Main Index Blog Intro

REVOLUTION'S DRUMS

African musical uprising lives through the current generation.

Drum talk, ritual performance, sexual liberation, spiritual strength, and tribal

call-and-response are still the driving elements behind America's most relevant sounds.

Blues, funk, hip-hop, jazz, rap, rock and soul are musical cousins.

They all take their influence from Africa.

These genres have been demonized.

Colonization attempted to cut off the continent's native communication

once slaveholders realized revolution lived in the music.

But when you suppress something powerful, the response is beyond any control.

Nature and truth will resurface with a vengeance if they're buried.

February Blog Index

Previous Post: Black Radical Tradition


IN AFRICA, MESSAGES TRAVELLED VIA DRUMS ACROSS MILES.

POETS HAD ORAL HISTORIES ON FILE.

GRIOTS PERFORMED ANCESTRAL SONGS.

THEY PRESERVED THE PAST TO MOVE PROGRESS ALONG.

SINGER-HISTORIANS KEPT ANCIENT WAYS...

WHILE LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR REVOLUTIONARY DAYS.

EMPOWERMENT HAS MANY FORMS, AND SOUND IS JUST ONE!

EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS SHOWED UP, THEY BANNED THE DRUM.

 

 THE POWER OF DRUMS IS VERY CLEAR.

AFRICAN CUSTOMS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS ARE STILL HIGHLY FEARED.

THEY CONTINUED IN SECRET SO CHANGE COULD COME.

BLACK SPIRITUALS TURNED INTO BLUES, FROM WEST AFRICAN VODUN.

 

THIS CREATED JAZZ AND ROCK: A SOUNDTRACK TO GETTING FREE.


Harlem during the Renaissance's height: art, queer identity and politics. Andreas Feininger/Bonni Benrubi Gallery.

BLUES AND JAZZ PLAYERS WERE LGBTQIA.

THEY WERE OPEN ABOUT SEXUALITY.

FROM BILLIE TO LANGSTON HUGHES, AND MA RAINEY.


Bessie Smith


Billie Holiday


Portrait of Langston Hughes, 1960. Bernard Gotfryd Photograph Collection

THEY ALL STOOD FOR WHAT'S RIGHT.


Louis and Lucille Armstrong

UNDERGROUND IDEOLOGY BROUGHT BALANCE TO LIGHT.

BIGOTS FIGHT REVIVAL, BUT LOSE THE WAR.

THEY FIGHT FORCES HERE FROM A 500-YEAR-WAR.

BY THE 60'S AND 70'S, BLACK POWER KICKED TOTAL ASS.


Angela Davis

A HISTORICAL WAVE LINKED RACE, GENDER AND CLASS.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS ACROSS ALL CREEDS FOUGHT MILITARIST LAWS ON OPPRESSED PEOPLE'S NEEDS.

CHANTS FOR FREEDOM, LED BY AFRICAN DRUMS.

WHITE PATRIARCHY KNEW REVOLUTION HAD BEGUN.

THE BLACK VOICES ON THE STREET IN WATTS CAME OUT.

POET-PROPHETS RALLIED AGAINST DEATH AND DOUBT.


Gil Scott-Heron, the political spoken wordsmith from New York who would inspire hip-hop

BLACK PANTHERS USED JAZZ TO SPREAD MESSAGES TO YOU.

SOUND CHANNELLED OLD TIMES TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW.

LESBIANS LED SESSIONS ON SELF-DEFENSE.

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE BROKE MOST FALSE PRETENSE.

SPOKEN WORD EQUALIZED THE PLUTOCRACY.

CIVIL RIGHTS PAVED A WAY FOR DEMOCRACY.

ACTIVISTS SHOWED SOCIETY WHAT IS REAL.

AT THE SAME TIME, REACTIONARIES CRACKED DOWN...

USING CRIMINALIZATION AGAINST BLACK, POOR AND BROWN.


Fred Hampton, Chicago Black Panther who organized the city before his death by police/FBI

CYCLES OF REVOLUTION CONTINUE TO SPIN.

PROPHETIC VOICES CAN BE HEARD AGAIN.

DEFEND INDIGENOUS LIFE AND NATURE AS WELL.

RECOGNIZE INJUSTICE AND GIVE RACISTS HELL!

 

RAPPERS HIGHLIGHTED CORRUPTION REAL GANGSTERS DON'T MENTION.

THEY TOOK DOWN POLITICIANS FROM NIXON TO CLINTON.



STRONG WOMEN RAPPED TO TAKE SEXISM DOWN.



EAST COAST OR WEST COAST, AN ALLEGIANCE WAS FOUND.

NICOLE KALI'S RHYTHMS COME FROM AFRICAN FORESTS.

TIME FOR REVOLUTION'S DRUMS, MY ANCESTORS' CHORUS.


Natural Contract

Hip-Hop and Social Commentary

Revolutionary Tides


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