Santigold Performs At New Orleans Elementary School
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Yesterday, there was a special assembly at LaPlace Elementary School, about 45 minutes outside New Orleans. The students gathered in the cafeteria for an unrevealed guest, which turned out to be Santigold, who’s in town for a set at Voodoo festival this weekend. The occasion was that VH1 Save The Music and Toyota had partnered to give the school a $30,000 grant to reinstate their music education program. Speakers included representatives of Toyota and VH1, as well as the local superintendent. They described how the school’s music teacher had been trying to teach music without access to any instruments. The grant means that the children now have instruments and the school can emphasize music education as a crucial part of education in general.
About twenty minutes into the assembly, Santigold came onstage followed by two dancers. She did her thing just as she would onstage — “GO!” reverberated as loudly in the school’s cafeteria at 1:30 in the afternoon as it would in a venue at 10:30 at night. She and her dancers moved in coordination, decked out in costumes that, for Santigold, included a giant bow on her head. She played “Shove It” second and the students started dancing in their seats — which is kinda crazy, considering most of them were probably only a few years old when that song came out. She then invited about twenty kids onstage to dance with her for “Creator,” which is an awesome and hilarious song to hear threatening to break the glass in a school cafeteria with its cacophony.
After she performed, the kids had the opportunity to ask her a few questions before the music students quickly demonstrated what they’d learned after having new instruments for a little over a month. Santigold spoke about her history in A&R, and how she originally wanted to own a record label. She also talked a bit about her experience with music classes in school, as well the music she’s listening to and the music that influenced her. She talked about how she’s interested in what Future and Young Thug do with melody in their music. As it wrapped up, she told the students how much she loved Devo and that they should check out the Smiths “with this guy Morrissey.”
