The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: 6 Protest Songs, directed by Jessica Rowe
APRIL 26, 2022
In May of 2018, Art of Time Ensemble presented a highly successful festival of protest music at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre in Toronto, ON over three nights entitled "All We Are Saying". In September 2022 we restaged some of those performances with Jackie Richardson, Shakura S’Aida and Tom Wilson and created an intimate concert documentary with the intention of making these performances accessible and free to people across the city through various community partnerships. The six songs, spanning forty years, collectively speak to the injustices of racism and war and reflect our present day as strongly as when they were penned. The songs include Sam Cooke's Civil Rights anthem "A Change is Gonna Come" (1964), Abel Meeropol's harrowing depiction of hate, "Strange Fruit" (1939) made famous by Billie Holiday and Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (1970), whose present-day relevance needs no explanation.
Repertoire/Credits
1. Jackie Richardson
2. Compared to What, Gene McDaniels
arranged by Tom Szczesniak
Jackie Richardson singer, Justin Abedin guitar, Amahl Arulanandam cello, Andrew Burashko piano, Yanet Campbell Secades violin, Tara Davidson alto sax, Davide di Renzo drums, John Johnson tenor sax, Drew Jurecka violin, George Koller bass, Kevin Turcotte trumpet
3. Tom Wilson
4. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Bob Dylan
Tom Wilson, singer
5. Shakura S’Aida
6. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott Heron
arranged by Jonathan Goldsmith
Shakura S’Aida singer, Justin Abedin guitar, Amahl Arulanandam cello, Andrew Burashko piano, Yanet Campbell Secades violin, Tara Davidson alto sax, Davide di Renzo drums, John Johnson tenor sax, Drew Jurecka violin, George Koller bass, Kevin Turcotte trumpet
7. Tom Wilson
8. Red Brother Red Sister, Bruce Cockburn
arranged by Andrew Downing
Tom Wilson singer, Justin Abedin guitar, Amahl Arulanandam cello, Andrew Burashko piano, Yanet Campbell Secades violin, Tara Davidson alto sax, George Koller double bass
9. Shakura S’Aida
10. Strange Fruit, Abel Meeropol
arranged by Andrew Staniland
Shakura S’Aida singer, Justin Abedin guitar, Amahl Arulanandam cello, Andrew Burashko piano, Yanet Campbell Secades violin, Tara Davidson alto sax, Davide di Renzo drums, John Johnson tenor sax, Drew Jurecka violin, George Koller double bass, Kevin Turcotte trumpet
11. Jackie Richardson
12. A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
Jackie Richardson singer, Andrew Burashko piano
Jessica Rowe, director
Earl McCluskie, audio engineer
Arun Srinivasan, lighting designer
Artists
Related Performances
All We Are Saying (2018) - Toronto, ON