Folk musician Rhiannon Giddens recently performed at Strathmore Music Center, and Parklife’s Steve Satzberg was there to photograph the show!
The following article is adapted from a press release.
In the middle of her show at Strathmore on March 18, Rhiannon Giddens performed “Another Wasted Life,” a song decrying the plight of wrongfully convicted people.
The song appears on Rhiannon’s most recent album, last year’s You’re the One (released via Nonesuch Records). In October, she released a music video for the song, featuring 22 wrongfully convicted people, clients of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. It aimed to raise awareness for the stories and voices of those who have experienced the injustices of the criminal legal system.
Inspired by the tragic story of Kalief Browder, a young man wrongfully incarcerated at New York City’s Rikers Island for three years, where he was subjected to nearly two years of solitary confinement, Giddens wrote “Another Wasted Life” as a reminder of the human toll exacted by wrongful convictions and the importance of prison reform.
Rhiannon said: “I wrote ‘Another Wasted Life’ after reading about the tragic suicide of Kalief Browder — another soul caught up in the incarceration system for a crime he didn’t commit. He was put into solitary for almost 2 years, a torture no one deserves, no matter what they did or did not do. The whole for-profit prison industrial complex — an outgrowth of slavery — is a stain on the American story; the people and families caught up in it, and in the numerous gaping holes in the social safety net, need incredible amounts of support.
“If you know anything about my work, you know my music tends to have a mission — one that amplifies underrepresented voices and stories. My new album is a little bit different, and this track is stand-alone in its mission due to the weight of its place in our world. These ongoing societal struggles are so far beyond any one of us, and have been long at play; but, I will use my platform to take things just one step further in the conversation.”
Watch the official music video for “Another Wasted Life” by Rhiannon Giddens on YouTube:
Rhiannon, a multi-faceted artist, GRAMMY winner, and MacArthur fellow, was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her collaborative opera, Omar, along with Michael Abels.
You’re the One was recorded with a band composed of Giddens’s closest musical collaborators from the past decade alongside musicians from producer Splash’s own Rolodex, topped off with a horn section, making an impressive 10- to 12-person ensemble. The collaborators include Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi plus American fiddler Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher, and Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu. The album features electric and acoustic bass, conga, Cajun and piano accordions, guitars, a Western string section, and Miami horns, among other instruments, capturing the inclusive spirit that channels through all of her work.
As Pitchfork has also said, “Few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration” — a journey that has led to NPR naming her one of its 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st Century and American Songwriter calling her “one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet.” Giddens’ previous album, They’re Calling Me Home, won the GRAMMY for Best Folk Album in 2022, making her a two-time winner and eight-time nominee.
Here are some photos of Rhiannon Giddens performing at Strathmore Music Center on March 18, 2024. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.
