Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi

Biography

Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi is a transatlantic duo that brings together the African American string-band traditions of the United States and the Mediterranean, early‑music, and jazz traditions of Europe. Rhiannon Giddens, originally from Greensboro in the North Carolina Piedmont, first became widely known as co‑founder of the Grammy‑winning string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, using banjo, fiddle, and voice to reconnect American roots music with its Black history and to foreground stories of people often left out of standard musical narratives. Francesco Turrisi, born in Turin and raised partly in Sicily, trained in jazz and early music in the Netherlands and built a reputation in Ireland and across Europe as a virtuosic multi‑instrumentalist, comfortable on piano, frame drums, lutes, and other instruments.

The pair began working closely around 2018, discovering striking resonances between 19th‑century American minstrel banjo tunes and Mediterranean rhythmic and modal traditions, and they developed a duo project that blends these lineages into a chamber‑like roots sound. Their first duo album, "there is no Other" (2019), explored musical connections across the African diaspora and the Mediterranean world, while "They’re Calling Me Home" (2021), recorded in Ireland during the pandemic, turned to lullabies, spirituals, and songs about longing and mortality; the latter went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album and cemented the duo’s international profile. Across concerts, recordings, and festival appearances, Giddens and Turrisi use banjo, fiddle, accordion, frame drums, and voice to collapse boundaries between American folk, early music, jazz, and Mediterranean traditions, emphasizing shared roots and histories.

As a duo, their musical style is characterized by sparse but intense arrangements that foreground rhythm, timbre, and text, often reimagining traditional songs alongside original material in ways that highlight migration, displacement, and cultural exchange. Giddens’ clear, operatically trained yet roots‑inflected voice and historical focus combine with Turrisi’s deep knowledge of early and Mediterranean musics to create performances that feel both archival and experimental, connecting spirituals, work songs, and ballads with Middle Eastern and southern Italian grooves. Their work has contributed to ongoing reappraisals of American roots music and global folk traditions, influencing how audiences and fellow musicians think about the intertwined histories of Europe, Africa, and the Americas in song.

Fun Facts

• Giddens and Turrisi’s musical partnership grew out of a chance meeting in Ireland, where they discovered that 19th‑century American banjo tunes meshed unexpectedly well with Sicilian frame‑drum rhythms.
• Their album "They’re Calling Me Home" was recorded in Ireland during pandemic lockdowns, giving its songs about longing and mortality an unusually immediate emotional context.
• The duo’s live shows often feature an unusually wide array of instruments for a two‑person act, including banjo, fiddle, accordion, piano, and various frame and goblet drums.
• Although rooted in folk and early music, their concerts have appeared in settings ranging from folk festivals to major art museums and concert halls, underscoring their cross‑genre appeal.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• African American string band and banjo traditions - Giddens has cited the historic Black string‑band and banjo lineage as a central inspiration, shaping her mission to recover and highlight these erased histories in her work with Turrisi. (Reinterpretations of spirituals, minstrel‑era tunes, and string‑band pieces on "there is no Other" and "They’re Calling Me Home".) [Ongoing influence throughout her career]
• Mediterranean and early‑music traditions - Turrisi’s background in early music ensembles and Mediterranean folk helped form the conceptual and stylistic foundation for the duo’s cross‑cultural approach. (His earlier projects blending Italian, Arabic, and early‑music elements inform the textures and rhythms heard in the duo’s albums and live sets.) [From his conservatory years through his work with Giddens]

Key Collaborators

• Carolina Chocolate Drops - Giddens’ earlier band, where she honed her approach to Black string‑band music that later carried into the duo’s repertoire and perspective. (Pre‑duo recordings and performances that laid the groundwork for her historically focused roots approach.) [Pre‑2014, with influence continuing into the duo era]
• Silkroad ensemble and related projects - Giddens’ work as artistic director and recording collaborator with Silkroad aligns conceptually with her duo with Turrisi in exploring musical routes of migration and exchange. (Projects such as large‑ensemble recordings and programs tracing historical musical routes, which run parallel to the duo’s more intimate explorations.) [From around 2020 onward, overlapping with the duo’s activity]
• Early‑music and world‑music ensembles associated with Turrisi - Turrisi’s collaborations with various early‑music and global‑folk ensembles inform the instrumentation, repertoire choices, and improvisational language he brings to the duo. (His leader and co‑leader albums and ensemble work that experiment with Irish, southern Italian, Arabic, and early‑music connections.) [From the late 1990s onward, feeding into his work with Giddens]

Artists Influenced

• Contemporary roots and folk artists engaging with historical recovery - The duo’s high‑profile, historically grounded projects have encouraged other musicians to approach roots and folk material as a site for critical history and cross‑cultural dialogue. (Subsequent albums and performances by peers that foreground erased narratives, global connections, and archival research in roots music.) [Especially after the release of "there is no Other" (2019) and "They’re Calling Me Home" (2021)]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. Wayfaring Stranger (with Francesco Turrisi) (there is no Other (with Francesco Turrisi) [Deluxe Version])
2. Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))
3. O Death (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))
4. I Shall Not Be Moved (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))
5. I'm On My Way (with Francesco Turrisi) (there is no Other (with Francesco Turrisi) [Deluxe Version])
6. Waterbound (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))
7. Niwel Goes to Town (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))
8. there is no Other (with Francesco Turrisi) (there is no Other (with Francesco Turrisi) [Deluxe Version])
9. Build A House (with Yo-Yo Ma & Francesco Turrisi) (Build A House (with Yo-Yo Ma & Francesco Turrisi))
10. Black as Crow (with Francesco Turrisi) (They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi))

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia