QUEEN ESTHER ON GETTYSBURG, RESILIENCE & HER ALBUM BLACKBIRDING
This episode of Big Blend Radio’s “Toast to The Arts & Parks” podcast celebrates National Arts & Humanities Month with Queen Esther, who completed a National Parks Arts Foundation (NPAF) artist residency at Gettysburg National Military Park in 2020.
Queen Esther reflects on her artistic journey, the emotional impact of her Gettysburg residency, and the themes of her upcoming album Blackbirding. The conversation delves into the historical significance of Gettysburg, the concept of blackbirding, and the power of art in preserving and conveying history. She emphasizes the resilience of the Black community and the importance of understanding the past to navigate the present and future. The discussion also touches on the role of women in history and politics, spirituality in music, and the significance of artistic expression during challenging times.
Queen Esther roamed Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg battlefield to create Blackbirding, a reclamation driven Black country soul album that dismantles myths and assumptions about what happened during what is considered by most historians to be the bloodiest, most important engagement of The Civil War – and explores the reasons why, like slavery, this conflict has never really ended.
This album centers her Black feminist perspective as it encompasses different aspects of a battle that was fought in a crossroads town that held a small community of free Black Americans and their ties to the Underground Railroad in its crosshairs. Many of these Black folk were blackbirded – kidnapped by Confederate soldiers and sent South into slavery, under guard. And yet, the act of taking Black lives by any means necessary continues unabated because the system that perpetuated these atrocities in America has yet to be fully dismantled. Slavery didn’t end – it evolved. Black people are still getting blackbirded, whether anyone acknowledges this or not.
These songs are a running commentary on what’s happening now as they reflect the unbridled chaotic mélange of the battlefield and its aftermath – Irish immigrants, Huguenots, Les Vivandieres and Europeans of every ilk, Union and Confederate soldiers loyal to their cause as they lay wounded and dying, trained by the French military, fought on farmland owned by free Black men – all of it drowning in blood and wine.
The first single Hold Steady is available here: https://ffm.to/holdsteady
Pre-save or order the full album Blackbirding here: https://ffm.to/qeblackbirding
Queen Esther is a performance artist, solo performer, actor, songwriter, lyricist, topliner, vocalist, producer, musician and storyteller.
Learn more: https://www.queen-esther.com
Hear her first interview with us in 2020: https://online.fliphtml5.com/yhwzg/fotl/#p=72
Learn more about the National Parks Arts Foundation’s artist residencies: https://www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org
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