Ravinia 2019, Issue 5, Week 9

36 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 29 – AUGUST 11, 2019 “Uplift whoever you can; do good, and don’t be ashamed to do good.” Carol Maillard (left) was a founding member of Sweet Honey in the Rock, along with Louise Robinson (above, center). Aisha Kahlil (above, left) and Nitanju Bolade Casel (above, right) have been with the ensemble since 1981 and 1985, respectively. e current ensemble includes Mail- lard, Louise Robinson (another founding member), Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, Christine Dashiell, Rochelle Rice, instrumentalist Romeir Mendez, and sign language interpreter Barbara Hunt. Reagon retired in . By Maillard’s count, there have been almost di erent women in the group over the years. “Some leave and come back,” she said, “and some go and they’re gone.” Maillard herself le the group in and returned in . Each member leaves an indelible imprint that has allowed the group to continue to evolve as it approaches the ve-decade mark. “ eir energy and their magic stays with the group,” Mail- lard said. “We never try to replace a per- son; we just use what the next person has to give, which means that the messages of education and empowerment, energy and beliefs stay the same, but the way the songs are rendered continues to change.” It is Sweet Honey in the Rock’s cre- ative process that each member writes their own songs. “Di erent people have di erent stories they want to tell,” Mail- lard said. She cites “ e Living Waters,” an environmental protest song composed by Kahlil. “Fracking, raping the land, taking away the rainforest,” she said. “It goes on ad in nitum ; killing the planet for money; it will break your heart.” “Second Line Blues,” a pow- erful song on LoveInEvolution, the group’s album, is a roll call of the names of innocent victims—mostly children—who were taken by violence. Sweet Honey in the Rock’s songs of protest, activism, and resiliency have been addressing these and other still-relevant issues since the group was founded. “You have to keep raising your voice and call bullshit out when you see it,” Maillard maintains. “Upli whoever you can; do good, and don’t be ashamed to do good.” e varied kinds of music each group member likes allows for a wide tent of mu- sical styles and genres, including African chants, jazz, R&B, pop, spirituals, and rap. “We’re just eclectic and alive,” Maillard said. “Sweet Honey is timeless. You can’t hook us to any one era. We are unique.” As to Maillard’s own musical in uenc- es, the Philadelphia native audibly swoons over such icons as Aretha Franklin (“a major in uence”), Chaka Khan, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, ear- ly Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan (“Lord have mercy!”), Carla omas, Ju- nior Walker, and the Motown sound. As a preteen, she attended matinee rock and roll shows featuring Stevie Wonder—at the time no older than himself—Diana Ross, and Smokey Robinson. Despite Maillard’s modest evalua- tion of their reach, Sweet Honey and the Rock could easily be considered in uencers themselves. e group has appeared at Carnegie Hall more than times. Michelle Obama invited them to perform at the White House. ey performed for Nelson Mandela a er he was released from prison and at beloved Chicago folksinger Ella Jenkins’s th birthday. In , they contributed to Folkways: A Vision Shared , an anthology tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly that won a Grammy Award. In , the group marked its th anniversary with the book Sweet Honey in the Rock: We Who Believe in Freedom . ey were the subject of a documentary, Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice , which was broadcast on the PBS series American Masters in . I recalled to Maillard during our chat that once at a Sweet Honey in the Rock performance in the s, Oprah Winfrey happened to be sitting across the aisle from me. At one point, we caught each other’s eye and we both smiled and nodded in shared appreciation. “You’ve got to put that in your article,” she said. With years of achievements and milestones behind Sweet Honey and the Rock, Maillard only looks forward. “We’re young elders,” she joked. “We have so many ideas and so many wonderful ways of sharing with people. We just love doing it and as long as people ask for us, we’ll be out there.” Donald Liebenson is a Chicago-based entertainment writer. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune , Chicago Sun-Times , Los Angeles Times , and on 5oJer(bert com 7he first 5DYiniD concert he DttenGeG without his parents was Procol Harum in 1970.