Kronos Quartet to bring Gullah sounds to Spoleto on June 2

The Kronos Quartet has learned after five decades to focus each program by first asking itself one question: What does society need to realize right now?

“I would like people to leave with a certain sense of fulfillment,” said Paul Wiancko, who joined Kronos as its cellist in 2023. “Music still plays an important role in the fabric of society, and it’s valuable as a response to things happening in the world. And at the same time, it can still be an absolute form of comfort.”

Spoleto Festival USA audiences will hear the latest answer to that question on June 2 with a program that pairs traditional music with contemporary pieces, including a world premiere by South Carolina native Charlton Singleton. Joining the quartet on percussion will be Singleton’s Ranky Tanky bandmate Quentin E. Baxter.

Singleton first collaborated with Kronos through its “50 for the Future” initiative, which aimed to preserve and celebrate musical traditions through a series of commissioned works available to any interested quartets for free. His new piece, which spotlights Gullah culture, is based on a recording captured by musician and folklorist Alan Lomax of a Sierra Leone funeral song sung by Amelia Dolly.

“It was a song that she had learned when she was a little girl through her grandmother, who taught it to her, or her grandmother used to sing it,” Singleton said. “That’s part of the oral tradition in the Gullah community.”

Gullah culture’s rhythms echo through American music

The Gullah community emerged from the descendants of West African enslaved people who developed a rich, resilient identity on the Sea Islands.

“The Gullah community — some say Gullah, some say Gullah Geechee — the Gullah Geechee corridor is a set of islands that are off the coast of the United States, and it stretches from Wilmington, the North Carolina area, to the coast of South Carolina down the coast of Georgia and to the top of Florida, and it ends just past Jacksonville, where St Augustine is now,” Singleton said.

“On these islands, they were able to maintain a lot of things, a lot of traditions that they had, the way that they prepared food, the way that they entertained each other, how they did arts, crafts and music,” he said.

Though Gullah music itself is overlooked in the wider culture, Singleton said, it has birthed or at least influenced numerous musical genres for centuries.

“The most famous Gullah song in the world? ‘Kumbaya.’ You’ve heard it, right?” Singleton said. “But you’ll also find Gullah rhythms in folk, country, blues, jazz, gospel, spirituals — even in kids’ clapping games where they clap on beats two and four.”

Singleton’s full composition is set to be completed by 2026, but Spoleto audiences will experience a self-contained portion of the work.

“This is just a little movement, if you will,” he said. “It’s complete, but it’s a small snippet of the grander piece.”

Friendship, community shape culturally rich performance

Violinist David Harrington, the lone original member of the quartet, came to South Carolina in 2023 to do some research about Gullah and visit Singleton.

“I sent him to talk with and visit with some friends of mine at a lively church that I knew he would enjoy,” said Singleton. “And one of the persons that he met was the drummer in Ranky Tanky, my best friend, Quentin Baxter.” Singleton and the Kronos Quartet eventually invited Baxter to play tambourine on the movement to ensure rhythmic authenticity.

The Spoleto program, which also includes Mahalia Jackson’s early civil rights anthems and John Coltrane’s “Alabama,” illustrates how Kronos continues to engage with history and social justice.

“You can have a piece that has directly inspired or a direct response by something very serious — war, climate change, nuclear issues — and can also be an escape, just because it’s incredible music,” Wiancko said. “That’s something Kronos does well: It brings issues to the forefront of the concert experience and is able to transport an audience far away.”

Neither Singleton nor the Kronos musicians overlook the significance of performing these works in Charleston, a birthplace of Gullah Geechee culture.

“I hope this concert encourages people to think about some of the issues,” Wiancko said. “It should remind them of this country’s incredible history with civil rights and human rights, and how far we still have yet to go.”

IF YOU WANT TO GO: The Kronos Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. June 2, at Charleston Music Hall. Some tickets ($65-$92) remained on May 31. Mathilde Refloch is a graduate student in the Goldring Arts Journalism and Communications program at Syracuse University.