Rhiannon Giddens's Haunting "Swannanoa Tunnel" Arrives at a Time of Unprecedented Devastation in Western North Carolina

[flying_wahini]

Listen to the North Carolina native’s heart-wrenching take on a centuries-old song, in the works before Hurricane Helene.


There was no way they could have known that this week, after Hurricane Helene barreled through Western North Carolina and left a path of destruction in its wake, the song would take on a whole new meaning.
… First sung in the late nineteenth century to the accompaniment of hammers striking steel, the song “Swannanoa Tunnel”—sometimes called “Asheville Junction”—details the plight of wrongfully imprisoned Black laborers leased to Western North Carolina Railroad and forced to build the tracks that would transport timber and other resources from Appalachia to the coast. Along the already hazardous route, the Swannanoa Gap proved one of the most treacherous sections, requiring six tunnels to be cut through mountains, including the 1,832-foot Swannanoa Tunnel. An estimated 125 to 300 laborers died in the effort.

https://gardenandgun.com/articles/rhiannon-giddenss-haunting-swannanoa-tunnel-arrives-at-a-time-of-unprecedented-devastation-in-western-north-carolina/

[BoRaGard]

1. Tabla tip: check out the tabla, lifting off at about 4:20 Hmmm.

Multicultural Magic

[Think. Again.]

2. I hadn't cried about it yet, until I watched this.