Season 2
6 episodes · May 1, 2024
Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens is also artistic director of Silkroad, the groundbreaking international musical ensemble. For this second season, she hosts outstanding guest artists who have been touring with her as part of Silkroad’s “American Railroad” project, celebrating the musical traditions of the people who built America’s transcontinental railroad and those whose lives were transformed by it.
Season Videos
0/6 watched
Swipe a row to mark watched · long-press to mark up to there
S2E1Wu Man
May 1, 2024Host Rhiannon Giddens performs and talks with pipa master Wu Man, a 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellow who has been part of Silkroad Ensemble since its founding in 2000 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. They talk about the origins of the pipa and discuss Silk Road’s multi-year “American Railroad” project.
S2E2Maeve Gilchrist
May 8, 2024Host Rhiannon Giddens shares a musical visit with Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist in an historic North Carolina train station. They discuss the harp’s place in different musical traditions and talk about Maeve’s original composition for Silkroad Ensemble’s “American Railroad” project.
S2E3Mazz Swift
May 15, 2024Host Rhiannon Giddens visits with Mazz Swift, a violinist, vocalist, and improvisational conductor whose musical journey includes education at Juilliard, playing music in the New York subway, and working with goats on a farm.
S2E4Sandeep Das
May 22, 2024Sandeep Das is a virtuoso on the northern India drums called tabla, and his musical education included living for twelve years in the home of a famous guru. Sandeep and host Rhiannon share a visit in L.A.’s Union Station that concludes with a Silkroad Ensemble performance at U.C. Berkeley featuring the tabla.
S2E5Haruka Fujii
May 29, 2024Japanese percussionist Haruka Fujii talks with Rhiannon about the surprising history of the marimba in Japan and her own mission to spread the beauty of Japanese music to diverse audiences. They discuss Silkroad’s “American Railroad” project, and the episode ends with a performance of Fujii’s original composition “Tamping Song”.
S2E6Pura Fé
Jun 5, 2024Native American vocalist and lap steel guitarist Pura Fé has both Tuscarora and Taino blood in her veins and generations of ancestors in her voice. She shares her personal background and musical journey in an episode that culminates in a Silkroad Ensemble performance of her song “Mahk Jchi”.