Folk legend wows Pittsburghers with concert

Very few people have the opportunity to hear a 75-year-old woman say to her audience, “Don’t… Very few people have the opportunity to hear a 75-year-old woman say to her audience, “Don’t forget your condoms.” Even less people have the opportunity to hear that same sentence uttered by a gospel, blues and folk music legend.

Audience members at the Carnegie Lecture Hall Saturday night were able to witness this event during a concert by music-great Odetta.

Those who attended the 8 o’clock concert can truthfully tell their friends that they have heard one of the most celebrated figures in music explain the necessity of prophylactics. They can also say that they have heard the voice of one of the greatest-living singers of our time.

With the sound of her voice reaching high into the rafters of the auditorium, Odetta held the audience in a state of rapture as she sang many of her most well known songs. For many, it was hard to believe that such a powerful and emotional voice could belong to such a modest woman.

Odetta showcased the remarkable range of her voice during many parts of the show. Her song “You Don’t Know My Mind” showed her ability to master resonant, low musical tones, in addition to inspiring the above contraceptive-related comments. The song tells the story of a young girl’s trials after becoming pregnant with her boyfriend’s baby.

Odetta wowed the audience during the song “Rock Island Line” with her powerful and high-pitched vocals. She got the audience involved in the show as well, inviting them to join her in singing the chorus to the song.

Odetta has been a figure in the music industry for the past half-century, and in that time she has inspired countless other performers, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin. This past year she released a new album highlighting many of her most famous works, including those she sang as a leading voice during the Civil Rights Movement.

Calliope, the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society, organized and promoted the concert that brought Odetta to Pittsburgh through their campaign to “Promote and preserve traditional and contemporary folk music.” Calliope is a local group dedicated to bringing roots-based and traditional music to the Pittsburgh area.

Calliope also brought the opening act of the show, The Saint Bede Choir, to the Carnegie Lecture Hall. Their powerful and spiritual sound was the perfect way to open the show for Odetta. The Saint Bede Choir has previously sung at Phipps Conservatory and the Frick Museum.

To close the show, Odetta chose perhaps her most famous piece, “Midnight Special,” a mixture of her soulful, resonant voice and folk lyrics. Many audience members joined her in singing the last few lines of the song, immediately followed by a standing ovation as she was escorted off stage.

Perhaps Maya Angelou best summed up Odetta’s musical skills by proclaiming, “If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta’s would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time.”