A talk with Gianpaolo Chiriacò & Napoleon Maddox

Talk Presentation > Evaa (Associazione antropologica Alto Adige)

What is the relationship between centuries of slavery and the falsetto of James Brown? To what extent is the experience of the black American communities reflected in the timbre of Nina Simone or in the gestures of Bobby McFerrin? How is it possible to understand what is happening in the United States today, with the Black Lives Matter and the election of Donald Trump, in the melodies of singers and activists ? Gianpaolo Chiriacò, Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Free University of Bolzano, and Napoleon Maddox - singer, activist and composer from Cincinnati, author of Twice the First Time (Schlanders, September 21) - will present the book "Voci Nere. Storia e antropologia del canto afroamericano" (Mimesis, 2018)" by Chiriacò. Based on three years of ethnographic research on the South Side of Chicago, the book illustrates the physical, literary, material, political and spiritual components of black singing.