DEMOCRACY NOW AND MUSIC!

Dear Friend,  I hope you are taking good care as everyone tries to make it through this pandemic alone together. As we all know, the way to flatten the curve is to stay at home and isolate as much as possible. Democracy Now! is working day and night to bring you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in daily for the most up-to-date information on this global crisis. You can visit our coronavirus topics page anytime for in-depth interviews and analysis on the pandemic and every aspect of life it touches, from the state of our healthcare system and the future of Medicare for All to workers’ rights, immigration and mass incarceration. At this time, when almost everyone in the United States has been directed to stay at home, we are reaching back into the Democracy Now! archive to share some musical performances with you that soothe the soul and lift the spirits. The legendary singer, poet and author Patti Smith performed two songs at Democracy Now!'s 20th anniversary celebration at Riverside Church in New York City in late 2016. Smith opened with “Peaceable Kingdom,” a song she wrote for Rachel Corrie, the American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. made a surprise appearance onstage, too, joining Smith to sing "People Have the Power." A few years ago, Alynda Segarra, leader of the critically acclaimed band Hurray for the Riff Raff, joined us in the studio for an interview and to perform her songs. When she was just 17, Alynda left home in the Bronx and began hopping freight trains. She eventually landed in New Orleans, where she learned to play banjo. Over the past decade, her band has become one of the most celebrated in modern folk music. In 2018, Malian Singer Fatoumata Diawara performed in the Democracy Now! studio and joined us for interview about her life and career, the importance of women in Malian society and the migrant crisis in Europe. In 2013, she gathered 40 of the best-known Malian musicians to come together to record a song calling for peace in the war-torn country. Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd—one of the most popular rock bands of all time—has been a frequent guest in the Democracy Now! studio. In 2016, he joined us with teenage cellist Alexander Rohatyn to perform the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome." The Los Angeles-based psychedelic soul band Chicano Batman has also performed live in our studio. The band played their song “Freedom is Free,” which they described as a “move to unravel our minds of fear from the powers that be and replace it with self-empowerment.” Zeshan B's debut album sounds like ’60s-style American funk and soul—sung partially in Punjabi and Urdu. In 2017, Rolling Stone named him one of the 10 new artists you need to know. He joined us in the studio to perform songs from his album, Vetted. In 2012, Amy interviewed legendary pianist and composer Randy Weston, who died in 2018 at the age of 92. For more than six decades, Weston was a pioneering jazz musician who incorporated into his work the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. His 1960 album, “Uhuru Afrika,” celebrated the independence movements in Africa and the influence of traditional African music on jazz.  Musician Ahmed Gallab, aka Sinkane, stopped by the Democracy Now! studio in 2018 to perform and talk about making music as a Sudanese-American artist in the age of Trump. The influential music site Pitchfork described Sinkane's music as "fragments of sub-Saharan pop, shoegaze, afro-rock, electronica, krautrock, and everything in between—all melded into his own funky blend.”  Las Cafeteras, a Los Angeles-based Chicano band, also joined us in studio for an interview and performance. The band has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “a uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia and rock.”  Back in 2008, we sat down with country music legend Willie Nelson to talk politics and have him play some songs, including “A Moment of Forever,” “On the Road Again,” “You’re Always on My Mind” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Radio Jarocho is a New York band specializing in son jarocho, a mix of Afro-Caribbean, Spanish and Mexican indigenous dance and music. In 2018, the band joined us in the studio to play songs from their album, Rios de Norte y Sur: Rivers of the North and South, which features the master jarana player and poet Zenen Zeferino.  One of Mexico’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Lila Downs, stopped by the Democracy Now! studio in 2017 to perform songs and talk about her music, Donald Trump and much more. The Grammy-winning artist had just released her 10th album, Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo, which she dedicated to strong women everywhere.  I hope you enjoy watching these beautiful performances and listening to the musicians behind them speak about their work and so much more. Please stay safe during these troubled times and keep tuning in to Democracy Now! for the latest news. Remember, it's an altruistic act to stay at home and stop community spread. Democracy Now! Amy Goodman