![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, after all, has been embedded in black America’s DNA for more than 100 years. Maybe it’s just me, but while it’s reasonable to assume everyone in attendance at Beychella (as it would come to be known) didn’t know the history of the black national anthem, surely more than a couple knew its significance. “It was a celebration of all the people who sacrificed more than we could ever imagine, who moved the world forward so that it could welcome a woman of color to headline such a festival.” - Beyonce, “Beyoncé in Her Own Words: Her Life, Her Body, Her Heritage”, Vogue, September 2018 But they understood the feeling it gave them. I know that most of the young people on the stage and in the audience did not know the history of the black national anthem before Coachella. I swear I felt pure joy shining down on us. One of the most rewarding parts of the show was making that change. ![]() After a few days of humming the anthem, I realized I had the melody wrong. In the show at the time I was working on a version of the anthem with these dark minor chords and stomps and belts and screams. One day I was randomly singing the black national anthem to Rumi while putting her to sleep. I was so specific because I’d seen it, I’d heard it, and it was already written inside of me. ![]()
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