Friday, August 13th, 6:00 PM with openers Kim Trusty
River Island Park in Woonsocket as part of the Levitt Amp series
Reverend Sekou’s music combines elements of Gospel, soul, blues and more. Here’s how Sekou describes the experience of attending one of his performances:
REV. SEKOU: “One part juke joint, one part political rally, one part Sunday morning at a Pentecostal church. I come out of a particular kind of musical tradition that was birthed in the Mississippi Delta that produced the greatest musical tradition in the history of the Western World. And produced the greatest institution in the history of the Western World and that is the Black Church. So I’m just trying to get back to that sound.”
That sound and that musical tradition is the Mississippi Delta Blues.
The struggle for justice is a big part of Rev. Sekou’s music and his life’s work. In 2017, he was invited to Charlottesville, Virginia to help train clergy to respond to the “Unite the Right” rally. He tells the story when he performs “Bury Me.”
SEKOU: “And on August 11th, we were gathered in a church. And we couldn’t leave that church because Nazis were outside with torches. And on August 12th I watched Heather Hayer take her last breath. And so that night we were locked in that church we sang this song which has become an anthem for us. It’s called ‘Bury Me.’ “
Protest and the struggle for freedom are a common thread in Sekou’s music, and sometimes there’s anger in that struggle, but the reverend told me that you’ve got to have joy as well.
SEKOU: “Part of what the folks who raised me used to sing those sentences [singing] ‘This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me. The world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away.’ So you’ve got to have joy, man.”
One song that stands out for me is “Loving You Is Killing Me.” Heartbreak is a theme you’ve probably heard in Blues music before, but what’s different is who Reverend Sekou is singing to.
SEKOU: “I’m singing about America, I’m singing about the United States. That you give all to this place and it still continues to break your heart. But you can only have your heart broken when you’ve loved. And therein lies the quandary.”
