How music and historical archives transform the stories of enslaved people into song.
In short: Composer Shawn E. Okpebholo and curator Tsitsi Ella Jaji present Songs in Flight, a performance exploring the lives of enslaved individuals through music. By blending historical records from the Freedom on the Move database with new compositions, the work honors personal narratives often lost to time.
The performance, commissioned by Sparks & Wiry Cries, features a series of vocal pieces that draw on diverse musical traditions, including spirituals, folk songs, field hollers, and anthems. The program highlights specific figures such as Thomas Rutling, who lived from approximately 1854 to 1915, and incorporates texts by poets Crystal Simone Smith and Tyehimba Jess.
Recorded at its world premiere on January 12, 2023, at The Met's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, the project serves as a bridge between archival research and artistic expression. It utilizes the Freedom on the Move database to ground its elegiac and protest-oriented compositions in the documented realities of the past.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Shawn E. Okpebholo: Songs in Flight | MetLiveArts
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