22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman stole the show with her reading of “The Hill We Climb” during President Biden‘s inauguration last week, and it didn’t take long for the audio of her spoken word masterpiece to be put to music.
A mashup audio recording of Gorman’s inauguration reading synced alongside a 2020 single from Seattle-based psychedelic-funk group Polyrhythmics entitled “Zion”, premiered via Seattle radio station KEXP on Wednesday just hours following the event at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The 7:26 minute instrumental recording was first released as a single on Color Red last October and was eventually included on the group’s Fondue Party EP released in early December.
“One of the wonderful things about KEXP is there are humans programming the music at all times, and we have the freedom to respond in real-time to what’s going on in the world,” KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters told Variety. “I thought a lot in advance about what I might like to play today but wasn’t sure what the mood would be, so I was programming on the fly. I was so inspired by the speech, her powerful voice and important words that I decided to air it on my show, and I knew the vibe of that amazing Polyrhythmics song would go so perfectly with it. I got quite a wonderful response — it was exhilarating to come up with the idea during my show and have it be so meaningful to listeners.”
Fans can listen to the mashup via the KEXP Facebook video below, or on KEXP’s free mobile app. Fans can also click here to listen to the mashup on the KEXP archive webpage by selecting 1/20/21 at 12 p.m. as the date and time.
KEXP Amanda Gorman/Polyrhythmics “The Hill We Climb” Audio Mashup