Rhiannon Giddens’ latest album there is no Other, recorded with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, is set for a May 3 release on Nonesuch Records. Produced by Joe Henry and tracked over an intensely productive five day period in Dublin, Ireland, there is no Other is at once a condemnation of “othering” and a celebration of the spread of ideas, connectivity, and shared experience. Giddens and Turrisi will perform at the Long Road Festival at Stanford Hall, Leicestershire from September 6 to 9, with further European dates to be announced. Watch the video for “I’m On My Way” below:
Tracing the overlooked movement of sounds from Africa and the Arabic world and their influence on European and American music, there is no Other illuminates the universality of music and the commonality of the human experience. It primarily features only Giddens and Turrisi playing one or two instruments together. The album comprises a mix of original songs penned by Giddens and a diverse set of interpretations ranging from Ola Belle Reed’s ‘I’m Gonna Write Me a Letter’, and Oscar Brown, Jr’s ‘Brown Baby’, the Italian traditional ‘Pizzica di San Vito’ to the aria ‘Black Swan’ by Gian-Carlo Menotti.
Giddens recently told the Irish Times: “It’s all about movement, for both of us…movements of human beings and how we affect each other. If you just look at our range of instruments, where they’ve come from and how they’ve travelled across the world, it’s pretty amazing. The way that both of us approach music is very similar because we’re both educated about where the music is coming from. But when it comes to playing, we’re both just playing what we feel.”
There is no Other was recorded with little editing and overdubbing. Giddens sings and plays minstrel banjo, octave violin, and viola. Turrisi plays piano, accordion, frame drum, tamburello, lute, cello banjo, daf, and colascione. They are joined on four songs by Kate Ellis on cello. The array of instruments reveal the sonic ties that bind between African, Arabic, European, and American cultures.
Giddens and Turrisi will debut a number of songs from the album at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN on March 22 (where they will also perform their score for two performances of the ballet Lucy Negro Redux, recently deemed a “miracle” by the New York Times), and have announced an extensive 2019 US tour. See nonesuch.com/on-tour for a current list of tour dates.
Giddens will be no stranger to our regular readers, most recently we reviewed her performance with the Celtic Blues Orchestra at Celtic Connections here.
Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi defies easy categorization. Called “a musical alchemist” by the Irish Times, Turrisi is a Turin–born musician whose Dublin base reflects his global sensibilities. With his unique ability to fold early music, pan-Mediterranean modal melodies, and European flavored jazz into a single repertoire, Turrisi has developed a musical style that crisscrosses cultures and forges musical alliances that are, at once, old and familiar and startlingly brand new. He has performed and recorded with Bobby McFerrin, jazz icon Dave Liebman, early music group l’Arpeggiata, contemporary ensemble Bang on a Can, Irish sean-nós singer Roisin El Safty, and tarantella specialist Lucilla Galeazzi.
Pre-Order the album here: http://smarturl.it/thereisnoother