Mavis Staples, "We Get By" (Anti-Records)
Time has certainly not dampened the urgency in Mavis Staples' voice. Now 80, the Grammy-winning legend and social activist has one clear enemy on her new album: the status quo. She sings the word "change" some 20 times.
The terrific "We Get By" opens with the song "Change" and ends 10 tracks later with "One More Change to Make." Along the way, she urges action: "Can't stay the same," ''Something's got to give" and "Grab hold of the days."
All the songs on this, her 12th studio album, were written by Ben Harper and their union is both fruitful and moving. Harper has given Staples some tunes that show off her vulnerable side and others that make you move, with some funk and folk and soul and blues, the guitars often shimmering. He joins her in singing the dynamic, soulful "We Get By."
The Staples-Harper collaboration dates back to when he wrote the terrific song "Love and Trust" for her 2016 album, "Livin' On a High Note." She thanks him for all his new work in the liner notes: "I love you, Baby Bruh." He has three Grammys, but Harper might put that career achievement first.
Harper has written and produced an unrushed and quietly brooding album for Staples, one that puts her expressive voice at the center and the instruments turned down. Two songs — "Never Needed Anyone" and "Heavy On My Mind" — sound like the band was another room down the hall.
In between calls for change, Staples sings about love. On "Chance on Me," she is needy: "I don't need a symphony/I just need one violin." On the tender, bluesy "Hard to Leave," she's longing: "Softly reaching over/For your touch upon my sleeve."
Then there's the standout "Stronger," an irresistible rocking track where Staples' voice stretches and soars and the guitar keeps up with her. "Don't need a house on the hill/Don't need my face on a dollar bill," she sings.
Now that's an idea. Staples may not need her face on our money, but perhaps it's the least we can do to thank her. Hey, George Washington has had a long run. Who's down with Staples on the $1? Change can be good.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
BEIRUT (AP) — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child -- the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children -- was also brought with them.
As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said.
Although the pace of repatriations has picked up -- neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens -- many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.
The camps are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.
Human rights groups have regularly reported on what they describe as inhumane living conditions and abuses in the camps and in detention centers where suspected IS members are housed.
“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis” in the facilities “is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” Blinken said in the statement.
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Women shop in the marketplace at al-Hol camp, home to families of Islamic State fighters, in Hasakeh province, Syria, on March 31, 2019. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
