Black Violin Gives a Performance

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: And I know your inspiration and the inspiration for Black Violin with Stuff Smith. Kev, can you tell us — I know the pandemic has sort of curtail any live performances and impacted musicians throughout the world, but can you give us the sense that you get from especially young children and audiences when they come and see you perform, the reaction that you see from them and does that continue to inspire you?

WIL BAPTISTE, MUSICIAN, BLACK VIOLIN: Oh, definitely. I mean, most of the time, the people are — and when we come on stage, they’re sort of, you know, maybe puzzled, you know. They don’t quite understand what we’re doing at the beginning. But by the end, you know, the messaging and the music is such that it’s very inclusive and it’s something that it just feels good, you know, it’s just one of those concerts where just when you leave, you’re like, oh, like, you know, you felt like you experienced something. So, you know, we want to make an experience. Obviously, we want it to be musical. We want to have, you know, a five-year-old black kid and then a 70-year-old white lady sitting next to each other. And then after the concert, they have a conversation about what just happened, you know? So, we want to bridge the gap by being able to make music that everybody is into and then also keep a message of unity and hope and love throughout the entire thing.

GOLODRYGA: Well, listen, our audiences have also been deprived of hearing music and performances as well. So, I know you are prepared to perform us off the show today. We’ve been looking forward to hearing this, “Impossible is Possible.” Can you please go ahead? And thank you so much for joining us.