I've been getting interested in reimagining folk songs and writing songs that should have existed but didn't, particularly around the Civil War when black voices were muted and only allowed particular channels.
Rhiannon GiddensRead
When I first heard the minstrel banjo - I played a gourd first - I almost lost my mind. I was like, Oh, my god. And then I went to Africa, to the Gambia, and studied the akonting, which is an ancestor of the banjo, and just that connection to me was just immense.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a deep connection between musical heritage and personal identity.
Rhiannon Giddens reflects on her initial emotional reaction to the minstrel banjo and how it led her to discover its ancestral roots in the akonting of Africa. This journey signifies not only a personal and musical exploration but also highlights the profound ties between culture, history, and the evolution of art forms.
Themes
MusicHeritageIdentityHistoryArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a presentation on cultural influences in music, I used this quote to illustrate the importance of ancestry in modern art.
More from Rhiannon Giddens
All quotes →I think it's important that everybody has access to music, and not just people who live in cities or who can afford to drive to the nearest city.
Rhiannon GiddensRead
In order to understand the history of the banjo, and the history of bluegrass music, we need to move beyond the narrative we've inherited, beyond generalizations that bluegrass is mostly derived from a Scotch-Irish tradition with influences from Africa. It is actually a complex Creole music that comes from multiple cultures.
Rhiannon GiddensRead
The question is not how do we get diversity into bluegrass, but how do we get diversity back into bluegrass?
Rhiannon GiddensRead
Similar quotes
The big catalyst was seeing my sister, when I was 11, doing a dramatic recital. When I saw her on the stage and everyone listening to her so patiently, quietly, that's all I wanted: for someone to look at me and listen to me, but in some beautiful and artistic way.
Gene WilderRead
Who could not return from a visit to Jack Vance's world, without feeling that he had been somewhere unique, that he had experienced things unavailable in our mundane world?
Robert SilverbergRead
I had so much fun doing Django, and I love westerns so much that after I taught myself how to make one, it's like, 'OK, now let me make another one now that I know what I'm doing.'
Quentin TarantinoRead
Retire? I'm going to stay in show business until I'm the only one left
George BurnsRead
I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this, I think, is a sense you develop - I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum - the poem finds a reason for continuing.
Billy CollinsRead
I feel that tennis is an art form that is capable of moving the players and the audience - at least a knowledgeable audience-in almost sensual ways. When I'm performing at my absolute best, I think that some of the euphoria I feel must be transmitted to the audience.
Billie Jean KingRead