Funkadelic brought a playfulness to a topic that’s not the most digestible. As much as they wanted people to exorcise their problems on the dance floor, they used their music to discuss esoteric concepts such as connecting with your higher self, interdimensional travel, and mindfulness in the 70s. Just like June Tyson and Sun Ra’s Arkestra, Funkadelic used their wardrobe, and stage design to transport viewers to another world.įor Funkadelic, it didn’t stop at the music.
Soul music was another vehicle for spiritual healing to enter everyone’s home. For others, it is an internal journey, a journey into yourself. It’s important to note that everyone doesn’t see going beyond the atmosphere as the solution. Tyson also sees Blackness flourishing beyond the Earth’s dimensions –– Singing songs to abolish sorrow. Like sci-fi writer Octavia Butler outlined in her Parable series, space exploration is an opportunity to eject Black and brown bodies from the violence that occurs in a world that’s becoming increasingly dystopic. She was the lead vocalist, the intergalactic oracle who gave us an invitation to a space world to experience enlightenment.
They return to Earth and use music as the way they can transport people into space.Īlternative mythologies of Blackness were born and transmitted by Sun Ra and, most importantly, by June Tyson. With the band, he decides to make a settlement for Black Americans there. You find Sun Ra on another planet dressed in clothes that merge ancient Egyptian and other African aesthetics into one ––connecting the past, present, and potential futures into one. Most people know Sun Ra as the “grandfather of Afrofuturism” from the cult classic film “Space is the Place.” The film is a visual manifestation of Sun Ra and The Arkestra’s music and is considered one of the first depictions of the futurist movement. Their songs made intergalactic travel and living an inclusive dream where it wasn’t about colonizing other worlds but integrating into a cosmic community. Even before the lunar landing in 1969, they saw space as a new frontier for Black people to thrive outside their Earth-bound oppressions. In the 60s, June Tyson, Sun Ra, and his band The Arkestra launched Blackness into orbit. Music has been one of the ways Black folx have maintained a cultural and spiritual link to the African continent. To unearth it, African descendants are acknowledging the intergenerational pain they’ve inherited and seeking ways to reconnect with their African heritage. The city was the last connection to the African continent for many enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade. Also known as the "Year of Return," 2019 was a turning point for Black folx that made the pilgrimage to Ghana. Since 2019, Black spirituality has held the main stage in the collective dialogue about healing. Tune into Sound & Vision on Saturday mornings at 7:30 AM PT or in the streaming archive.
BLACK FOLX WINDOWS
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