Category Archives: African American culture

World music classic #34

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=perVFDDy_xg&]

“Theme De Yo Yo” is a musical composition by American jazz band Art Ensemble of Chicago with vocals by Fontella Bass. The composition was part of the soundtrack to the 1971 French film Les Stances à Sophie and was first compiled on the 1995 Soul Jazz Records free jazz compilation Universal Sounds Of America.

AEOC recorded this album when they were staying in Paris in the early 1970s. Did they also record at that time “Comme à La Radio” (Brigitte Fontaine; Areski)?

Words to describe the track are: fierce.

Black Surrealism et al.

I may be a jackass

A “Jackass” sits atop a tall ladder in front of the Palmetto Theater to promote “Hellzapoppin” starring the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson. The sign on the ladder reads, “I may be a Jackass but I’m not coming down until Helzapoppin’ with Olsen and Johnson opens.” The film was released in 1941 by Universal Pictures. Via here

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmw7un31UR0&]

A Cadillac commercial by Dylan centered around Bob’s radio show

Spent yesterday evening in the vicinity of the Nachtegalenpark where I listened to The Faces, Nicola Conte‘s newest compilation but most of all to Bob Dylan‘s The Best of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour. Came home and got sick. Slept for more than 15 hours.

Woke up and thought about Black Surrealism, through my first exposure to the work of Slim Gaillard and his role in films such as the 1941 film Hellzapoppin’, of which Ado Kyrou was a fan. Black Surrealism is a concept first put forward by Robin D.G. Kelley in A Poetics of Anticolonialism (1999), although he had overlooked the popular dimension of the concept.

The popular strains of any art form are often forgotten, take for example Ma and Pa Kettle, the American comic duo known for their celebration of the absurd, but much less known and appreciated than comparable films by Jacques Tati (I am referring specifically to Tati’s attack on modernity which was just as prevalent in the Kettle films).

To conclude, a recommendation: if you only buy one CD in 2008, make it Bob Dylan‘s The Best of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour. You’ll enjoy tracks such as Mary Gauthier’s “I Drink”, Dinah Washington’s bawdy “Long Big Sliding Thing” and many more. Trust me.

Aimé Césaire (1913 – 2008)


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Aimé Fernand David Césaire (25 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author and politician. He was with Léopold Sédar Senghor one of the figure heads of the négritude movement, the precursor to the Black Power movement of the 1960s. His writings reflect his passion for civic and social engagement. He is the author of Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism) (1953), a denunciation of European colonial racism which was published in the French review Présence Africaine. In 1968, he published the first version of Une Tempête, a radical adaptation of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest for a black audience.

The Munchers: a Fable (1973) by Art Pierson

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNf2m1gylQ]

The Munchers: a Fable (1973) by Art Pierson

This clip is somewhat of a mystery. Supposedly directed by Arthur P. Pierson, the film nor the director are listed at imdb. The http://www.afana.org/ showed both films during the 2000s:

  • Munchers: A Fable’ (1973) 10m, dir. Art Pierson. Clay and polymer tooth puppets bring decay to life.
  • ‘Whazzat?’ (1975) 10m, dir. Art Pierson. Here, nondescript clay figures attempt to identify an elephant.

I cannot track any info on this remarkable little film by Arthur P. Pierson. If you know more, please let me know. A further hint is this description of ‘Whazzat?’.

I am the black gold of the sun

Splendor Solis (1532-1535) - Salomon Trismosin

Splendor Solis (1532–1535) – Salomon Trismosin

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DR_NMtBEj4]

“I am the Black Gold of the Sun” by the Rotary Connection (Wmc#29)

While researching world peace in relation to Georges Bataille, I found Splendor Solis, which reminded me of Rotary Connection‘s “I am the Black Gold of the Sun” voiced by the late Minnie Riperton (of “Lovin’ You” YouTubefame).

 

World music classics #27

“California Soul”Youtube (1969) by Marlena Shaw

There are those records which invite you to perform grand gestures and theatrical movements on the dancefloor. This is one of them. A very spacious sound from the sunny side of the United States. Happy music.

My sensibilities in literature, film and the visual arts may sometimes be more to the gloomier side, in music I love bright, happy and danceable (exceptions notwithstanding).

Shaw is best-remembered for the use of her vocals in the 1996 “Remember Me” by Blue Boy Youtube.

Previous World Music Classics.

Introducing Praxis

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It’s actually strange that I’ve never actively come across this band besides of having heard of them. I am a big fan of Bill Laswell and all P-Funkiana, both are canonical to my encyclopedic work. Praxis introduces a whole collective of adventurous culture, from cutting edge music to exciting graphics, rebellious texts and tetsuoesque performances (is the life-size doll by Rammellzee?).

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUL_gcHv0EA]

“Animal Behavior” (1992) from the Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) album.

Praxis is the name of an ever-changing Bill Laswell musical project. Praxis combines elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music. First appearing in 1992 with the critically acclaimed Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), Buckethead, Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell and Brain have defined the direction of the band over the last 15 years.

Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) is the first album by Bill Laswell‘s everchanging “supergroup” Praxis. This first album features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables and mixer.

Transmutation features a wide range of musical styles, all mixed together to make a very diverse and unique album. Styles such as heavy metal, funk, hip hop, ambient, jazz and blues are blended together to form a strange style of avant-garde, with extended guitar and keyboard solos, and highly improvised passages.

The artwork is by James Koehnline, photography by Thi-Linh Le and liner notes by Hakim Bey.

 

World music classics #23

In 1994 I was crazy about the “Wilmot” track (see clip below) by Andrew Weatherall‘s Sabres of Paradise project. I had since lost the record but the mesmerizing horns kept spooking through my head over the years.

Last week, I am listening with my children to a commercial radio station and I hear a track by Shantel Youtube, a Balkan artist in a “techno” remix. I recognize the mesmerizing horns.

Today, I am making my 1980s music page and re-discover the composition by The Sabres of Paradise, find its Youtube clip Youtube and discover that the original version of the horns dates back to 1931, is called “Black But Sweet”, and is composed by calypso artist Wilmoth Houdini.

Another case closed in the history of cultural appropriation in western music.