SistaStrings

[violin playing] [plucking strings] – Chauntee: They used to call the horsehair of the bow, the weave.

– Monique: Mm-hmm.

[laughing] – Chauntee: Like, that is a new one.

[cello music] – Monique: Music is just such a powerful thing.

Music is a healing, connecting, all of those things.

And it’s beautiful to be able to be impactful in that way.

I am Monique Ross.

I am a cellist.

I am also a cello teacher and a general music teacher as well.

[Chauntee singing] – Chauntee: I am Chauntee Ross, violinist in SistaStrings.

I am also a violin and general strings teacher at a couple of different school locations.

And I also teach viola.

So we are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin right now, in my home.

I live in Bronzeville, a historically Black arts community.

We’re actually right on Vel R. Phillips Avenue.

So that’s as Milwaukee as it gets.

[laughing] [playing classical music] – Monique: I feel like our community has a lot of different artists, whether musical or visual artists.

But, like, coming together and seeing people try to make a difference with their art.

A lot of us I feel like have fallen into working with children as well, which has been a beautiful thing, really, you know cause it’s all about the next generation, truly.

– [singing] Da, da, dah, da, da, da… Da, da, dah, da, da, da – Chauntee: One of the first memories I have of being like, “Ooh, that orchestra is amazing!”

It was when I went to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Ahh, gosh, I don’t know how old I was– I was probably– I couldn’t have been older than ten.

And they played Tchaikovsky’s “Sixth Symphony.”

It was so dramatic and lush and full of strings.

And all the strings play this huge melody at the same time, it was swelling, and I was like, “AAHHH!

TCHAIKOVSKY!”

[laughs] [playing strings] – Chauntee: Our music is really soulful.

– Monique: And it’s a combination of all different sounds of music that we both grew up with and learned over the years.

– Chauntee: Like classical, jazz, umm, we’ve been finding acceptance in the folk scene.

So, a little bit more storytelling songs and everything instrumental.

And even if we’re playing, like, Bach or something, there’s just like a richness that I think is really cool to bring into the different genres that we play.

[Monique playing cello, Chauntee singing] – Chauntee: Yeah.

[singing and playing continues] – Monique: Yeah.

Mmmhmm.

– Chauntee: And then we try to go back to the next spot.

Chauntee: 1, 2, uh.

– Chauntee and Monique: [singing] Da, da, da Ooh!

Da, da, da – Chauntee: It’s really interesting, this combination of, of umm, music and culture, culture identity.

I culturally identify as, well, Black.

Chauntee and Monique: Yes.

– Chauntee: And then as, um… [pause] [both laughing] Black, Black, Black!

[laughing deeply] Black, Black!

[laughing warmly] But… yeah, and as a musician, as well.

– Monique: Yeah.

– Chauntee: I think that’s a, a beautiful chunk of culture.

[singing and playing] – Chauntee: I find, I, when I was younger and a kid and watching all these, you know, videos, especially during Black history month, watching like Roots and whatnot and and different films and documentaries about the Black experience and the hardships that were going on, I started thinking about it as a musician and thinking about when there was a time where if I was playing the violin, I could play the event, maybe, and then like go out the back door.

– Monique: We never play “Strange Fruit” anymore.

And it’s beautiful, but yeah, painful and a lot of songs just because of some of the topics that are talked about in music.

– Chauntee: But that also lends on the other hand a celebration of sorts.

Our grandfather, his parents were sharecroppers.

– Monique: Yeah.

– Chauntee: You know?

– Monique: Yeah.

– Chauntee: And so, my great grandmother, she was pregnant, she had my grandpa’s brother and the next day, she had to be out on the field or else her home was going to be gone.

And, like, she had to do it.

And I get to go play a show and go home and go to bed and record music, and go to these different spaces that my ancestors could, like, not even dream of.

So it is a celebration too of sorts at, like, the advancements that are being made all over, especially with women, and women of color and, um, there’s a lot of beautiful change coming about.

– Monique: I always feel like there is more to dig into when trying to be more vulnerable with your music.

Cause it is very hard to put yourself out there.

It’s like you, and the song, and you’re sharing your heart with everyone else, which is a beautiful experience, but uh… it’s exciting, it’s a journey.

[chuckles warmly]