Performer Magazine - Rising Appalachia
Performer Magazine - Rising Appalachia
Performer Magazine - Rising Appalachia
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THE MUSICIAN’S RESOURCE MAGAZINE // SOUTHEAST // OCTOBER 2009<br />
performermag.com
30 OCTOBER 2009 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
Leah and Chloe Smith never<br />
chose to be musicians, music<br />
chose them. From their childhood<br />
upbringing in Atlanta with<br />
parents who exposed them<br />
firsthand to <strong>Appalachia</strong>n folk<br />
songs, jazz and the blues, to<br />
embracing the spoken word and hip-hop scenes<br />
as teenagers at Grady High School, the sisters<br />
were engulfed in music. They did, however,<br />
choose to re-evaluate and reform themselves,<br />
becoming the collective RISE.<br />
Formerly <strong>Rising</strong> <strong>Appalachia</strong>, they changed their name “as an<br />
indication of a transformation in space, mission, drive, ideals, voice<br />
and sound,” as their MySpace manifesto explains. The sisters play<br />
banjo and fiddle, but experiment with R&B flavor and are usually<br />
accompanied by percussionist Imhotep. And their performances<br />
can have up to 12 on stage. Their sound is sometimes filled out<br />
by trumpeter Maurice Turner, bassist John Branigan or by the<br />
inclusion of countless instruments like the spoons, washboard<br />
or kalimba (thumb piano). Spoken word artists Gypsy-O and<br />
Teresa Davis often grace their shows. Marcia Jones may do live<br />
art alongside them or they may entice the crowd to dance along<br />
as they shimmy while singing “Booties for Obama.” One constant<br />
is that RISE engages their audience and immerses them in an<br />
experience. They share songs learned while traveling around the<br />
world and dare listeners to venture past their comfort zones and<br />
make deeper connections<br />
them. We’ve never spent seven, nine, 10, 12 months in a studio<br />
recording with Pro Tools and fixing and editing everything.<br />
Everything we’ve ever recorded has been one take or two takes,<br />
live recording, everybody playing at once. It’s not a perfect product<br />
in the land of music, but it maintains a whole lot of personality.<br />
I’d like to hope that some of the flaws and mishaps become ways<br />
that we can maintain humanity.” Though she modestly speaks of<br />
blemishes, their sound comes off as seamless and polished.<br />
Musically, Leah and Chloe are avid philanthropists. When RISE is<br />
on the stage, they perform to elevate humankind, using the power<br />
of their voices and skilled instrumentation to unify, inspire and<br />
move to action. They are connecting people worldwide, whether<br />
singing a Congolese folk song or taking on the perspective of a<br />
post-Katrina man who sees “all this water coming out [his] sink<br />
a world journey, integrating our own flavor through the whole<br />
thing” with these songs.<br />
The original material that RISE delivers is a message that rings<br />
out with vibrancy, delivered in subdued tones. In the spoken<br />
word piece “State Of The Nation,” Leah muses bluntly, “I sent<br />
razor blades and cigar boxes and food kept out in blockades to<br />
the wolves and the foxes…in this nation declaration visitation<br />
intact/that makes itself bigger on the global map/that swims<br />
with the sharks and pummels the shacks/and lays its head down<br />
in the corporate lap.” After lamenting, she goes the extra mile to<br />
enumerate steps to achieving a more just America and paints<br />
a vision of the beautiful future we can expect as a result. “Stop<br />
funding the fight and start funding the farmer…we could educate<br />
our people and bring forth the thunder of a nation so powerful,<br />
OCTOBER 2009 PERFORMER MAGAZINE 31
its tools are in mind/it’s sought for its studies, and trusted in find,<br />
that freedom of speech insures honor in news.”<br />
Such open, unabashed conversation is a deep departure from<br />
their previous works, reflecting the “evolutions in sound,” thought<br />
and action that they have undergone. Their songs have turned<br />
away from the subject of love to focus on loving humanity.<br />
Similarly, their voices and instrumentation have leaped into a new<br />
frontier. Five years ago, this deep changing was initiated by their<br />
involvement with Alternate Roots, an organization bridging arts<br />
and activism. The organization has further propelled the ladies’<br />
advancement by funding a trip to India to be part of the carnival<br />
studies at the International Juggling Convention.<br />
And the more Leah and Chloe become involved, the more<br />
they long to expand. Outside of performing, they’re studying<br />
ethnomusicology and environmental studies, and taking part<br />
in political rallies. They tattoo themselves and develop an<br />
outer image that reflects their lack of limitation. Within their<br />
performances, RISE uses the stage as a means to empowerment.<br />
“As artists now in this modern age,” says Leah, “we don’t so much<br />
have the privilege to do art for the sake of art without connecting<br />
it to some deeper thing.” So they visit school assemblies,<br />
celebrating with the students in a second-line style procession to<br />
end their performance. Or they visit juvenile detention centers<br />
and assist in women’s conferences. They infuse their lifestyle into<br />
hand-packaged cardboard CD cases, printed on with soy-based ink.<br />
Leah says they pass up working partnerships “that may seem like<br />
an uphill battle” to do the “gig that’s much more conscious that’s<br />
“As artists now in this<br />
modern age, we don’t so<br />
much have the privilege<br />
to do art for the sake of<br />
art without connecting it to<br />
some deeper thing.”<br />
-Leah Smith<br />
probably going to pay in potluck food and barters for swimming<br />
pool access.”<br />
From Americana roots to fusers of world music, RISE is currently<br />
to folk music what dap is to a handshake. They have transformed,<br />
transcended and arrived at a place in their journey where they can<br />
both create masterful music and propagate powerful messages,<br />
proving that art and activism are a beautiful and necessary mix.<br />
www.myspace.com/risingappalachia