertisement, it’s a tale of a mother considering the doomed fate of her child born into bondage.
Giddens’ musical background is unique. Born and raised in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, an area with a rich legacy of old-time music, she studied opera at Oberlin College (she graduated in 2000) while moonlighting on weekends as a contra dance caller. The dance-calling drew her into traditional music, especially Celtic music. This was her specialty in 2005, when she attended the Black Banjo Then and Now Gathering, in Boone, North Carolina. There she met the musicians with whom she’d form the Chocolate Drops. That band’s 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album, among other honors.
The Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle- and banjo-based music they’d so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound. Starting with material culled from the Piedmont, they sought to highlight the central role African Americans have played in shaping our nation’s popular music from its beginnings. The Drops' repertoire incorporates blues, jazz and folk balladry alongside crackling string-band tunes. The group has recorded six albums and is currently on hiatus with no plans to reunite in the near future.
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Rhiannon Giddens
Hop audiences first met Rhiannon Giddens in 2008 as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who reclaimed African Americans’ place in Appalachian music. Now the wider world has discovered her prodigious vocal and instrumental skills, elegant bearing and fierce passion for social justice. Her latest album, Freedom Highway, traces the power of AfricanAmerican song from 200 years ago to today—and was a collaboration with revered roots musician Dirk Powell, who performs with her at this event.
Wednesday, August 2, 8 pm
Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, celebrating diversity and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. In addition, the Hop continues to mentoryoung artists, support the development of new workand provide a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.