Rhiannon Giddens

Really good gig. Different than any I’ve ever been too. Obviously able to deliver quintessential Deep South American music easily with roots in North Caroline and Appalachian blues and fold. But her wings are spread wide. Her versatility and interest in world music is amazing. Globally wide. With songs in Irish, Congolese, Egyptian and Palestinian, you can see why she is so widely revered in world music circles. Her voice is immense, the band class. A former band mate on fiddle, a double bass, hand percussionist and a class guitarist, Niwel Tsumbu, from DR Congo. Highlights include a song from DR Congo, Pipi Danga, about being taken because they were strong and beautiful which fused into Irish trad. A jazzy number ‘The Love We Almost Had’ was really cool. A song from the album hit all the right notes literally and figuratively, ‘Hope is the thing with feathers.’ ‘Freight Train’ where the crowd started humming which was lovely. It’s a song by Elizabeth Cotten who learned to play the guitar the wrong way round and upside down. The Palestinian song linked in with song from the burning of Wilmington and Tulsa really struck a nerve with the crowd and crystallized a lot of injustice around the world. ‘The Purchaser’s Option’ was extremely powerful and the lyrics pack some punch. It had a mesmerize effect with the banjo and the guitar. We Shall Not Move. Song about protests. Crowd sung along beautifully. Great singalong. She mentioned how there’s a lot of problems with American and in the world in general. But where there’s a lot of problems, there’s a lot of problem-solvers. Bit of Limerick banter but she was staunch in her support of the Treaty. ‘We Could Fly’ about Africans being brought over to Africa and being bonded in the fields and there being a magical word that some could fly and the others watched them soar. The song about being in love. She’s imperious. The banjo songs were incredible. Living in Limerick.