In 2000, when Saul Williams wrote the liner notes for D’Angelo’s Voodoo, he characterized the artist not simply as a musician, but as a “conjur man.” By situating D'Angelo's music in the tradition of Hoodoo/Conjure/Rootwork, Williams shows how a deeply-rooted “sonic past” is transmuted into new frequencies.
Fast forward to 2026: writer, archivist and artist Harmony Holiday watches the Grammy’s tribute to D’Angelo expecting a resurrection of the departed. Instead, she finds herself trapped in the “purgatory” of a performance devoid of its roots; a “limp” presentation she calls “polyester music for the synthetic spirit.”
As art passes from artist to audience through the ever-evolving eras, this Study asks what of its reception remains tethered to its original intention, and what gets lost to our shifting soils — and souls?
Text: Saul Williams, D’Angelo’s Voodoo Liner Notes & Harmony Holiday’s To the Music Industry in Crisis
Date: Monday, November 9 at 7pm
Location: Lincoln Center with Lindsee & Eleanor