Why Play Music: A Conversation with Questlove and Maggie Rogers

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Earlier this month, two acclaimed musicians—Questlove and Maggie Rogers—joined The New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh live onstage for a conversation that probed at an essential question for musicians and music lovers alike: How can music provide a spiritual experience, and how do we sustain that feeling in our lives? Questlove—the co-founder of the Roots and the musical director of the “Tonight Show”—was one of Rogers’s professors while she was an undergraduate at New York University, and the two have stayed in touch. Rogers received a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, after the release of her début album, “Heard It in a Past Life.”

Onstage, both musicians reflected on the space that the pandemic has given them to turn inward, finding a more sustainable path in their careers. “Music is not a job, it’s a way of being,” Rogers said, to which Questlove laughed. “I’m glad you know that at twenty, because I had to learn that at fifty,” he said.

Rogers also performed songs off her new album, “Surrender.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:11.1	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Bremnick.
0:14.6	Maggie Rogers came on the music scene in 2016 when she was 22 years old and had a viral
0:20.8	hit song called Alaska.
0:22.8	I was walking through icy streams that took my breath away.
0:33.3	Moving slowly through westward water, over glakes you'll plant in a walked-off field.
0:43.3	Rogers's debut album wound up on a lot of best of lists and this summer she released a
0:48.6	much anticipated follow-up called Surrender.
0:53.4	And I don't know if this is considered a hot take in this room but I think it's even better.
0:59.0	Please let's remind her how excited we are to have her in this building and on this stage
1:07.2	Maggie Rogers.
1:11.0	Staff writer, Kellefessane, welcome Rogers to the stage at a New Yorker live event just
1:16.3	a couple of weeks ago and the evening was something special because she was there to talk with
1:20.7	a mentor of hers, a musical legend, the renowned hip-hop artist producer and band leader, Questlove.
1:27.6	Now let's turn things over to Kellefessane.
1:31.8	I knew about Questlove way back when he was merely considered the greatest drummer in the
1:37.4	history of hip-hop.
1:39.6	That was a long time ago.
1:41.4	These days he's everywhere, co-founder of the roots, musical director of the tonight's
1:46.8	6-time Grammy winner, recent Oscar winner.
1:56.5	And the director of a forthcoming Sly Stone movie, I can't wait.
2:01.8	Many of us think of Questlove as a kind of musical professor but Maggie he was actually
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -916 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.