Picture of Stephen Rodgers

Stephen Rodgers

I have long been interested in the relationship between music and poetry, particularly in the songs of Fanny Hensel and Clara Schumann. I have edited a collection of essays, The Songs of Fanny Hensel (Oxford University Press, 2021), and my book on Clara Schumann’s songs is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. I also host a podcast about poetry and song called Resounding Verse and run a website devoted to songs by underrepresented song composers called Art Song Augmented.
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Photo of composer Farayi Malek. She wears a purple jacket and lipstick and her hair back in a ponytail. Trees are in the background.

Maya Angelou Set to Music, Phenomenally

I’ve just launched a podcast called Resounding Verse. Each episode explores a poem and a musical setting of it. In this audio post I present Episode 1, which discusses Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” Farayi Malek’s song of the same name. You can find two other episodes, as well as more information about the podcast, at https://resoundingverse.buzzsprout.com/.

The post includes a recording of Malek’s song (beginning 11 minutes and 23 seconds in), performed by the following musicians:

Farayi Malek, voice

Jason Yeager, piano

Margaux Vranken, organ

Aaron Holthus, bass

Jas Kayser, drums

Lihi Haruvi, alto sax

Kiera Harman, trombone 

Aiden Lombard, trumpet

As you begin listening, it would be good to have access to the poem.

Photo Credits

The photo of Maya Angelou is by Dwight Carter (2011); it is licensed under Creative Commons.

The photo of Farayi Malek is by Alyssa Wang and is used with Malek’s permission.

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