"I wanted to claim authorship of the original meaning of Madonna. It has nothing to do with religion or the pop artist. In Italian, Madonna means my lady, it's a term used when you want to express reverence towards a woman who carries herself with dignity, authority, and respect. And there was something very powerful, as a woman shaped by blackness, to claim that name felt very empowering."
"It was never for anyone but myself. Growing up as a kid, I would sing, but it was just out of enjoyment and play. I would sing to things when I lost them! I had this thing where I would lose something, but every time I would sing to it, I would find it."
"I was gonna be a pharmacy major, like my parents. I think I was going for the safe route of security. I was sitting in a chemistry class one day, and I was just like, what am I doing—I hate science! I needed a way to get out of it and the choir at my school at the time was offering scholarships."
Ana Hoffman, a jazz singer raised in Texas and Ghana, chose her stage name The BLCK Madonna to reclaim the original Italian meaning of the word—my lady—as a term expressing reverence toward women of dignity, authority, and respect. Rather than referencing religion or the pop artist, Hoffman wanted to claim authorship of this meaning and extend it as an invitation for other women to embrace their own authority. She discovered over 300 Black Madonnas depicted in churches throughout Europe. Hoffman's musical journey began in childhood with singing purely for personal enjoyment, not performance. Initially pursuing pharmacy like her parents, she pivoted to music during college when a chemistry class revelation led her to join her school's choirs, where she was exposed to jazz standards.
Read at www.amny.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]