“You asked me to write my life. I am not able to do this because I have much forgotten my own, as well as the Arabic language. Neither can I write very grammatically or according to the true idiom. And so, my brother, I beg you, in God’s name, not to blame me, for I am a man of weak eyes, and of a weak body. My name is Omar ibn Said.” Undiscouraged by this disclaimer, Rhiannon Giddens (yes, that Rhiannon Giddens) and Michael Abels have teamed up to tell the reluctant autobiographer’s story in operatic form. A West African Muslim scholar shipped to Charleston, enslaved, and sold there at age 37, the historic Omar never regained his freedom. “This record of his life and Muslim faith,” we are instructed, “reveals a refusal to be defined or erased by his captors. It’s a seminal work of strength, resistance, and religious conviction—a work underscoring the indelible power of the written word.” Inshallah. May it be so. —Matthew Gurewitsch