Marc Ribot: Songs of Resistance (feat. Shahzad Ismaily)
“Unlike any album Marc Ribot has ever done…One of the most explosive concerts” – Bob Boilen, NPR
Doors: 7:00p
Show: 8:00p
Venue: Regas Square Events (333 W. Depot Ave., Knoxville, TN)
Big Ears presents a very special presentation of Marc Ribot in duo with Shahzad Ismaily performing selections from “Songs of Resistance,” eleven politically charged tracks released in September 2018. The collection blends Civil Rights and WWII resistance songs with Ribot’s original compositions, aiming to channel the spirit of past movements for today’s struggles. Ribot’s work embodies ambition, passion, and fury, addressing social turmoil and challenges of today’s political climate.
“We are soldiers/in the army/we have to fight/we also have to cry”, says one of the Civil Rights lyrics (performed by vocalist Fay Victor on the Ribot-directed, multi-artist album “Songs Of Resistance” [2018, Anti-]). We also have to…laugh, rant, party…and improvise.
Songs of Resistance in duo (Marc Ribot, joined by multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily) use radical rearrangements of some of the material from the 2018 Anti- release as a jumping off point plus new material, improvisation and…whatever else reaps urgency.
Songs of Resistance Duo are in it for the long haul…not “protest song” per se…but an approach to the history of resistance songs that resists the cliched dysfunction of our present, and performs the freedom we demand from the future.
