Jeffrey Ziegler and Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray

We Were Fridays follows a story that begins in the griot or storyteller tradition of West Africa, travels to South Carolina by way of the transatlantic slave trade, then north by way of the Great Migration, and continues through Vietnam and Japan. Through deep investigation and collaboration, the team led by Zeigler explores the music of the Gullah community of the South Carolina Lowcountry. To this day, they have preserved more of their West African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the US. Gullah music has influenced spirituals, gospel, ragtime, rhythm and blues, soul, hip-hop, and jazz. We Were Fridays extends this reach into the world of instrumental cello music. Told through cello, electronics, film, and live dance, the performance explores forbidden love, fractured lines, and complex legacies and tells the story of how we became…Fridays.IMAGE CAPTIONWe Were Fridays, photo: Jill Steinberg.