Rhiannon
Rhiannon Giddens is a singer, songwriter, and banjoist, who has also been nominated for Grammys. The world premiere of her opera called Omar is set to happen in a 2021 festival. I have not seen much of her work nor have I heard much about her until coming to Santa Clara University, so I am pretty excited to hear from her in class on Tuesday.
Her opera called Omar is based on an enslaved Muslim-African named Omar Ibn Said, and Omar's autobiography was written in Arabic in 1831. After I have read the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said as well as an article about Rhiannon Giddens's opera on Omar, I have developed a couple of questions to ask Rhiannon Giddens on Tuesday in our class. I do not know much about operas or Omar, so I am super interested to hear from Rhiannon Giddens.
The first question that I would like to ask Rhiannon Giddens during our class on Tuesday this week is:
Do you think Omar Ibn Said's experience as a slave is similar or different to the experiences of other slaves?
The next question that I would like to ask Rhiannon Giddens during our class on Tuesday this week is:
When creating the opera, you must have done extensive research. How long did it take you to do the research and create the opera? What was surprising about your research?
I am excited to hear what she has to say about these questions and what she has to say about questions others will ask as well.
I am interested to hear her response to your question about how long it took!
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated to hear Rhiannon's response to your second question. We do a lot of research in this class, so it'll be interesting to hear how her research process went.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for Gidden's answer to your second question! As a songwriter, I can't help but wonder how she took such a brief narrative and turned it into an Opera.
ReplyDeleteI really like your first question. I'm interested in hearing what Rhiannon thinks about how Omar's specific Muslim-African identity distinguishes him from other enslaved people.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested to hear how long it took her to research this in development for her opera.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been a while of research and editing to make it into an opera
ReplyDeleteGreat questions!
ReplyDeleteI am eagerly awaiting to hear her answer both of your questions, particularly the second one.
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