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Dichteres Ciona Rouse over muziek en vrijheid in de VS

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Dichteres Ciona Rouse over muziek en vrijheid in de VS

Dichteres Ciona Rouse uit Nashville timmert al jaren aan de weg om gedichten uit boekhandels en bibliotheken te halen, en naar concertzalen, theaters en musea te brengen.

“We the people” — there are only certain people that were part of that “we” from the beginning.
Ciona Rouse

Ciona Rouse werkt samen met o.a. beeldend kunstenaars en jazz en bluesmuzikanten. “What resonates with me in Nashville is this power to be and create. It is a really supportive and literary city.”

In 2017 werd haar eerste dichtbundel “Vantablack” uitgebracht door de uitgeverij van muzikant Jack White. “Vantablack is the darkest nanotube substance scientists have worked so hard to create. Yet literally at the same time, we have black people begging to matter.”

We the people

Vrijheid en muziek vormen de grote rode draad door het leven en werk van Ciona. Over de huidige situatie in de VS voor niet-blanke personen zegt Ciona: "This idea of freedom that was originally written into the Constitution as “We the people” — there are only certain people that were part of that “we” from the beginning. The hard part is the wondering: is this a passing note, or are we in this tension for another hundred years?”

Blues muzikante Bessie Smith, Sixpence None The Richer, Jimi Hendrix en Jon Foreman komen allemaal langs in dit inspirerende gesprek.