Press Release

Dan Wolf’s latest hip hop, spoken word single, “Echoes (Four Women),” features the vocals of GRAMMY award winner Tommy Soulati Shepherd of the Alphabet Rockers with music by composer Keith Pinto. The song pays homage to four holocaust survivors (Emmie Arbel, Selma van de Perre, Judit Varga, and Batsheva Dagan) who were all imprisoned at Ravensbrück concentration camp. 

The idea for the song was born in 2018 when Tommy joined Dan for his project Sound in the Silence at Ravenbrück concentration camp memorial site. Sound in the Silence is history through art. Since 2011, Dan has been working with artists, historical educators, students, teachers, and organizers to develop a multi-disciplinary methodology (education, experience, expression) that uses the performing arts to explore our connections to the toughest historical locations and topics. They work on-location at memorial sites connected to the Holocaust where they conduct art and educational workshops that act as a prompt for the creation of new performance work, intercultural exchange, and personal connections to history. Each “edition” of the project culminates in an interdisciplinary, intercultural, collaborative, non-traditional, site-specific public performance that incorporates the creative responses of the individuals to the shared experience. The goal is to use art (theater, music, dance, sound) as a vehicle for young people to understand history, and their place in it, while giving voice to a passing generation. We believe deeply that this process, this approach, this creative and educational methodology, is transformational and can be applied to a variety of historical, cultural, and social projects. In 2018 the project expanded and began to work with survivors through a partnership with the Ravensbrück Generations Forum.

Dan says “Lyrically, the song echoes the structure of Rapsody's album EVE, specifically the second verse. Where she focuses on a different powerful black woman for the theme and title of each of her song, I use the second verse to write each of the four ladies a letter that reflects our unique personal connection. I want them to know I see them as people, not just survivors. I want to celebrate them in the present moment. I want to give them their flowers while I still can. The first verse is based on a moment I shared with Batsheva Dagan. We were walking somewhere during the Sound in the Silence/Generations Forum and she put her arm in mine and we just walked. After a few moments of silence she whispered to me ‘this is like a dream I had once, young people coming together to tell our story. We are a passing generation and you are a devoted emissary of remembrance’ I use the chorus to draw a connection from the “four women echoing like Aunt Sara / similar struggle, different color, different era” to the protagonists of both Nina Simone's Four Women and Reflection Eternal's Expansion Outro.”

Vocalist Tommy Soulati Shepherd says "When Dan asked me to join him on this journey I had no idea how much it would fill my cup. I was blessed to have met them and luckily a witness to all four of them being together in one place after a long time of not seeing each other. It was a true honor to be invited to be on this track. My experience with those four ladies was nothing less than divine. The struggles and experiences that brought them to the point of where I met them filled me with courageous fearlessness. These ladies had a love for life and determination to maintain, that honestly blew me away. I’m still in awe of their continued radical resistance!”

Beatmaker/composer Keith Pinto says “Initially the title of the beat [ROSE] was based on the name of the sample. Once Dan turned it into his song ECHOES, it became clear that there was a meaning to the music that was there all along. Now when I hear the music, every layer takes on new meaning. The drum sequence is fairly sparse with the percussion clicking like the ticking of time. The key bass bubbles upwards like a natural spring only to trickle back down until the kick drum bounces it back into 

Dan Wolf’s ‘Echoes (Four Women)’ is out Friday January 27, 2023 on all streaming platforms

Dan Wolf will be performing live online and at music venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to support the single.  

Upcoming Shows

• Friday February 17, 2023 - Amado's in San Francisco

• Saturday March 4, 2023 - Sound in the Silence presentation at the Night of Ideas - San Francisco Public Library

• Monday April 17, 2023 - San Francisco Jazz Center​

• Thursday April 20 and Friday April 21, 2023 - Opening for a live Radiolab podcast recording - KQED Live in San Francisco

ABOUT DAN WOLF: 

Dan Wolf is a hip-hop artist who works with rap, theater, personal narrative, and history to give voice to the problematic world we live in. His multi-sensory work draws its power from years of experience working, teaching, and performing with the critically acclaimed hip-hop music and theatre collective Felonious. His debut album “Blood and Bones, Skin and Scars” is a fearless exploration of ideals, values, and vulnerability, and marks his debut as a solo hip-hop musician. His projects have traveled all around the world from concert halls to museums to schools and memorial sites where he engages history and culture as a prompt to make vital music and theater that can only live in this moment. He is the co-founder of the Bay Area Theatre Cypher, a collective of performers who live on the cross fader of hip hop, theater, activism, and community.

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Media Inquiries
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