Album: Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens - American Railroad

Conceived in 1998 by the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to remind the world of the benefits of globalisation in bringing people together, Silkroad is a non-profit organisation with a mission to create “music that engages difference, sparking radical cultural collaboration and passion-driven learning for a more hopeful and inclusive world”.

That music is “contemporary and ancient, familiar and foreign, traditional and innovative, drawing on styles from around the world to create a new musical language that reflects 21st-century society.” In other words, something we need more than ever today because “When we create music together, we listen to our differences, connecting and creating meaning from them.”

It is now led by Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens and Executive Director Ben Hartley, and alongside all the social impact initiatives and educational programming, there is now also the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble. Giddens is a musician of impeccable credentials – her Southbank Centre show a few years back is among my top 10 concert highlights. She was the lynchpin of the innovative string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who will reform to play next spring at Biscuits & Banjos, Giddens’ own festival in – of course – North Carolina. The new album is part of Silkroad’s ongoing American Railroad initiative, bringing the history and music of Giddens’ American Railroad podcast series to a wider audience.

American Railroad brings to life the voices of the immigrant communities – African-American, Chinese, Indigenous, Irish, and others – who built the Transcontinental Railroad, connecting railways in North America and making a journey that once took months achievable in a week. But that achievement came at great cost to the people who worked on it – and to the Indigenous communities whose sacred land was taken. Recorded live at Green Music Center in Sonoma and Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley last November, it features alongside Giddens and her creative and life partner Francesco Turrisi,  a group of top-notch musicians: Shawn Conley, bass; Pura Fé Crescioni, lap-steel guitar/voice; Haruka Fujii, percussion; Sandeep Das, tabla; Karen Ouzounian, cello; Mazz Swift, violin/voice; Niwel Tsumbu, guitar; Kaoru Watanabe, Japanese flutes and percussion; Michi Wiancko, violin; Wu Man, pipa; Yazhi Guo, suona/Chinese percussion. The names and instruments alone speak volumes.

Many of the tracks are more instrumental than vocal, and many deliver a gut-punch. No words are needed to tell what these workers endured, the cruelty inflicted on them, and indeed some of the most affecting tracks are those where Giddens vocalises, the sounds conveying more than words ever could. As America plans to wall itself off and toss out the “others” who came in pursuit of the much-vaunted American Dream, this is a stark reminder, as though one were needed, of how much they have given the country – in terms not just of their blood, sweat and tears but of their cultures.

The album, a song-cycle, opens with a short “Invocation” played on conch, its eerie, mournful sound – like a hoot owl’s call – summoning us to attention. It leads into “Swannanoa Tunnel/Steel-Driving Man”, traditional songs about the 1,832-foot snake-like tunnel, through which the first train steamed into Ashville in 1880. The labour force that built it was overwhelmingly black, and at least 300 souls died in the cave-ins. A later song, “Have You Seen My Man”, by Cécile McLorin Salvant, is a lament for a husband, father, brother who will never return. “Oh Shout”, which closes the album, features both vocals (lush, multitracked harmonies at the start) and the full instrumental ensemble, is a song of mourning and of course salvation. A brief a capella reprise of the opening track closes this profoundly moving and beautiful album full of top-notch musicianship and exquisite sounds.

• Silkroad is partnering with Peabody Award-winning public media organization PRX for a five-episode podcast series hosted by Rhiannon Giddens. Episodes will be released from 14 November, free on-demand across all major podcast platforms.
• More new music reviews on theartsdesk

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