Helga – Details, episodes & analysis

Fredara Hadley is an ethnomusicologist at The Juilliard School whose research focuses on the musical legacies of historically Black colleges and universities. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Billboard Magazine, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and elsewhere.

In this episode, Hadley reflects on the unique contributions of musicians and music programs at HBCUs, the communal value of sacred spaces, and the need to reckon with culture when appreciating music.  

Acclaimed author Walter Mosley writes about the intricacies of Black livelihood by grounding science fiction and mystery in America’s turbulent social and racial climate. Decorated with the O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Mosley is a testament to Black artistry. His works have been translated into 25 languages. 

In this episode, Mosley discusses the release of his latest novel, “Farewell, Amethystine,” as well as the types of overlooked characters and stories he wants to celebrate in his novels. He also talks about the complicated relationship he had with his father, what it’s like to write about love, and shares the very first lines he wrote that made him realize he could be a writer. 

Whitney White is an actor, singer, Obie Award winner, and winner of the Lilly Award, which recognizes extraordinary women in theater. White has directed productions of James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner; Aleshea Harris’ What to Send Up When It Goes Down, a work about the victims of racialized violence; and Jocelyn Bioh’s Broadway play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She also directed productions of Shakespeare’s Richard III and Othello. In this episode, White shares how powerful moments on stage often originate in the body, not the mind. She also talks about how she preserves her inner self amidst the demands of large-scale productions, and what it means to embrace and live in her full self.

Singer-songwriter Brittany Howard, former lead singer and guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning Alabama Shakes, is now a spectacular and charismatic solo artist. Brittany joins Helga in the studio following the release of her second solo album, What Now, to offer a deep-dive into her personal and artistic life. She discusses her early experiences with grief and its impact on her creative awakening; her stages of self-discovery and the importance of therapy as a critical aspect of mental health; and how she balances her many musical forms with her understanding of authenticity, spirituality and passion. 

Get ready for a new season of fearless conversations that reveal the extraordinary in all of us.

Critically acclaimed actress, singer, writer and composer Helga Davis returns for a new season of soulful conversations with artists and thinkers from a variety of disciplines, including Brittany Howard, Whitney White, Tremaine Emory, Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, Suzan-Lori Parks, Noliwe Rooks and Sampha. 

In each episode, Davis and her guest share stories of struggle and resilience, challenges and victories along their creative journeys, providing inspiration and hope to listeners. Unique in the audio landscape for the depth of inquiry and emotional vulnerability, HELGA’s thought-provoking conversations offer to expand our collective perspective on the human condition and the daily stressors of the world today. And each episode leaves listeners with something practical and practice-able: an idea for something they can do everyday to help them stay in touch with their own humanity and creativity, whatever form it may take. 

Season six is the second season co-produced by WNYC Studios, WQXR and the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University.

Black people know this: There’s a difference between what you say and what you mean. It’s been a matter of survival for us.

For over 30 years, American visual artist and cinematographer Arthur Jafa has captured the histories and experiences of Black Americans with projects that exemplify both the universal and particular facets of Black life.

In the second part of this masterclass in Black thought, Jafa continues his free-from improvisation through his breadth of knowledge and understanding of visual culture — embedded with all the references, rhetorics, and personal reflections of someone who has spent a lifetime dedicated to centralizing the varied experiences of Black Being. 

"I don't want to be the prisoner in a box, even if it's a box I made."

For over 30 years, American visual artist and cinematographer Arthur Jafa has captured the histories and experiences of Black Americans with projects that exemplify both the universal and particular facets of Black life.

In this masterclass in Black thought — the first episode in a two-part series — Jafa shares a free-from improvisation through his breadth of knowledge and understanding of visual culture — embedded with all the references, rhetorics, and personal reflections of someone who has spent a lifetime dedicated to centralizing the varied experiences of Black Being.

LANGUAGE ADVISORY:  This episode contains some strong language, including the use of a racial slur in the context of summarizing what the speakers have heard, felt, and experienced in their lives. Listener discretion is advised.

If you'd like to learn more about the artists and references in this episode, please see below: 

Charlie Parker

John Coltrane

Ornette Coleman

Culture Strike

Laura Raicovich

Christina Sharpe

Hortense Spillers

Ultralight Beam - Kanye West 

Love is the Message, The Message is Death - Arthur Jafa

John Henrik Clark

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jimi Hendrix

Cecil Taylor

AGHDRA

Women in Love

Burnt Sugar

Butch Morris

Muddy Waters

Carl Hancock Rux

Virgil Abloh

LMVH

Off-White

This [term] 'femme' becomes more possible to me as a figure for not just embodiment, but for thought, action, engagement, connection.

Macarena Goméz-Barris is Professor and Chair of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, founder of the Global South Center at Pratt Institute, an organization which supports artists, activists, and scholars in their efforts to decolonialize local and global communities.

In this episode, Goméz-Barris talks about how one can and must find beauty in the most ambiguous of places, how she uses the word “femme” to escape the embattled histories of the word “female," and how she has—and hasn’t—moved on from a traumatic early swimming lesson with her father.

Constantine Petrou Cavafy

Waiting for the Barbarians

Audre Lorde

Uses of the Erotic, The Erotic is Power

Saidiya Hartman

Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents

There are whole histories of African American artists wrestling with stereotypical depictions and minstrelsy - and it seemed worthy anyway to me as an artist to consider them as some kind of artwork.

American painter and silhouettist Kara Walker rose to international acclaim at the age of 28 as one of the youngest-ever recipients of a MacArthur Genius grant. Appearing in exhibitions, museums, and public collections worldwide, Walker’s work wrestles with the ongoing psychological injury caused by the legacy of slavery. 

In this episode, Walker shares how she navigates her own inner conflicts, how a curiosity for history led her to the silhouette, and what happens when making use of symbols of Black servitude brings one acclaim. 

Buster Browns

RISD - Rhode Island School of Design

My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love

University of the Pacific

Robert Wilson

Einstein on the Beach

Stanley Whitney

Glen Ligon

Kehinde Wiley

I like to say we're living in a precedent time, not an unprecedented one. How do we understand that? Being at the museum or writing histories both in poetry and in non-fiction are ways of trying to understand that. 

“Gatekeepers” hold an essential role in our culture as those in positions of power who determine what we see and hear — and therefore how we understand our world. The poet Kevin Young holds dual gatekeeping roles as both director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture as well as the poetry editor for The New Yorker magazine. 

In this episode, Young talks about how he holds these responsibilities and likens reading a poem to entering into a museum. He also shares his belief in the power of unexpected transformations, which songs have brought him comfort, and how it’s always easiest to write about the place you’ve just left. 

Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

Public Enemy

Chuck D

Parliament Funkadelic

African American Vernacular English

Sister Sonya Sanchez

Langston Hughes

Gwendolyn Brooks

Harriet Tubman's shawl

David Hammonds’ African American Flag

Willie Nelson

Earth, Wind and Fire

John Coltrane's Love Supreme

I Want You - Marvin Gay

Mary Lou Williams

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Make Good the Promises

Ida B. Wells

Book of Hours - Kevin Young

Stones - Kevin Young