The thermometer in the car read 103 degrees as we parked and made our way to Central Park through the summer swelter. We had missed the set by U.S.-based Pakistani sound artist SLOWSPIN, who opened this free show from City Parks Foundation Summerstage. But all present were soon blessed with a refreshing breeze—the beginning of the end of our regional steam-cleaning—just as Lido Pimienta brought her Colombian neo-folk trio to the stage.
Pimienta grew up in Barranquilla, Colombia, steeped in folkloric and popular music styles, cumbia, bullerengue, indigenous and Afro-Colombian traditions. Since moving to Canada, she’s branched into electronica and other modern influences, but always remained true to her roots music origins.
On stage with just a versatile drummer and a fiddler, Pimienta carried the set with her robust vocals, and a few pointed words about the plight of immigrants in our time. The grooves were rich with African rhythms, and she had fans up front, clearly there just for her. For newcomers like us, equally arresting were the vivid visuals projected on the screen behind the performers, powerfully evoking Colombian beauty. As the music played, the breezes blew and the thermometer receded, the audience filled out, and the evening became Summerstage at its best, a Central Park blessing to end a grueling midtown summer day.
Then it was time for the Rhiannon Giddens Old Time Revue. Giddens opened with a nod to her home state, North Carolina, covering Elizabeth Cotton’s timeless song “Freight Train.” Accompanied only by her guitarist, she gave the old classic a soulful swing. From there, the ensemble grew, with ultimately six musicians on stage, including Giddens’s son and an alumnus of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the band where Giddens got her start. There were ballads, dance numbers and a deep blues with Giddens on fretless banjo. It was about as countrified as Central Park gets, and the crowd was loving it.
Speaking of the Chocolate Drops, there were a number of references to the late old-time fiddler Joe Thompson. Thompson was more or less the band’s guru back in the day, the man who schooled the musicians in the fine points of Piedmont music from North and South Carolina. This concert was a celebration of African Americana, with side trips to Nigeria and Congo. Giddens, who spoke with Afropop for our program The Black History of the Banjo, has long championed awareness of the Africanisms in American music, particularly old time and folk, where there’s been a good deal of whitewashing over the decades.
She spoke about this, also about community and solidarity in times of oppression. The music was timeless, but her words were sharply focused on the present moment in America. After one lively romp, Giddens noted, “No drums up here!” And it’s true. The joyous uplift of African rhythm is deeply woven into our acoustic string music traditions, and it’s been so for centuries.
Here are a few photos from the show. Visit the City Parks Foundation website for more on this season’s Summerstage shows.
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