RHIANNON GIDDENS + FRANCESCO TURRISI – ST GEORGE’S CHURCH, BRIGHTON 23.11.19
A church, a congregation, an unorthodox preacher, and sacred music… but Saturday night wasn’t any ordinary service at St George’s, the attractive church in Kemptown, it was an extraordinary evening service led by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi (with Jason Sypher).
Giddens hails from Carolina and she and Dom Flemons were founding member of the country, blues and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops, which in turn, was an expanded version of the band Sankofa.
Always one to support issues civil rights and collaborate with others, Giddens has given several keynote speeches at varying events and last year she co-produced ‘Songs Of Our Native Daughters’ with Dirk Powell, for Smithsonian Folkways. “The album confronts the ways we are culturally conditioned to avoid talking about America’s history of slavery, racism, and misogyny.” Giddens is a singer who specialises in fiddle and banjo playing and has released two solo albums: ‘Tomorrow Is My Turn’ in 2015 and ‘Freedom Highway’ in 2017. Her latest album, ‘There Is No Other’, was released earlier this year and is a collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turris who is her partner in this tour.
Giddens plays on fiddle and banjo, Turrisi is an Italian pianist and percussionist well versed in jazz, early music and Mediterranean music, not an obvious pairing. A chance meeting in Ireland resulted in the discovery that her 19th century American minstrel banjo tunes and his traditional Sicilian Tamburello (tambourine) rhythms fit together well. The whole evening at St George’s was a mix of new takes on traditional American roots music and southern Italian traditional music; interspersed with the songs were snippets of slave trade suffering and the history of popular instruments being played during the evening: banjo and tamburello taking centre stage. The chat was saved from being a diatribe by Giddens’ and Turrisi’s relaxed, often self deprecating, humour and wish to avoid being the ‘unwelcome guests at the party’.
Starting with ‘Ten Thousand Voices’, Giddens’ clear and distinctive voice soared mournfully in a song reminiscent of a Celtic lament. Turrisi joined in with his accordion as the song built in power and finally ended in a jig. Giddens had written this after discovering newspaper adverts selling women slaves with their musical repertoire to the highest bidder. Second up was a song written as a score for a ballet, ‘Following The North Star’, Giddens had revamped an old song for this instrumental.
Chatting before the song ‘Briggs’ Forro’, Turrisi explained that Forro music originated in north eastern Brazil. Giddens was amused that airport staff incessantly referred to her banjo as a guitar, to the point where she almost believed it herself. Turrisi had also had reason to smile at an airport, on one occasion his accordion had been described as a giant typewriter by security staff.
One of the most powerful and popular songs of the whole concert was ‘At The Purchaser’s Option’, with Turrisi back on piano. Giddens explained that she had spent a long time researching black history in the US, a country built on slavery, and in so doing had unearthed countless heart wrenching stories. One advert had been for a female slave whose small child was described as being ‘At the Purchaser’s Option’ to purchase or not. This was not uncommon and totally acceptable at the time, resulting in a passionate song and rendition by Giddens. ‘Wayfaring Stranger’, a gentle folk song and ‘Pizzica di San Vito’, a traditional dance from Puglia, sung in Puglian dialect, wrapped up the first half.
After the Interval, Turrisi gave the audience a potted history of frame drums, popular instruments around the Mediterranean from 6000 years BC. The Daf frame drum, with its internal rings adding to the sound of the skin, had arrived in Southern Italy via Arabs. Turrisi’s demonstration number was very exciting and showed the huge variety of sounds possible from this instrument. Two standouts from the second session were ‘Underneath The Harlem Moon’, which Giddens had taken from the Ethel Waters version, interesting to note that she did a better impression of a sassy torch singer than his too perfect piano playing did of vintage night club piano style, and ‘I’m On My Way’, performed on Daf and banjo and nominated for the ‘Best American Roots Performance’ Grammy award.
Giddens loves the way that music flows through generations and cultures, bringing a while history with it whilst becoming something new. Illustrating this in a small personal anecdote, Giddens’ daughter who lives in Ireland, she said, had, unbidden, started playing a traditional song on her penny whistle, much to her mother’s surprise and delight. Blending styles and instruments from history and across the world was her passion. Following two encores, the ‘congregation’ of folk and traditional music fans were extremely fervent in their support of her passion, both in raptures and enlightened by the time that Giddens, Turrisi and Shyler left the stage.
Band:
Rhiannon Giddens (vocals, banjo, fiddle)
Francesco Turrisi (piano, tamburello, daf, accordion)
Jason Shyler (double bass)
Setlist reads:
‘Ten Thousand Voices’
‘Following The North Star’
‘Gonna Write Me A Letter’
‘Briggs’ Forro’
‘At The Purchaser’s Option’
‘Wayfaring Stranger’
‘Pizzica di San Vito’
(Interval)
‘Minstrel Tunes From 1855’ (traditional cover)
‘Oh Black Swan’
‘Underneath The Harlem Moon’
‘Beth Cohen’s Set’
‘I’m On My Way’
‘Molly Brannigan’
‘He Will See You Through’
‘Up Above My Head’
(encore)
‘Pretty Saro’
‘Sister Rosetta Tharpe medley’.
Further information:
Rhiannon Giddens / Francesco Turrisi / St George’s Church
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