In the second half of the 20th century, as African nations attempted to rediscover themselves after colonisation, the view on art and culture espoused by Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah became particularly influential — the idea that, beyond gaining the ability to self-govern, Africans had to “decolonise the mind”. Colonisation, after all, is not just …
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Bookmarks, August 15
Bookmarks is an ongoing* series of recommendations, recent addictions and subjects for further study. No theme as such, except that it will be largely new music (or at least new to me) — but I’ll invariably cheat occasionally and throw in an older favorite that’s come back into my mind for one reason or another. …
“Alive on arrival”: The music of the Wu Tang Clan
One of the biggest compliments I can pay Of Mics and Men is that it managed to make me view the music of the Wu Tang Clan differently. One of it’s biggest weaknesses is that this relies on you already having an in depth knowledge of the group’s work. The following is the sound track …
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Wu Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men
Of Mics and Men, Sacha Jenkins’ four part documentary on the Wu Tang Clan — screened over two night at the Melbourne international Film Festival — is by turns as thrilling, moving and disjointed as the group it chronicles. The focus is primarily on the ‘Clan’ element of the Wu. The series is never more …
Vale Toni Morrison
“Young men on the rooftops changed their tune; spit and fiddled with the mouthpiece [… and when they] blew out their cheeks it was just like the light of that day, pure and steady and kind of kind. You would have thought everything had been forgiven the way they played” — Toni Morrison, Jazz.
“Writing about music is like… “
“…dancing to architecture.” It’s an old quote, variously attributed to Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, David Byrne and others, as capital C clever pronouncements of this sort usually are. That I’ve started a blog dedicated writing about music at all should probably indicate whether I agree (indeed, I note that all of that trio have themselves …
Dancing to Architecture 