Saturday, July 17, 2021

NPR.org: Amplify With Lara Downes: We Should Tell Stories Of Black Joy: Will Liverman Talks With Lara Downes


(Credit NPR)

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/17/1015947202/we-should-tell-stories-of-black-joy-will-liverman-talks-with-lara-downes

National Public Radio

July 17, 2021

In Februrary, Will Liverman released his album Dreams of a New Day. It's a beautiful collection of art songs by Black composers, many in world premiere recordings, that chart the peaks and valleys of the Black American experience, celebrating hope and joy, but too often chronicling pain, violence and loss.

The opening track is a setting by composer Damien Sneed of Langston Hughes' "I Dream a World," in which the poet writes: "A world I dream where black or white, / Whatever race you be, / Will share the bounties of the earth / And every man is free."

That dream — a dream deferred — took on urgency and energy in recent years, bringing millions together in the streets of our cities. And those of us who express this dream through music have also come together, lifting our voices in a crescendo that asks for one simple thing: just to be heard.

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