Trained as an opera singer, Rhiannon Giddens was a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the acclaimed folk group. With the Chocolate Drops and as a solo artist, a virtuoso fiddler and banjo player with a soulful voice, she has delved into African-American and old-time traditions. She won a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2017 and wrote an opera based on the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said, a Muslim man from Africa who was enslaved in South Carolina. (Its planned premiere has been delayed until next year by the coronavirus pandemic.)
Now she will have a new, global curatorial canvas for her genre-skipping ideas. On Tuesday, Silkroad, the cross-cultural music organization created by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, announced that Ms. Giddens would be its next artistic director.
“I’ve never been interested in ‘Hey, this is me, I’m singing a song,’” Ms. Giddens, 43, said by phone from her home in Ireland. “I’m more: This is the message I’m trying to transmit, if me singing it will get it out there. So this is a great opportunity to bring together what I’ve been doing and what they’ve been doing.”
Silkroad began over 20 years ago as the Silk Road Project, an effort to bring together performers, and music new and old, from the cultures centering on the ancient network of trade routes between East Asia and the Mediterranean. It has since expanded into a multifaceted performing, education and social justice organization with a budget of over $3 million, a broader geographic focus and a reputation for fielding superb artists — as well as some blurriness about its activities, beyond the undeniable good intentions.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/arts/music/rhiannon-giddens-silkroad.html
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