It's A Question Of Balance with Ruth Copland
Society & Culture
It's A Question Of Balance ® radio show balances the intellectual with the creative, exploring whether we have more in common than divides us through thought-provoking conversations - out and about with people on the street on different topics, and in the studio with inspiring guests from the arts. Balance is not a compromise. Balance is truth distilled from many places creating cohesive understanding. Hosted by Ruth Copland.
Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Arts Interview: Rapper, Singer and Writer, Dessa.
An academic with an international rap career; a lyrical writer fascinated by behavioral science; and a funny, charismatic performer. Ruth Copland talks to Dessa and play tracks from her album 'Chime' prior to her performance at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz on May 5th.
Singer, rapper, and songwriter Dessa has made a career of bucking genres and defying expectations. The albums she’s released with Doomtree Records include rap bangers, a cappella arrangements, and big, catchy pop hooks. She’s co-composed for a 100-voice choir; contributed a track to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s The Hamilton Mixtape; and recorded a cover “Balance” by Mountain Goats (Merge Records) that plays like a Bond theme. She performs in equally varied venues; she tours gritty rock clubs, velvet-lined theaters, and top-tier festivals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza, but also takes special pleasure in dreaming up themed events for intimate rooms—such as her recent curation of a sold-out residency series at WYNC’s The Greene Space, in which Dessa matched lyricists with researchers who tackled scientific subject matter on stage. The LA Times says she “sounds like no one else;” NPR says she’s “breaking the rules of rap;” The Chicago Tribune simply calls her “enchanting.”
As a writer, she’s contributed to the New York Times Magazine, MPR, the Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, literary journals across the country, and has published two short collections of poetry and essays. Dessa has a book coming out in September called ‘My Own Devices: True Stories From The Road On Music, Science, And Senseless Love’.
Photos L to R clockwise: Dessa by Bill Phelps; Dessa with her band by Chad Kamenshine; Dessa performing live by Matthew Shaver.
For more info visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
Copyright 2018 Ruth Copland. All rights reserved.
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