Sonic vibrations
This guest edition is a multimedia journey into the sonic vibrations of sound system culture, lovers rock and dub with writers, visual artists and choreographers from the African diaspora.
Edited by: Michael McMillan
Listen nowSpotify | Apple | YouTube
Give me that touch
Denise Noble
“…the romantic, slow, erotic couple-dancing that I remember from the parties and clubs of the 1970s and 1980s. This was a form of couple-dancing associated with the intimacy of darkened rooms and young sensuous Black bodies engaged in shared rites of erotic, loving, soothing healing on the dancefloor. “
Denise Noble laments the challenges that women as dancers, producers, singers and members of sound systems still face within sound system culture.
Nzinga Soundz
June Reid and Lynda Rosenior-Patten
“At first, the three guys who ran the shop didn’t take me seriously as a woman buying music, until I started buying hundreds of pounds worth of records at one time. Then before I got to the shop, they would pull out records for me to hear.”
DJ Ade (Lynda Rosenior-Patten) and Junie Rankin (June Reid) trace the evolution of Nzinga Soundz from the mid-1980s to the present day.
1000 Volts of Lullabies
Yassmin Foster
“My mother played tape cassettes for me to fall asleep to, the orchestral bass heavy rhythms embellished with the smooth vocal cords of Ken Boothe, Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis were my lullabies.”
Yassmin Foster on the evolution of her sound system Legs Eleven with her two sisters.
Beyond the Days of Fasting
Mike Calandra Achode
“My grandfather jealously curated and fenced a vinyl collection of Juju, Cuban-Yoruba Apala, Highlife, Calypso and Chanson Française from our graceless fingers.”
Mike Calandra Achode's work focusses on musical spaces that emerged and matured across communities of the African diaspora.
Blues Dance Sufferers Style
Levi Tafari
“A commercial break
it's a soul earthquake
some get funky
soul heads bop to the music
slipping and sliding them could never refuse it
lovers’ dance cheek to cheek
whilst skankers skank the late hour
dripping in sweat like them just get a shower
hold tight each night
this is black music”
Blues Dance Sufferers Style by poet and playright Levi Tafari.it's a soul earthquake
some get funky
soul heads bop to the music
slipping and sliding them could never refuse it
lovers’ dance cheek to cheek
whilst skankers skank the late hour
dripping in sweat like them just get a shower
hold tight each night
this is black music”
Riddym Ravings
Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze
“Eh, Eh,
no feel no way
town is a place dat ah really kean stay
dem kudda – ribbit mi han
eh – ribbit mi toe
mi waan go a country go look mango”
'Riddim Ravings' is a classic of modern Carribean poetry by Jamaican dub poet and recording artist Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.no feel no way
town is a place dat ah really kean stay
dem kudda – ribbit mi han
eh – ribbit mi toe
mi waan go a country go look mango”