Shawn E Okpedholo - Songs in Flight
Rhiannon Giddens; Karen Slack; Paul Sanchez; Will Liverman; Reginald Mobley; Julian Velasco
Cedille Records CDR 90000 234 (cedillerecords.org/albums/songs-in-flight)
Shawn E. Okpebholo’s exquisite disc Songs in Flight, strikes me as being an incredibly beautiful – and disturbing – new palimpsest of the American Spiritual. The uncomfortable truth of each song cuts to the quick, deep within the heart.
Okpebholo's songs repurpose news stories of young boys and girls escaping slavery during the 18th and 19th centuries using the language of poetry. His music turns the narratives into arias sung by lyric soprano Rhiannon Giddens, mezzo Karen Slack, baritone Will Liverman and renowned countertenor Reginald Mobley. Paul Sánchez’s pianism and a forlorn saxophone accentuate the dark atmosphere.
Missing may be the story of Emmett Till, but spirituals about Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin tell their tragic stories with fervour and operatic flair. In particular the lynching of Arbery is a painful gut-punch and even complements Sing, O Black Mother by Langston Hughes.
Slavery has deep roots, its history spanning diverse cultures and geographical regions. But the transatlantic slave trade and its institutionalization on plantations has had a profound and enduring impact on the history of the US, leaving an indelible legacy of racial injustice and inequality that continues to resonate today.
“I said your name / first, choked in wondrous / love. Nothing more holy / than the first farewell. My womb, no longer / habitable. My song / was your first and only home.” – words by Wanda-Cooper Jones, Arbery’s mother on Ahmaud sung by Giddens, send a chill through the spine.
