Afrofuturism compares the experiences of Africans in a white western world with those of aliens from outer space. While it is a literary genre, there are also musical pieces which fall into this category.
As a white German,
the whole concept seemed strange to me. Where exactly does that sci-fi element suddenly
come from? But as I continued to dig deeper into the material, it became more
clear that it serves more as an example on the experience of Africans in a
white world, than just being a fictional story.
Sun Ra is one
of the most prominent musicians of the genre. Born in Alabama in 1914 he did
live through the segregation between Blacks and white people until the 1960s
when it was officially abolished, however did not disappear as racism is still
very prominent in the U.S. today. He often played with an orchestra, whose name
he kept changing depending on the day, time and location.
Just as his
music kept changing, the different names also show a kind of unrest in his
musical career. He was able to tour Europe and also moved around the U.S. a
lot. His music sound like a combination of jazz with electronic elements,
sometimes creating nice harmonies and sometimes almost contradicting each other.
In his songs there always seems to be a lot going on at the same time, making it
hard to listen to single tracts because they all overlap each other so much.
This creates some chaos in the music in general, taking away from each melody.
His style of
loud and colorful, traditional African garments complemented his music, as it
is loud and distracting and colorful as well. The futuristic element comes from
both the use of electronic music as well as the way he plays his songs with the
unusual flow of the melodies mixed together.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.