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Celebrate Black History Month with TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, 1Hood's Farooq al-Said & more

For Black History Month, WYEP has asked some special guests to tell us which artists they're celebrating throughout February. Our features include conversations with TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe (who's celebrating Richie Havens), folk artist Lizzie No (celebrating Dorothy Ashby) and 1Hood Media's Farooq al-Said (celebrating Corinne Bailey Rae).

You can hear those guests and more talking about their chosen artists throughout the month!

Tunde Adebimpe, of TV on the Radio, celebrating the music of Richie Havens

The first time I became aware of Richie Havens, he was actually on Sesame Street and I remember being a kid and I just remembered thinking, ‘Okay, here's this man who looks kind of like my uncle that he's playing the guitar.’ I've never really seen a Black person playing an acoustic guitar, and they're on Sesame Street, so I love them.

But then much later, I saw footage of Richie Havens at Woodstock singing the song ‘Freedom,’ and the lyrics, you know, ‘Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.’ To see someone you didn't know about from a bygone era, it just kind of filled me with this feeling of like, ‘Well, if I didn't know anything about him, who else do I not know about from that era?’ It was just kind of an edifying thing to realize like, ‘Oh, that's a part of our culture and our history and I don't have to feel weird about it.’ I do have this card in my back pocket for anyone who says, ‘Well, why do you like rock ‘n’ roll? Why do you like folk music?’ Well, because it's a part of my cultural history and because these people are amazing.

There are people who you listen to and you think, ‘Okay, this person is, quote unquote, a trained singer.  They're virtuosic with what they can do with their voice and then there are some people who that might be the case, but just the feeling that they transmit with just the emotion behind their voice, I guess the architecture of their particular, you know, instrument in their throat, there's a presence to it that is more to do with feeling than technique.

I feel like that's a very encouraging thing for me as somebody who is not a trained singer. It's inspiring to kind of know that if you go from your gut and you can transmit a feeling sonically. With lyrics, I feel like with him and with a lot of folk singers, the simplicity of lyrics as a tool to communicate with as many people as possible is a very important thing.

Whenever I'm writing lyrics, I do try to pare things down in the simplest way possible, which can make it more universal. There was a purpose. I feel so many of these songs, you know, you're speaking about freedom or emancipation from kind of old restrictive ideas. It's important to push things forward. And I feel like especially as maybe a Black artist who's working in a milieu or medium that was originated by Black people, but has not traditionally been populated by Black people is rock ‘n’ roll or folk music. It's inspiring to see someone else who kind of paved the way for you a bit and gave you sort of a north star. And it's one of those things where you're like, ‘Oh, I should keep going because maybe this message in a bottle, artwork, music work thing will be of use to somebody else in the same way that his work helped me out.’

Joffo Simmons, drummer for Joe Grushecky and the House Rockers, celebrating the music of James Brown

Black History Month 2025 - Joffo Simmons

I like ‘In the Jungle Groove,’ which came out when I was eight, I believe, in 1969, and that was basically my first exposure to music, like paying attention to music. Where I grew up in Shadyside, my downstairs neighbors — two of them — played music, and one of them played the drums. So he turned me on to James Brown. My brother, who doesn’t play, who’s a really big music fan, he turned me onto that record.

I just like the whole vibe of the record and the musicians that played on it — Clyde Stubblefield, who's probably the most sampled drum drummer in all hip -hop music, John Jabo Starks, he was another drummer on the record.

And then when you see that on TV like on The T.A.M.I Show and The Go Go Show, I was hooked. I just love James Brown's music. I've never stopped listening to it. For me as a drummer, it's one of the most fun reasons to play the drums.

When Martin Luther King died and the cities were burning — like even here in Pittsburgh in The Hill and Homewood, I just remember James Brown getting on Walter Cronkite [saying], ‘Brothers, I know you're angry. Stop the violence.’ People listened to what James Brown's opinion was — very important in the community. That's what I saw as a child. When he said that, it stopped. And the music's an even bigger impact. I think there's a lot of people that wouldn't even play if it wasn't for James. Oh, there's a lot of big artists that wouldn't play today if it wasn't for James Brown. I mean he influenced a whole culture and genre of music. I think that's enormously huge.

Farooq al-Said, artist, director of education at 1Hood Media, celebrating the music of Corinne Bailey Rae

Black History Month 2025 - Farouq Al Said

I want to celebrate one of my favorite artists of all time, the wonderful, the beautiful Corinne Bailey Rae. And I want to talk about her first album, ‘The Self -Titled.’ This album to me was such a pivotal moment, not just for me as a songwriter, as an artist, but as someone who consumes music and someone who narrates on the Black experience, the diasporic experience of Black people globally.

This was a great album, not just because it was a Black British vocalist, but also because for me, I got like the full spectrum emotional experience on this album. From the very beginning, everything that she talks about on there, there's loss, there's heartbreak, there's romance, there's pining and anxiety, and of course, you know, the break -off single, ‘Put Your Records On,’ which was just, you know, a great tune that everybody can kind of celebrate and relate to.

It was just such a wonderful and charming experience and it showed that Black people can sound like everything and anything and anybody all within one person and it was just wonderful. I go back to this record, you know, almost once a month, man, and it's been out for almost 20 years now. It’s just one of those classic records to me that no matter what I'm experiencing, I can go to. Like if I want a happy cry, if I want a sad cry, you know, if I just want to kind of sit silent and appreciate music.

Emmai Alaquiva

I was able to see her live right before the album dropped in England. And it was just an amazing experience. I got to see her play every instrument, you know, I got to give her a hug, which is amazing.

Earlier on when I was, you know, when I was really getting into the music business as a songwriter, you know, I kind of looked at things in like a very linear way. And if I wasn't writing records for myself, which sounded drastically different at the time, if I was writing records for other people, I would look at those human experiences about vulnerability. And then later in life, as I've kind of like reintroduced myself back into the music scene, back into the music business, that vulnerability that she displayed hasn't been something I call upon all the time.

I learned so much from just as a consumer of music and as a purveyor of fine sounds. But yeah, just listening to it, how she displayed vulnerability in the presence of something so terrifying is love. Right? That's a big step for a lot of people. Love is scary, you know what I mean? And just how honestly she talked about it in so many different modalities. Again, it's perfect.

On the album, there's a song called, ‘Call Me When You Get This,’ that samples Marvin Gaye. And the way that she brings the instrumentation in and the sample of Marvin, it's like, ‘yo, yo, I could listen to that.’ Like if the record dropped in 2025, it would sound current. It's absolutely timeless. From the actual Marvin Gaye sample to 2006, 2005, probably when it was recorded, to 2025, that record sounds like it could come out today and it would not be out of place at all. It's just, it is a perfect song. She's just so talented and that record is brilliant. Like it really speaks to an authentic human experience. And it's just, it's perfect. It's a perfect album.

Isaiah Ross of Jack Swing, celebrating Jimi Hendrix

Black History Month 2025 - Isaiah Ross

I'll say starting from ‘Axis Bold as Love,’ the album, I think that's a pretty solid thesis to me of Hendrix's energy and kind of what he brings to the table as far as musical performance and how he wants it to be perceived and kind of just his statement. Bold as Love specifically the song just kind of feels like such a personification of the love and power that I feel like he represented that I would always kind of tell people to start there just as far as feeling his magic.

I was 14 or 15, I think the first time that I heard him in the way that I was like completely mesmerized and mind-blown.  Rowdy from The Steel Woods, actually, was showing me some of his music because he was teaching me bass at the time and kind of just started from a position of this is the greatest musician ever almost, you know what I mean? I just remember my mind being completely melted just by sheer originality, and it was like nothing I had ever heard but also you can just feel the influence pretty early on.

As far as how he influenced the sound of music, you can kind of start there. So many guitarists have been influenced by his way of playing and legitimately I feel like a lot of people feel like Jimi Hendrix taught people how to play guitar in a cool way. There are still great players of that time, and before then like [Eric] Clapton and such, but even them, you know, like them seeing him was such a like oh my goodness like I can't even believe that you could play guitar like this. I feel like so much of popular music nowadays and since Hendrix is kind of just emulating things that he created that at the time no one had ever done before.

But also his influence just as far as inspiration, as far as being like a weird person of color who was unapologetic and kind of never backed down from that, and I think has inspired a lot of people as far as continuing their art and being the strongest versions of themselves. I think other people should listen to Jimi Hendrix just so that people recognize what it could look like when you really, really dedicate your life to a craft.

I think he's a perfect example of somebody who truly mastered something and I think that anybody who listens to his music gets that. I think that Hendrix is one of the most important people in music history, but also just kind of his like ethos of never really giving up.

Lizzie No, folk artist, harpist and bandleader, celebrating Dorothy Ashby

Black History Month 2025 - Lizzie No

The most influential harpist for me personally is Dorothy Ashby. She was a Michigan-born harpist who innovated like cosmic jazz harping for the bebop generation, and has inspired me and countless other musicians. My favorite album by her is ‘Dorothy's Harp.’ It is such a fun album. It kind of bridges the gap for me between classical harping and jazz. And it really digs into how Dorothy's use of the Salzedo method, which I also studied as a young harpist, gave her the foundations for innovating harp in a bebop context.

Cole Nielsen

My favorite memory of listening to this album was this past fall when I was on tour in Europe with Iron and Wine. I was missing home and feeling brave and adventurous and kind of alone walking around all these European cities that I'd never been to before. But in my headphones, it was always Dorothy Ashby reminding me that like as a Black artist, my home is the whole world. Because we are diasporic peoples who have a message to share with people all over the world. So I really feel this kinship with Dorothy Ashby and I always kind of jokingly refer to her and other Black harpists like her as part of the mystical Black Ladies Harp Society. Because there is such an incredible lineage of Black harpists who draw on jazz and rock and pop and classical music to innovate for the future.

Buscrates, producer and DJ, celebrating Leon Ware

Black History Month 2025 - Buscrates

I've picked the late, great Leon Ware, a songwriter and musician who came from Detroit, Michigan. He wrote songs for Motown in the late 60s, early 70s. One of the bigger ones, he wrote a song called ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are,’ and Michael Jackson, young Michael Jackson recorded it.

There's various versions of that. Zulema, another soul vocalist from back in the time, she did a cover. Marvin Gaye actually did a cover of it, but the full version didn't come out until much, much later. And there's a big story and connection between Leon Ware and Marvin Gaye, which I'll get it to in a second.

But he's done work with Minnie Riperton. He wrote on Quincy Jones' ‘Body Heat’ LP from 1974. And one of my favorite stories about Leon Ware is, I don't know how it happened, but he connected with an incredible Brazilian artist by the name of Marcos Vallee and they co-wrote some amazing songs. I mean, being, you got on one hand a guy from Detroit, Michigan, and then you have someone from Brazil who I don't know how well he even spoke English at the time. In fact, recently there's a label over in the UK called Far Out Recordings and on Marcos Vallee's new record, Marcos is in his early 80s now and he's, you should see him, he's buff. He looks like he would body slam both of us and he's in his mid-80s. But anyway, he put out a new record called Túnel Acústico. And on that record, they found these old tapes with a song, an unreleased song that he and Leon Ware recorded called ‘Feel So Good.’ And I highly recommend checking that out.

So now back to the Marvin Gaye connection. Marvin Gaye's I Want You LP from 1976. That entire record was a Leon Ware record. Someone at the label said, ‘Let's give this to Marvin. I think this should be a Marvin thing. And then Leon recorded an entirely separate LP called ‘Musical Massage.’ You know, obviously Marvin's ‘I Want You’ became one of his best records and everybody hails it as a masterpiece. But a lot of people don't realize that that whole record was supposed to be for Leon. Leon, he didn't record a whole bunch of solo records on his own, but the few that he did make are incredible. In fact, the self-titled one from 1982 has a song called ‘Why I Came to California.’ And on that song he has Janis Siegel from the Manhattan Transfer singing with him. And it's great. There's certain songs of his that have an interesting balance between being really, really smooth and light, but also being really, really punchy and hardcore at the same time.

He has a very interesting and distinguishable voice. As soon as he starts singing, it's like, I can tell, oh, that's that's Leon Ware. You can tell that that's him. And you know, a lot of people, you know, they might say, oh, he sounds like this person. Oh, you sound like that, but his voice is very, very unique. And it has a specific tone to it. You could listen to it and say, ‘Oh yeah, that's definitely Leon Ware.’