Tracy Chapman

Beautiful and committed, Tracy Chapman takes her protest folk into the depths of America, as if to highlight a society on the verge of implosion. In her own way, with the elegance of a great lady, the Ohio singer spearheads a struggle for social justice.

When her mother gave her her first guitar, she probably didn't imagine that her daughter would become an icon of contemporary folk music thanks to this miraculous gift. Yet Bob Dylan's female heiress, as her devotees sometimes present her, has overcome her natural shyness and the obstacles of art to establish herself as a spokesperson for the deep voice of a forgotten America where poverty and violence predominate. Moving beauty, committed hymns: yes, when the child from Cleveland, an industrial city on the shores of Lake Erie, starts singing, a whole world comes out of the shadows.

She doesn't need a sparkling shot of fire, screens in all directions and starry dancers to be heard on stage: her convictions, her guitar and her few musicians are enough to bewitch us and bring to light the realities hidden under the carpet. Each song is a pretext to deplore social misery, to counter racism and to call for the improvement of the status of women. Tracy Chapman is an activist whose poetry is resolutely soft. She never chews her words because she knows that her absolute sincerity is the cornerstone of her musical charm. "To touch people, you have to tell universal stories while at the same time telling about what surrounds you: a world of illusions, dominated by capitalism and technology".

His skilful folk takes to the guts. His endless and unremitting struggle gives us strength. That's for sure: Tracy Chapman is an example of citizenship, enjoying the music for Talkin' Bout a Revolution that she so much hopes to see happen in her lifetime. She alone embodies the breath of hope of a whole section of the people, even if it means pushing conservative America to its limits.