{"product_id":"our-native-daughters_songs-of-our-native-daughtersvinyle-couleur_2019_ber","title":"SONGS OF OUR NATIVE DAUGHTERS\/VINYLE COULEUR","description":"Songs of our Native Daughters (a play on the title of James Baldwin's *Notes of a Native Son*) was inspired by a private, guided visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a branch of the Smithsonian. The great musician\/songwriter\/performer Rhiannon Giddens and her 7-year-old daughter were quietly strolling along when they came across a satirical poem from the era: \"I admit I am sickened at the purchase of slaves...but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar or rum?\"\n\nAt the time, slavery reigned, and the French, Dutch, Germans, and Belgians were most involved in the slave trade, which enriched each respective country. Giddens sent this phrase to her producer, thinking about our age of consumption (iPhones, televisions, etc.) and our dependence on this modern-day slavery. Giddens had seen a film (*Birth of a Nation*, 2016) where the trauma of an enslaved woman who had been raped seemed to belong more to her husband than to herself.\n\n(Ilene's note: This brings us back to the translator's choice for James Baldwin's book, cited above... which should have been translated as \"Chronicle of a Native Son\" and not \"Chronicle of a Native Country,\" as if one man speaks for the whole country, men and women... which was not Baldwin's intention at all.)\n\nAll these factors became the starting point for a new project for Rhiannon Giddens. She invited a team of artists, all Black women and with \"a lot to say,\" to co-write a concept album: Leyla McCalla (who toured with Giddens for two years in the Carolina Chocolate Drops), Amythyst Kiah (alt-country blues songwriter), and Allison Russell (from the band Birds of Chicago).\n\nAll four are wonderful singers, and they are also virtuosos on banjo, guitar, violin, and cello. In fact, all the musicians in the group play banjo on this album – the five-string banjo, tenor, or \"minstrel\" (an older, longer, and heavier variety, made of wood, animal skin, and gut strings). The importance of this instrument of African origin, the banjo, should not be underestimated in this work, as well as in the music at the origin of the African diaspora in general, heirs of slavery.\n\nFor fans of Appalachian music, here we find sounds to remind us that the origins of rock 'n' roll are found not only in the blues, but also in the folk music of Black musicians, both women and men.\n\nIt's hard for me to have favorite tracks on this album, because all of them are breathtakingly beautiful, especially when all four sing in chorus. They sound like angels on earth (see \"Slave Driver\").\n\nHere are the angels with their feet firmly planted on the ground, helping us to digest very heavy subjects, such as our global economy dependent on slavery (\"Barbados\"), interracial discrimination (\"Black Myself\"), the difficulties of women workers in male-dominated professions (\"I knew I could fly\" and \"Polly Ann's Hammer\"), historical discrimination in education (\"Better Git Yer Learnin'\"), and the horrors experienced by enslaved women (\"Mama's Cryin Long,\" a poignant story told by a child witnessing her mother's suffering).\n\n...But there is also the joy of discovering and celebrating the history of one's ancestors (\"Quasheba, Quasheba\" and \"Lavi Difisil\"), the love for our children (\"You're Not Alone\"), and simply the joys of music (\"Music and Joy\").\n\nMy favorite moments on this album are when joys triumph over sorrows:\n\n\"ah you put the shackles on our feet\nbut we're dancing\nah you steal our very tongue\nbut we're dancing\"\n\"Moon Meets the Sun\"\n\nAn exceptional album that is an indispensable work for understanding African-American music... in short, American music.\n\nIlene Martinez\nBayou Blue Radio - Paris-Move","brand":"Our Native Daughters","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55307846222168,"sku":null,"price":20191115.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0898\/4943\/0360\/files\/0093070232112_3f41fab3-f27a-4d36-9dbc-31e187be58ac.jpg?v=1762359416","url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en\/products\/our-native-daughters_songs-of-our-native-daughtersvinyle-couleur_2019_ber","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}