Mavis Staples' voice will reverberate across the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Thursday, as students and residents gather to witness the rhythm and blues luminary.
Ohio University is sponsoring the show in partnership with Stuart's Opera House as a part of the Performing Arts & Concert Series. The show will start at 7:30 p.m. with general admission priced at $30 and $22 for students.
“I think she is going to be absolutely dynamic,” Winsome Marcia Chunnu, strategic director for diversity and inclusion and multicultural programs and initiatives, said. “When I am at a performance, I like it to be a call and response and I think she is going to do so to get the audience involved.”
Staples, 77, first started performing as a part of The Staple Singers in 1950, the legendary gospel and soul group that comprised of her father and siblings. Before she split from the group, the Staples performed extensively in churches across the country while simultaneously contributing to the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Akil Houston, associate professor of African American studies, said.
“Her voice is unlike any other,” Houston said. “And she has used it in service of (the) human rights movement.”
Staples, a weaver of gospel and R&B music, was a civil rights activist as well, and she intertwined her music with the ideas of the movement, like many other black musicians of the time, in an attempt to contribute to the movement, Chunnu said. She added that music as a means of expression is a very integral part of the black community; it serves as a medium to critique issues that affect the community.
“Music (such as that of Staples) has always played a role in sort of helping to somewhat ameliorate oppressive forces from within the black community,” Chunnu, who is eager to watch Staples live, said. “Music and the drums and the beat is always about sending messages, and it has been so since slavery.”
The popularity of Staples’ music stems from her experiences and carries a historical undertone; Houston said her presence alone is a privilege for the audience. He said she elevates the experience by forming instant relationships with the audience members.
“It’s like a journey for her audience,” Houston said. “For that night it’s like an intimate gathering, and you can feel the power of her voice and the special stories that she kind of tells in between songs.”
The excitement around Staples’ arrival to OU has been augmented by the release of her newest album, "Livin' on a High Note,” Brian Koscho, the marketing director of Stuart’s Opera House, said.
Tickets for the show are being sold at the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium as well as on the Performing Arts & Concert Series website.
Showered with praise throughout her decades-long career, Staples’ appeal is the “substance” of her voice, which cannot be easily found in the contemporary music scene, Houston said.
“I think the term ‘diva’ is often tossed around rather loosely,” Houston said. “But if there is ever someone who is deserving, it is certainly Mavis Staples.”
