Rhiannon Giddens is the latest guest on Come Hear North Carolina's In the Water series. She visits Wilmington, NC, to discuss the massacre that occurred there in 1898, in which a democratically elected, biracial government was overthrown by a mob of white citizens. She also performs three songs—"Pretty Saro," "At the Purchaser's Option," and "He Will See You Through"—and discusses the importance of storytelling in her own music. You can watch it here.
Rhiannon Giddens is the latest guest on Come Hear North Carolina's In the Water series. In the episode, she visits Wilmington, North Carolina, to discuss the massacre that occurred there in 1898, in which a democratically elected, biracial government was overthrown by a mob of white citizens. It is a history she is working to tell in a musical on which she is collaborating she is working on with writer/musician John Jeremiah Sullivan. She also performs three songs—"Pretty Saro," "At the Purchaser's Option," and "He Will See You Through" (the first a cappella, the latter two with Francesco Turrisi—and discusses the importance of storytelling in her own music.
"I think what drew me to music was the telling of stories," Giddens tells. "I got into opera, it was my first real training, and that was all stories ... Every aspect of music that I've gotten into has drawn me because of that storytelling element. So it's a natural extension that I began songwriting as a folk musician, not as a singer-songwriter."
You can see what else she had to say and watch her perform here:
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