Rhiannon Giddens headlines “Swimming in Dark Waters” tomorrow night at Lisner Auditorium.
There seems to be an air of discontent everywhere these days. Pockets of the world are in chaos, voters are voicing their displeasure with the status quo, and race relations are as tense as I’ve seen in my lifetime. Perhaps it’s time for artists to step in and elevate the discussion where the powers-that-be have failed to do so.
“The conversation right now is so unbelievably shallow and infantile,” said vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, speaking about the current zeitgeist. “I’m not a huge fan of politics. I have a hard time relating anything we do to anything they’re doing.”
In an attempt to elevate the discourse by bringing fresh perspectives to the table, Giddens has assembled a multi-cultural roster of artists to present Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience. The show makes a stop at The George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium tomorrow night.
“I was getting asked a lot about all the protests going on,” Giddens said. “People can resist in a lot of ways. I thought of putting it all together on the idea of songs of protest and social justice through the lens of people of color.”
Giddens, best known as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, will focus on slavery during her part of the set. Noting that contemporary pieces like Roots, 12 Years A Slave, and Amistad all have men at their center, she will present original and traditional songs that address that period from a woman’s point of view.
Cellist Leyla McCalla and singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman complete tomorrow’s bill. McCalla’s heritage is Haitian, and she will be performing songs reflecting that island nation’s struggle with slavery and colonization. Bhiman is a first-generation Sri Lankan-American who has collaborated with members of Soundgarden and his latest album, Rhythm & Reason, deals with themes of immigration and xenophobia.
The concept behind Swimming in Dark Waters is based on the premise that there is a direct connection between America’s original sins—slavery, the genocide of native peoples, and racism in general—and the problems confronting us today. The show also recognizes that singer-songwriters, specifically protest singers, have become icons of resistance to oppression and bigotry, but also that the most revered of these artists are white. Richie Havens and Odetta are woefully under-appreciated relative to Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, or Joan Baez.
“Events of the past cast a very long shadow,” Giddens explained. “It’s about the stories from the voices of people who don’t get a light shined on them very much.”
While one performer or one concert can hardly be expected to change the grand scheme of things, Giddens believes that she and her fellow artists can be part of an incremental change so long as they remain willing to speak and sing out against these systemic problems.
“I just kind of barrel ahead,” she said. “If I can inspire anybody to want to dig deeper, I feel like I’ve done my job.”
Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience takes place on Friday, February 26 at Lisner Auditorium. 8 p.m. Tickets $35.
