Rhiannon Giddens 11/13/18 Sudler Hall, Yale

"Critical Listening Session" with Yale chair of the African American Studies department Professor Daphne Brooks and MacArthur Genius recipient and former leader of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, RG. The talk was a kind of "this is your life" presentation that dabbled in the history of the banjo as it related to minstrel music. Giddens grew up in Greensboro NC, went to Oberlin, worked as a graphic artist, formed the Grammy award winning CCD, and basically sky rocketed to fame all the while mining and resurrecting old time string band music. RG plays a replica minstrel banjo and fiddle. The lecture showcased CCD's "Snowden's Jig", a mournful instrumental with handclaps and foot stomping percussion that is truly haunting. "Julee" a tune inspired from the accounts of slaves depicts an enslaved woman on the cusp of freedom interacting with her female owner. "Black Is The Color" was a big budget video shot on the grounds of Fisk University. RG's tireless effort to unearth this beautiful music borne out of a painful history is compelling. It is worth noting that the trio that was CCD has disbanded, with members Giddens and Dom Flemons forging solo careers while Robinson moved away from the traditional music. Please listen to the podcast "Uncivil" and in particular the episode pertaining to the song "Dixie", where local hero Jack Hitt interviews Robinson to reveal his epiphany as it relates to minstrel music. At the Q and A, a teacher from Bridgeport asked " how he could get his students to listen to anything other than rap?" To which RG replied that her cousin was taking the banjo into the realm of rap, and that the most exciting music and art is happening "at the edges". Capacity crowd to hear from this acclaimed artist even as we seem to be moving backwards with regard to race and culture.