Afrofuturism & Sun Ra – The mythology of the sun

Afrofuturism, very broadly explained, describes a cultural philosophy that aims to include a whole reimagination and revision of the history of emigrated Africans and the African diaspora within science fiction. But it is not only focused on rewriting the history of the diaspora but also paving the way for imaginable and positive futures. The expression of this philosophy took and takes place throughout all kinds of art: literature, music, and visual arts.      

Although Afrofuturism is mostly found within science fiction, it is not exclusively reserved for that genre. Rather, Afrofuturism is supposed to be a way to describing and visualizing imaginations, future, and technology as seen and experienced through a black cultural lens. This movement that is seen through and created by the black cultural lens cannot only be described as cultural, but also as social, political, and most importantly artistic. Within the movement, people of the African diaspora take the risk of imagining a future where they actually and finally play the main role in creating this future and world all by themselves.

However various the movement is, the focus of this short description of Afrofuturism lays on the part that explores Afrofuturistic music. There are quite a few musicians who have left their mark within this concept and made a remarkable impact.       

I chose one of them to explore in more detail, simply because his name sounded interesting to me in connection to Afrofuturism. 'Sun Ra’, who is also called Le Sony’r A was an African American composer and musician. He still is one of the pioneers of the movement of Afrofuturism. He chose his name after the Egyptian god of the sun, who is called ‘Ra’.      

Sun Ra introduced a new form of music that was focused on space but also on Afrocentrism. Sun Ra rewrote and reflected upon his own African history and culture. He led a band that was called “The Arkestra”, with whom he performed and toured festivals. Although their music and Sun Ra’s music in general is mostly described as jazz, the band explored all different kinds of genres and developed with these explorations. They used electronic elements and instruments and also included unusual combinations of sound and surprising experiments. This also underlines why Sun Ra played such an important role for the concept of Afrofuturism. 

But what made Sun Ra such an important figure for Afrofuturism apart from his musical influence were the views and visions he followed at that time. Sun Ra developed and invented a visualized and devoted persona within his music that remained a myth until his death. Although this myth may have seemed made-up or contradictory to some, he held onto his vision and created his own personal mythology that he lived and created by.