The Artistry of… Regina Carter
The energy behind the artistry is fuelled by an intentional blurring of genre boundaries, telling stories through the unique range and soundscape of the violin, and leading ways through a myriad of music styles from so many established American forms to the roots of the same in Africa and beyond.
There is no room for shyness when it comes to the violin. It is an instrument that, at the top end of the viol family, makes a clear and definite mark. If you play it, you too are part of making that mark. It will not let you hide behind it. It demands that you use it as an ultimate tool of musical expression.
Regina Carter can play it. Man, can she ever. She does not hide behind it. In her hands and as her voice’s extension, we hear every piece of her soul. We hear every essence of her story. We hear every expressive, emotional moment she shares.
An early album called Southern Comfort places the context and foundation of family up front and centre. The impressions are respect, tradition, and growth as a next generation that leads as it moves forward and ahead. Family is like this: It is the richness of an oral tradition of storytelling. Its origins are the foundations of its present, and those foundations are the stepping stones of its futures. Each retelling of the story grows richer as each generation takes turns with its telling. Regina Carter is growing it richer.
