Joan Baez & Her Sister Sing To Prison Inmates. They Shed Tears

I have been fortunate in my career to have filmed Joan Baez on two separate occasions in two separate documentaries. This recording is very special. At the time, Joan’s husband was in prison as a draft protester to the Vietnam War. My partner at the time, Harry Wiland, contacted her to ask her if she would participate in a Thanksgiving day event that we were planning inside Sing Sing prison. We both taught a class in filmmaking inside the prison at that time as we lived nearby it. Although Joan was very nervous about entering a maximum-security prison, she not only agreed to come at her own expense but brought her sister Mimi. They have rarely been filmed singing together. A good portion of the audience was Spanish-speaking. Many inmates came from the famous New York Puerto Rican gang, the Young Lords. Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña were born into a family with a long and distinguished tradition of musical and social activism. Joan was born in 1941 while Mimi was born in 1945. They were the daughters of Albert Baez, a prominent physicist, and Joan Bridge Baez, a housewife and amateur musician. Joan Baez is widely recognized for her distinctive voice, her contemporary folk music that often carries a social justice message and her role in popularizing the singer-songwriter genre. Her career has spanned over six decades, and she has released more than 30 albums, performing in both English and Spanish. Mimi Fariña was also a folk singer and activist but her career was cut short by her untimely death in 2001. She was known for her work with her husband Richard Fariña with whom she recorded several albums. After Richard’s death in a motorcycle accident in 1966, Mimi continued her musical and activist work. Joan and Mimi were often supportive of each other’s work, but had distinct careers and activist causes. Joan became known for her involvement in the civil rights and anti-war movements while Mimi focused on helping marginalized communities through her nonprofit organization Bread & Roses. It provided free live music for audiences who were isolated from society including inmates in prisons and patients in hospitals. Mimi said that it was her performance in Sing Sing prison that provoked her to start Bread & Roses. She witnessed the transformative power of music and believed that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, should have access to it. Joan Baez has also been known for her support of prisoners’ rights. She has spoken out against the death penalty and for prison reform, and has performed in prisons herself. She was influenced by the nonviolent principles of the Civil Rights Movement and has been arrested several times during peaceful protests. Joan and Mimi remained close throughout their lives, often appearing together in concerts and at social and political events. In 1980, they performed together at a benefit concert for the Campaign for Economic Democracy, a California-based political action group. However, their relationship was not without its challenges. Like all siblings, they had their differences and disagreements but their shared commitment to music and social activism was a common bond that kept them close. The film from which this clip is titled “BB King At Sing Sing Prison“. You can see other clips from the film on my YouTube channel by searching the words Sing Sing. The film is not only a concert film but looks at the life of inmates inside the joint at that time. The warden gave us free reign to walk around the prison and film what we saw. I brought 6 fellow cameramen/directors with me on that day and each went to a different place to film. Today, everything is more controlled and I doubt we would get the opportunity to film what you see here. Thank you Joan Baez and Mimi Farina and the New York State prison system for allowing this film to be made Other scenes involve BB King, Jimmy Walker, The Voices of East Harlem and other performers. David Hoffman Filmmaker