A tale bookended by two different types of vessel: slave-ship and space ship; removal and escape.
In between, songs of captivity and resistance; exile and return; remembrance and infection; hell on earth and heaven in mind….
Inspired by four wise men: the writer Ishmael Reed (who hypothesised that African slaves brought with them a cultural virus -he called it Jes’ Grew- transmitted via music that caused white people to sing and dance and be happy in the same ways as black folk), and the Ark-i-techs Sun Ra, Lee Perry and George Clinton; as well as the Afro Futurism film essay The Last Angel Of History (link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AorKl-FmCLA&t=10s
1 BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON-DARK WAS THE NIGHT (COLD WAS THE GROUND)
2 RANDY NEWMAN-SAIL AWAY
3 THE O’JAYS-SHIP AHOY
4 BURNING SPEAR-SLAVERY DAYS
5 ISHMAEL REED-JES’GREW
6 DOCTOR ROSS-THE BOOGIE DISEASE
7 THE MONITORS-ROCK ’N’ ROLL FEVER
8 SOUNDZ AFRICANA-AFRICANA
9 MANDINGO GRIOT SOCIETY WITH DON CHERRY-SOUNDS FROM THE BUSH
10 RUSS HENDERSON-WEST INDIAN DRUMS
11 PRESTON EPPS-BONGO IN THE CONGO
12 JIMMY SMITH-BURNING SPEAR
13 DR JOHN-BABYLON
14 THE HEPTONES-SUFFERER’S TIME
15 SALAH RAGAB & CAIRO JAZZ BAND-RAMADAN IN SPACE TIME
16 JUSTIN HINDS & THE DOMINOES-THE ARK
17 PARLIAMENT-MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION (STAR CHILD)
18 NRBQ-ROCKET NUMBER 9
19 SUN RA-SPACE IS THE PLACE