Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

signal status listen live donate
listen live donate signal status
listen live donate signal status
  • News
    • beats
    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    • California Dream
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Music
    • genres
    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Roots
    • Eclectic
    • Videos
    • Daily Playlist
  • Programs + Podcasts
    • news
    • Morning Edition
    • All Things Considered
    • Marketplace
    • Insight
    • The View From Here
    • music
    • Acid Jazz
    • At the Opera
    • Classical Music
    • Connections
    • Excellence in Jazz
    • Hey, Listen!
    • Insight Music
    • K-ZAP on CapRadio
    • Mick Martin's Blues Party
    • Programs A-Z
    • Podcast Directory
  • Schedules
    • News
    • Music
    • ClassicalStream
    • JazzStream
    • Weekly Schedule
    • Daily Playlist
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • CapRadio Garden
    • CapRadio Reads
    • CapRadio Travels
    • Ticket Giveaways
  • Support
    • Evergreen Gift
    • One-Time Gift
    • Corporate Support / Underwriting
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Gift
    • Legacy Gift
    • Endowment Gift
    • Volunteering
    • Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • e‑Newsletter
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Close Menu

Classical Communiqué Classical blog

Discussing the way classical music touches the mind and the heart.

subscribe

 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

'A Chance Of A Great Spiritual Awakening': Rhiannon Giddens Talks With Lara Downes

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Lara Downes

In the 1920s, a renaissance happened in Harlem. Black artists migrated north, rejecting centuries of a tragic status quo. They inspired each other to make art that expressed an audacious new vision of Black beauty, Black hope, Black truth and Black pride. A century later, Black artists are coming together again, somehow, though not physically this time.

Welcome to Amplify With Lara Downes, where you can eavesdrop on my intimate conversations with visionary Black musicians who share what they're making in this time of transformation — of reckoning, reimagining and maybe rebirth.

We're reaching out from our isolation in quarantine, inspiring each other to reject our own tired status quo, to dream the future, make something bold and meaningful of this time and in this time.

One day in July, I ventured out with my kids to march for Black lives at the state capitol here in California — people of all colors, chanting for change. Looking around me, I felt a jolt of something unfamiliar and realized it was hope. When we got home, I sat down at my piano, pressed "record" on a vintage cassette deck and played music by great Black artists who made music from the struggles of their time; spirituals, freedom songs — music by Florence Price and Nina Simone — single takes, unfiltered. On the mixtape you can hear the wind in the big elm tree outside my window. It's imperfect and I treasure it: the music I made on the day when I remembered hope.

The artists who are my guests on Amplify With Lara Downes have all had similar moments of awakening during this tragic and transformative year, when we saw our way to making "good trouble." We took a stand and dared to express something as audacious as hope.

Join us here — and on YouTube — and we'll tell you about what we're making.

This week, Rhiannon Giddens joins me from her kitchen table. Rhiannon is my friend and soul sister, my fellow traveler on the path that leads to the deep center of American music. We've both been trailblazing for a long time, excavating our own areas of the musical landscape, meeting each other here and there along the way. In this year of staying home and standing still, we reflect together on the long miles we've traveled so far and what we've found on our journeys, envisioning the wide open road ahead.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

 classicalAmplify With Lara Downes

Coronavirus Newsletter

Get answers to your questions, the latest updates and easy access to the resources you need, delivered to your inbox.

 

Want to know what to expect? Here's a recent newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

We'll send you weekly emails so you can stay informed about the coronavirus in California.

Browse all newsletters

More Classical Posts

Car Concerts Offer Choirs A Way To Rehearse And Perform

January 11, 2021

Courtesy of artist

New Classical Tracks: Ofra Harnoy Finds Inspiration In Newfoundland

January 13, 2021

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    • (916) 278-8900
    • Toll-free (877) 480-5900
    • Email Us
    • Submit a News Tip
  • Contact Us

  • About Us

    • Contact Us / Feedback
    • Coverage
    • Directions
    • Jobs & Internships
    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Press
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile App
    • On Air Schedules
    • Smart Speakers
    • Playlist
    • Podcasts
    • RSS
  • Connect With Us

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2021, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.