Songs of Power & Protest is a songwriter showcase that’s happening in Portland on April 26 at the Cravin’ Gravy Social Club at 8 p.m. Jordan Sings and Ezza Rose are Portland musicians that will perform at the event. They join us to talk about the showcase and the power of music to express dissent.
Songs of Power & Protest is happening in Portland on April 26.
courtesy of Rose Gerber
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. We end today with Songs of Power & Protest. That’s the name of a singer-songwriter showcase that’s happening this Saturday evening at the Cravin’ Gravy Social Club in North Portland. Musicians were asked to write an original song and perhaps work up a cover.
I’m joined now by two of the artists who will be performing. Jordan Sings is a singer-songwriter and a street performer based in Portland. Ezza Rose is a longtime Portland musician whose latest LP is called “No Means No.” Welcome to both of you.
Jordan Sings: Hello.
Ezza Rose: Hello.
Miller: Jordan, first – why did you want to take part in this showcase?
Sings: I took it as a challenge to write a new type of song. I’ve never really written a protest song, but I definitely have strong feelings about the current state of things. I just felt like it was a good challenge to write my thoughts in an artistic way and put them in a song form.
Miller: Ezza what about you? Why do you want to take part in this show?
Rose: I feel like having art that is relevant is very important. So I love taking part in anything that’s doing that.
Miller: Do you feel like you’ve written protest songs before?
Rose: Oh, yeah.
Miller: I was thinking the title song from your last album, “No Means No,” it strikes me as a very clear protest song about sexual violence, sexual harassment.
Rose: Yeah. It was a social, political record.
Miller: So you’re used to this.
Rose: A little bit, yeah.
Miller: What was it like to approach this external prompt though?
Rose: It basically was the same as any other thing I do as a reaction to my emotions about things. So I don’t think it was any different than. Like half of these songs were already in the bag.
Miller: You were already thinking about what’s happening in the world, responding to it and making art out of it.
Rose: Exactly. Yeah, it didn’t really change things for me at all.
Miller: Could you play us one of the songs you’re gonna be performing on Saturday?
Rose: Yeah.
Miller: Anything we should know about it first or anything we should listen for?
Rose: I don’t think so. I think, for me, the most radical thing you can do right now is choose love and be an open mind, and a place where people feel like they can have a conversation. So that’s what this is about.
[Ezza Rose performs “Givin’ Up,” live in studio]
Miller: That’s “Givin’ Up,” by my guest Ezza Rose.
Ezza, I wanted to go back to what you said before you played that song. You said the most radical thing that we can do right now is to choose love.
Rose: Or that I feel like I can do right now.
Miller: That you can do. How do you do it?
Rose: How do I do it? A lot of vulnerability, and a lot of patience, as well as knowing when to step back, take a breath and come back to it when you have the space to approach things with love.
Miller: Jordan, you said you hadn’t really written what you’d call a protest song in the past. How did you approach this?
Sings: I approached this kind of addressing a bigger scope of the current climate. I feel like everybody is very tribal in their beliefs and when that’s the case, either one side is good or the other side’s good, but the whole of the people aren’t great. So I felt if we can find some common ground, that’s really gonna improve the current state of things. And I wanted to address my song from that kind of standpoint of finding common ground.
Miller: Can we hear it?
Sings: Yeah, absolutely.
[Jordan Sings performs “Enough,” live in studio]
Miller: That is Jordan Sings with his song, “Enough.”
I understand that another of the songs you’ll be performing on Saturday is the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Going On.” What does that song mean to you?
Sings: That song was written like in the ‘70s and it still holds weight today, it’s still the same problem. It means a lot to me because I feel like Marvin Gaye would not be happy that the same things he was writing about are still a problem today. It also shows the staying power of his lyrics and that writing what you really mean, means a lot.
Miller: Ezza, you are relatively newly a mother. Has parenthood affected what you want to write about?
Rose: Definitely. I think it affects everything. You mentioned the “No Means No” record – that was a rage record. Put that out in 2018 and started writing it in 2016, so we all know what that means and the timeline of the political climate. But I just really have shifted and I feel like more so now than ever. Although I’m sure if I would have thought about it outside of being a mother long enough, I might come to the same conclusion, that I really do just want to create gentleness, space and love, and approach things that way instead of fight or flight emotional brain space.
Miller: Can we hear one more song?
Rose: Sure. And this is not a cover, this is an original song.
[Ezza Rose performs “One Road Town,” live in studio]
Miller: That is Ezza Rose with the song, “One Road Town.”
Ezza Rose and Jordan Sings, thanks so much.
Rose: Thanks for having us.
Sings: Thanks for having us.
Miller: Ezza and Jordan are going to be playing at the concert, Songs of Power & Protest. It’s happening this Saturday evening at the Cravin’ Gravy Social Club in North Portland.
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