Een goede 4 maand geleden bracht BIR-favorite Rhiannon Giddens met haar levenslange collaborator Sxip Shirey, All Babies Must Cry (video), ten voordele van RAICES, een non-profit organisatie voor legale bijstand voor kinderen van vluchtelingen. (SOUNDS)
Nu Corona de hele wereld lam legt, brengen ze ons een nieuwe cover, Just The Two Of Us, ten voordele van Global Giving’s Coronavirus Relief Fund, en ter ere van Bill Withers die vorige maand stierf. De opname dateert trouwens al van 2016.
Sxips ongewone muzikale keuzes (Jank zoals hij het graag labelt) in combinatie met de wondermooie stem van Rhiannon, toveren deze Grammy winnende song van Bill Withers uit 1981 om tot iets hedendaags.
Naast het origineel kennen vele mensen ook de songs van oa 2Pac of Will Smith die de song samplen en als basis gebruikten voor hun hiphop songs.
Luister ook naar: de versie door Bill Withers 2Pac gebruikt de song als sample
ter info A number of years ago, Rhiannon Giddens pointed out that my piece "My Own Dirge" was basically the chords to Bill Wither's "Just the Two of Us", which is a better piece of music so I started performing that. Most often with Xavier Smith in NYC, but also with Rhi when she came through NYC and performed at Sxip's Hour of Charm, Lady Rizo, Mikael Bres of LIMBO and various singers around the world. Eventually Rhiannon and I did a circus festival in Harlem for curator Monique Martin, performing "Just The Two of Us" and an original "Hot Chocolate" that she wrote and I helped on the bridge. We slammed it that night and Rhi said "We must get into the studio NOW and record this." We did. This was in 2016, after Bill died.. Rhi got a hold of me and said "We need to release this!" So we did. It's a benefit for Global Giving Covid Relief. It's a JANK, with Attis Clopton on drums and John Altieri on Sousa, Don Godwin mixed it and Randy Leroy mastered it. Everyone gave their time for free to put it out.. and the video! Coco Karol shot the images of the mother in the street, which is part of an ongoing project and Rhi suggested photos, I suggested the partial animations. The video was put together by the amazing Jacob McCoy. And we are super happy Vanity Fair is premiering it!
- Sxip Shirey Cut a few years ago, Giddens’ version of the tune had been stored away in a vault until Withers’ death last month reminded her of the recording. “[We] thought it would serve as the perfect backdrop to the reality of where we are now – staying inside so that our healthcare workers have the best chance to fight this virus that cares nothing for the artificial divisions we have put up between us,” Giddens says in a release. “So whether it’s just the two of us, or just a few of us; whether the lockdown has been for months or it’s about to be lifted; Covid-19 is here for the foreseeable future, and the more we can be alone together now, the better the future will be.”
