The Carolina Chocolate Drops are making a return to their home state. The band is playing at Memorial Hall tonight at 8 p.m. along with New York’s Luminescent Orchestrii. Staff writer Deborah Strange spoke with a member of the band, Rhiannon Giddens, about folk music, inspiration and returning to North Carolina.
Daily Tar Heel: What do you hope listeners take away from your music and performances?
Rhiannon Giddens:I hope they take away a great night out, that they forget their cares for an evening and enjoy the music we provide. And we don’t want to lecture them, but we hope they learn a different idea of old-timey; we play music that’s not really well known, that’s from another era.
DTH: How do you bring traditional folk music to the current time?
RG: We bring ourselves, which is good because were modern people. We’re not really into replication of old sounds –we figured there’s recording out there for that…We take the energy and the idea of that music from the 20’s and we might to an arrangement of that, but we’re going to be live…We absorb it and let ourselves interpret it. I think that’s generally a good thing for old-time music. It can kind of get stuck a little bit…We can’t be those people because we were born in the 70’s and 80’s. We don’t try – we just be ourselves, and I think that’s a good thing.
DTH: What inspires you as a musician?
RG: Great music. I’m drawn to folk music in the 1st place because of the history and the stories of regular people. I find my understanding of American history the more I go into the music. As a band, we’re all on the same boat, which is why it works so well. We all like different stuff, but the music people are making are We’re not into pop music that much, but there’s some good pop out there…Music can say something, but on the other hand it has a really good beat…We’d rather have an organic feel to it.
DTH: What should audience members expect at the show?
RG: They should expect entertainment, I hope. A lot of music and a little bit of talking and maybe some dancing. A lot of energy – we put a lot of energy in the shows, so they can dance…It’s going to be a real show. This one’s going to be a bit bigger than we usually get to do, and it’s going to be really fun.
