American Railroad: Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens on Nov 9, 2023 | UCSB Arts & Lectures

“Silkroad has people from all over, and that’s what makes it such a great group to represent the American story, because that’s what the American story is. We are world music.” – Rhiannon Giddens

Under the leadership of 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winner Rhiannon Giddens, the genre-defying Silkroad Ensemble embarks on a new initiative that amplifies the untold stories of African American, Chinese, Indigenous, Irish and other communities in the creation of North America’s railroads. Chinese traditional music on the suona and pipa is contrasted with the fiddle and banjo of Black musical traditions, and their Indigenous and Celtic counterparts. These cultural intersections reveal a thread of commonality despite their varied origins, and remind us of the intricately rich American story.

Rhiannon Giddens, banjo, voice
Shawn Conley, bass
Pura Fé Crescioni, lap steel guitar, voice
Haruka Fujii, percussion
Sandeep Das, tablas
Karen Ouzounian, cello
Mazz Swift, violin, voice
Niwel Tsumbu, guitar
Francesco Turrisi, frame drums, accordion
Kaoru Watanabe, percussion
Michi Wiancko, violin
Wu Man, pipa
Yazhi Guo, suona, Chinese percussion