ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The story of Omar ibn Said, a West African Muslim scholar who was brought to South Carolina as a slave, is not one that many know.
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RHIANNON GIDDENS: (As Julie, singing).
LIMMIE PULLIAM: (As Omar, singing) I did. And I am in your debt.
GIDDENS: (As Julie, singing).
NADWORNY: That's Limmie Pulliam and Rhiannon Giddens as Omar and Julie in "Omar," whose story is only partially known through the narratives he wrote while enslaved. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera co-written by Giddens and Michael Abels, he's encouraged to tell his story by a fellow slave, Julie. Oberlin College and Conservatory presented the first full concert performance of "Omar" on Friday night, with another to come tomorrow night at the Maltz Performing Art Center in Cleveland. I'm joined now by Rhiannon Giddens and Limmie Pulliam. Welcome to the program.
GIDDENS: Thanks for having us.
PULLIAM: Thank you for having us.
NADWORNY: So first off, I guess I was curious what it's like to be back at Oberlin for you two, because you were both students there, right? At the same time?
PULLIAM: Yes, we were. We - our paths crossed during our tenure here as students, and it's been interesting to kind of reminisce a bit this week as we've been here kind of having a little walk down memory lane.
GIDDENS: Yeah. We ate at the cafeteria. It was pretty funny.
(LAUGHTER)
NADWORNY: Yeah. What's come up?
GIDDENS: It was so weird sitting there, you know, with another alumnus who's in the production, Daniel, and we were just like, did we look that young? Were we ever that small? I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
NADWORNY: Limmie, how did you get involved in the project? Have you been in touch since school?
PULLIAM: We have. We stayed in touch over the years, and I believe it was back in maybe 2017, '18 or so that Rhiannon reached out and asked if I would step in and help out with some of the workshopping for "Omar." It's just been an experience - it's hard to explain because I believe that Rhiannon's ability to illuminate history through music and storytelling is unparalleled.
NADWORNY: Rhiannon, one of your signatures as an artist is telling those stories that haven't been told before - I mean, whether it's music on the banjo or through your children's book, through this opera. What drew you to the story of Omar?
GIDDENS: Well, I will say I am part of a group of people who do this work. It's not just me. And when the folks at Spoleto approached me about Omar's story, I had never heard of him, and that really angered me, you know, because I'm from North Carolina, and this should be something we learn in school. Like, this should be part of our curriculum, and it's not. And that really kind of incensed me. So when they came back with, you know, we'd love to commission an opera on this, and we'd love for you to do it, I just said yes without thinking about the consequences (laughter). I freaked out, you know, pretty liberally the next week, like, what have I done? But I just knew that opera was a form that would carry history because history is operatic.
NADWORNY: Are there any particular lyrics or parts of the opera that resonate with each of you?
GIDDENS: For me, what sums it up is, tell your story, Omar, you must, or they will never know, and we will fade into dust. That, for me, still gives me chill bumps thinking about it - is it capsulates it all. It's if you don't say what happened, they will, you know? If you don't bring us to life, then we die when we die.
NADWORNY: Yeah. And what about you, Limmie?
PULLIAM: I'd have to agree with Rhiannon on that line, but I think the part that really kind of, as they say, hits me in the feels is the portion where I get to sing about my mother. And what I miss about her. I miss her eyes. I miss her voice. And those moments are just, you know - just deeply touching.
GIDDENS: Yeah.
NADWORNY: And you do it so beautifully, Limmie.
PULLIAM: Thank you.
GIDDENS: When you get to that point. Oh, my God.
PULLIAM: Well, you wrote it so beautifully. How can you not do it beautifully when you write it like that?
GIDDENS: Well...
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GIDDENS: (As Julie, singing) My daddy wore a cap like yours.
NADWORNY: I want us to hear a little bit of Julie's aria from your rehearsal earlier this week.
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GIDDENS: (Singing) He got down on his knees and he faced the rising sun. And he did it again when the day was done. He wouldn't need this, and he wouldn't need that, no matter the lee, no matter the fed.
NADWORNY: You know, that aria builds into an almost kind of defiant celebration of having hearts that see others, even in the darkness. How did Julie come to you?
GIDDENS: It's funny 'cause Omar's autobiography is tiny. It's very slim. So I feel like I had to craft a story that was really centered around his spirituality, but there is narrative elements that have to go in. And I also knew I wanted women to be a part of his story because that's what I do, you know? And Julie just walked onto stage and said, hey, I'm going to help Omar get up Fayetteville. Do you mind? And I was like, no, by all means.
It's weird when they do that and then they just start talking to you. And then, my daddy had a cap like yours, that was the line that just cemented her whole why she was there. It was to connect to Omar's religion and his way of life and her being a Christian, but having a father who was Muslim, you know? And she also represents an uncomfortable position of trying to make the best out of what she's got.
NADWORNY: I love that. Limmie, I want to listen to a clip that we have of you. You know, you had to leave opera behind for a few years. You worked in the collections company. You ran your own security company. But you're back. You made your Carnegie Hall debut last year. And now you're kind of this extremely complex, deep role of Omar.
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PULLIAM: (As Omar, singing) I lost it all. Why me? Why me? (ph)
NADWORNY: Can you tell us a little bit about what it's like for you to embody Omar and to give him your voice specifically?
PULLIAM: I wasn't prepared for how deeply emotional singing this role would be. To kind of go back to what Rhiannon was saying about that connection with Julie, it was kind of funny because it really hit me the other night in rehearsal. As we were sitting there and she started singing, you know, my daddy wore a cap like yours, he got down on his knees and prayed to the rising sun, for the first time, I realized that she understood me and I wasn't alone.
NADWORNY: What do each of you hope that audiences of 2024, of this year and beyond, take away from this slice of history from Omar and from Julie?
GIDDENS: All I can ever hope for with any of the work that I do is that people walk away with a more complicated understanding of the American story - that slavery is not a one-note, cotton-picking, whip-cracking thing. It's, like, this massive, centuries-long economic system that affected everybody in ways huge and small - you know what I mean? - that nobody who came over here was a blank slate and thinking about what it took to survive that.
PULLIAM: Yeah. I don't think it could be said any better than that.
NADWORNY: That's Rhiannon Giddens and Limmie Pulliam. They are performing "Omar" at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in Cleveland tomorrow night. Thank you both so much for speaking to us today.
PULLIAM: Thank you.
GIDDENS: Thanks for having us.
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