Rhiannon Giddens

While many musical artists hope to have their own style or sound, Rhiannon Giddens has introduced an entire genre: combining the roots of African and African American folk traditions with those of the Scotch-Irish-based Appalachian community. Bluegrass Today wrote of her: “Rhiannon Giddens has fundamentally altered the understanding of American roots music by challenging the long-held, monolithic, and largely white-centric narrative of Appalachian history.” Through her research, performances and advocacy, she has shown that the region’s musical traditions—particularly the banjo and fiddle—are deeply rooted in African American history and cross-cultural exchange, dismantling the ‘homogenous’ myth of the Appalachian ‘hillbilly.'” Her career and efforts in these areas have earned her countless honors.

Giddens was born in North Carolina to a father of European descent and a mother with Black and Native American ancestry, with lineage to the Seminole, Lumbee and Occaneechi tribes. Although she graduated as an operatic soprano from the Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin College in 2000, fate seemed to draw her to Appalachian and folk music. Attending events like the Black Banjo Then and Now Gathering, Giddens eventually mastered the clawhammer banjo, violin (or “fiddle”) and guitar.

This resulted in the formation of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a traditional band consisting of Black musicians on banjo, fiddle, jug and other “homegrown” instruments, as well as the all-women banjo supergroup “Our Native Daughters.” From there, Giddens’ career skyrocketed. Projects included the New Basement Tapes with Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith and Jim James, all working to finish the unreleased lyrics of Bob Dylan. Giddens also contributed a version of “We Rise” to the LP “We Are Not For Sale: Songs of Protest.” Recording material from artists as varied as Dolly Parton, Odetta, Patsy Cline and Nina Simone, as well as her own compositions, she has released three albums under her own name and two with her former partner Francesco Turrisi.

Silkroad Ensemble

In an era where more and more music is produced on a laptop or through programs like autotune, her dedication to roots music has been recognized by the highest levels of the musical and literary establishments. Giddens has been nominated by the Grammy committee twelve times, winning twice. She has also been appointed as a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, and in 2023 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, honored for her historical opera “Omar”—the true story of Omar Ibn Said, a West African scholar enslaved in South Carolina. She has been named one of the twenty-five most influential female musicians of the twenty-first century by NPR. Last but not least, she was the first Black woman to win the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in banjo and bluegrass.

For her latest project, Giddens will be fronting the Silkroad Ensemble at the Harris Theater on March 15. Founded by Yo-Yo Ma, the group takes roots and folk musical traditions from all over the world. Entitled “Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual,” the show will dive into traditions such as Sicilian tarantella with Mauro Durante and Francesco Turrisi, Moroccan Gnawa with Mehdi Nassouli and Indian classical music with Sandeep Das. As artistic director, Giddens will also be contributing her banjo and high soprano cries for justice on African American folk songs. The performances will be accompanied by such varied instruments as the shakuhachi (Japanese flute), pipa (Chinese lute), Mongolian horsehead fiddle, percussion instruments like the cimbalom, marimba, tabla, cajon and many others in a tour de force of musical virtuosity.

The Silkroad Ensemble’s performance of “Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual” will take place at the Harris Theater, 205 East Randolph, on Sunday, March 15, 2pm. More here.