The Center for Teaching and Learning, the Marquette University Black Alumni Association, Center for the Advancement of the Humanities and the Ralph Metcalfe Chair are co-hosting an online coffee chat with Rhiannon Giddens from 10 a.m. to 11a.m., Friday, April 23.
Giddens is a singer-songwriter and banjoist North Carolina and the founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Giddens is helping to revive the African-American string band tradition and defying stereotypes of music genres. She plays multiple string instruments including the fiddle and the banjo, inspired by the history of black string bands.
A lover of country, folk and bluegrass music, she is, according to Bluegrass Today, “dismantling the myth of a homogenous Appalachia.”
Giddens is defying the long-held assumptions that American banjo, fiddle, even country music, was invented by and belong only to White people. The event will feature conversation, a Q&A, and some music.
Sheena Carey, internship coordinator and lecturer in the Diederich College of Communication will moderate the event.
The event, which will take place on Zoom, is meant was a way of honoring the contributions of all cultures to the American music scene, the importance of correcting the history of narratives and to say “thank yo” to the hard work done by all at Marquette University this past year.
Registration for the event — which is available online — is required by Wednesday, April 21.
