BY CELINE NYATOME
Proclaimed the “Queen of American Folk Music” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Odetta was a significant influence and contributor to folk music, as well as the civil rights movement. Born on December 13, 1930, she was brought up during a time when genres like rhythm and blues and jazz were prevalent in the world of music. In her teenage years, she was brought up in professional operatic training, going on to become a theater ensemble member through adulthood. During this time, she engaged with a touring company that revived her love for folk music, which became her direction in the music industry in the 1950s.
As she entered the industry, she distinguished herself from other artists by intersecting opera and folk music on live television as a black woman in the 50s, something very unorthodox. Odetta brought traditional folk music to a broader audience, singing and adding elements of traditional negro spirituals, work songs, and blues. Her opera background allows for her deep and resonant voice to give the emotional intensity and message and lyrics of these Black American labor songs that resonated with many. In the YouTube video “TV Concert 1964,” as she sings her song “Got my Mind on Freedom,” lyrics like “Woke up this morning with my mind set on freedom,” paired with her distinct timbre of a deep, resonant voice not only showcases the emotions experienced to the emotion of longing for freedom of oppression in slavery but as well as in her time period amid the Civil Rights Movement. She embodied this in her songs so often that she grew very popular amongst the music community. Not only did she preserve the heritage and origin of American folk music through the renditions of her songs, but Odetta’s music became a staple of the civil rights movement Her strong, distinct, and soulful voice evoked a sense of empowerment and inspiration to many black people during that time, her songs being sung during protests, marches, and rallies. Odetta’s unique style allowed for the revival of American folk music in the 1950s and 60s, inspiring the genre as well as many artists that came after her, like Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, as well as other black artists like Rhiannon Giddens, while ensuring the black contributions to folk music were recognized.
