The Road to Freedom

Description

One of the most renowned singers in the world, Barbara Hendricks (who will celebrate her 70th birthday this year) was invited by Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Festival, to take her first steps into the world of jazz in 1994. What could be more natural, after all: this music has lived within her forever, it is part of her roots, having started singing with Negro spirituals in her father's church, a pastor in Arkansas. After spending many years exploring the repertoire of the great jazz instrumentalists and vocalists of the 20th century, she has been immersing herself for about a decade in the roots of jazz: the blues. This was first the case with the program Blues Everywhere I Go, which took us to the heart of the Mississippi delta; she now offers us a new project: The Road to Freedom. Blues and gospel songs played a very important role in supporting and inspiring the brave activists who fought for civil rights in the United States, a struggle led by Martin Luther King in the 1950s and 1960s. The emotional power of these songs, and the example of the activists' conviction, are more necessary than ever to help us face the complexities and contradictions of our world today, too often based on division and hatred, and not enough on the love and solidarity that Dr. King constantly spoke of.