Episode 3: California

In this episode of Sanctuary, host Rhiannon Giddens introduces us to Silkroad violinist and vocalist Mazz Swift to explore how improvisation can turn music into a true refuge. Mazz shares their journey of falling out of love with traditional classical spaces, and finding their voice through conduction, a system of visual cues created by composer Butch Morris to guide improvisation. We join Silkroad at community workshops at the Eastman School of Music and the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, where music making builds safe places for self-expression, and hear from members of Chicago’s D-Composed collective, whose work reclaiming community spaces and uplifting Black composers is a powerful model for healing and belonging. Featured Guests: Mazz Swift – Violinist, vocalist, composer, and Silkroad Ensemble member Dr. Angela Wellman – Founding Director of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Tristan Williams – Violist and educator at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Khelsey Zarraga – Violinist, composer, arranger, and member of D-Composed Seth Pae – Violist and member of D-Composed For more on Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual, visit silkroad.org.

In this episode of Sanctuary, host Rhiannon Giddens begins our journey into the ways that music serves us as a vital tool for healing and community. Musician Mauro Durante introduces us to the pizzica, a centuries-old trance tradition from Southern Italy that began as a communal ritual to cure spider bites. Then, we look at how those same therapeutic practices apply today, from neurological music therapy at Northwestern University to music circles helping combat veterans process their PTSD through songwriting. Featured Guests: Mauro Durante - Violinist and percussionist, Artistic Director of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Massimiliano Morabito - Ethnomusicologist and organettista Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour - Associate Professor of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Lee Haight - Musician and Board President of Soldier Songs and Voices, NWA Chapter For more on Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual, visit silkroad.org.

Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual is a new podcast hosted by Grammy Award-winning musician and Silkroad Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens. Sanctuary is produced in partnership with PRX and Silkroad. As we mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, we reflect on the state of America today. Historically, people from all over have sought sanctuary in America. Across these different cultures, music has played an essential role in healing, community-building, and belonging. Through interviews with artists and academics, we’ll trace the roots of this tradition and see how Silkroad melds this into their new work. Scenes will follow Silkroad artists into community events as they celebrate this cross-cultural creation, share their performances, and form new ways to connect. Join us weekly on Thursdays as we celebrate the music, traditions, and communities that represent sanctuary.

Our final episode brings us to Boston, MA where, at the turn of the 20th century, Black men and women worked as Pullman porters and maids – serving predominantly white travelers while reinforcing a hierarchy reminiscent of the Antebellum South. Wives, sisters, and daughters largely made up the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters – and served as their mouthpiece – keeping the economic, social, domestic, and political interests of railroad workers at the center of their activism. We’ll hear from special guests Kerri Greenridge, Larry Tye, Melinda Chateauvert, and Helen Credle, as well as from musician and Silkroad collaborator Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose song “Have You Seen My Man?” gives voice to the legions of Black women who awaited the safe return of their loved ones aboard the trains, while they took care of home in communities like Boston’s South End neighborhood.

Centuries before the Dakota Access Pipeline snaked beneath Lakota-Sioux land, the transcontinental railroad barreled through it. Standing Rock Sioux Reservation leaders Dave Archambault Sr. and Jr. discuss how the economic and social expansion of America often comes at the expense of indigenous people. We’ll also hear from musician and Silkroad collaborator Pura Fé about her time in Standing Rock for the #NoDAPL occupation, ethnomusicologist Everardo “Ever” Reyes take on how songs like Fé's “Mahk Jćhi” are a part of a long tradition of indigenous protest music and Standing Rock Sioux tribe member and historian Dakota Goodhouse on the legacy of Sitting Bull and how Indigenous people opposed and resisted westward expansion.