Ever since he started releasing albums, African-American guitarist and singer Eric Bibb has been keen to celebrate the ties that unite us rather than the differences that divide us. This profession of faith may seem naive and unproductive, but its consistency bears fruit and always ends up convincing us. His commitment to universal peace, his unfailing respect for his contemporaries, his fierce desire to learn from the past, his taste for telling its truth, raise him to the rank of precious speakers of our 21st century. His latest album, Ridin’ is a new call for tolerance. By immersing himself in the transatlantic epic of the black people, he invites us to consider history as a lesson.
All of Eric Bibb’s compositions invite reflection and sometimes insist on crucial moments in history that have changed our understanding of the world. Thus, in ” Ridin’ », Eric Bibb evokes places, dates, personalities, and these hundreds of anonymous people who shaped his native country. He dwells, for example, on emblematic cities of the struggle for racial equality such as Memphis or Selma, he narrates the massacre of Rosewood, a martyr city in Florida where, in 1923, several dozen black residents had suffered the punishment violent and unjustified racism. However, this memorial reminder is not a revolt of the bluesman but just a useful warning so that such dramas are not repeated.
Eric Bibb is not a fighter. He sees himself more as a messenger. He is the American griot who addresses his contemporaries by trying to make them listen to reason. He wants to stay positive and optimistic. He is convinced that we are all steeped in good feelings. We must therefore let our hearts speak and act accordingly. One of the highlights of his album ” Ridin’ is “Family”. Eric Bibb doesn’t just look to his own family for comfort, he sincerely believes that we are one big family, a community of supportive and generous human beings. Some became famous, others remained unknown. Who today remembers John Howard Griffin? This American journalist and writer wanted to know the real daily life of African-Americans in the southern United States. In the late 1950s, he underwent medical treatment to darken his skin. The result was so convincing that he decided to share, for several weeks, the pain of the black population in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. His book, “In the skin of a black”, published in 1961, became a bestseller and alerted public opinion to the living conditions of African-American citizens at the dawn of a major social revolution. Eric Bibb celebrates this committed man in a poignant melody: ” The Ballad of John Howard Griffin “.
On April 23, 2023, Eric Bibb will star in a show entitled “From Mali to Mississippi” as part of the Basquiat exhibition to be held this spring at the Philharmonie de Paris. He will find there his alter ego, the guitarist Habib Koité, with whom he had recorded, 10 years ago, the album ” Brothers in Bamako “. Once again, Eric Bibb will call for unity and harmony between peoples.
⇒ The website ofEric Bibb
⇒ Eric Bibb’s show “From Mali to Mississippi” (Philharmonie of Paris).