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Acclaimed Folk Singer on Feminism, Gentrification, Gender Violence and Art in the Era of Trump

Over the past decade, Alynda Segarra’s band Hurray for the Riff Raff has become one of the most celebrated in modern folk music.

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When she was just 17, Alynda Segarra, the leader of the critically acclaimed band Hurray for the Riff Raff, left her home in the Bronx and began hopping freight trains. She eventually landed in New Orleans, where she learned to play banjo. Over the past decade, her band Hurray for the Riff Raff has become one of the most celebrated bands in modern folk music. In 2014, the publication American Songwriter named her tune “The Body Electric” the song of the year. NPR declared the same tune to be the political folk song of 2014. Hurray for the Riff Raff’s new record, “The Navigator,” is out this week. For more, we speak with Alynda Segarra.

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