Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Viva Africa


Viva Africa! Laba Sosseh truly is a great sonero and has piqued my interest in Senegalese and Gambian recordings of Cuban son and salsa. Never hurts to appreciate the Latin influence on so much African music, especially as it's important in the development of mbalax and other popular musical forms across the continent. 

Monday, December 30, 2013

Maquino Landera


Dave Chappelle once joked that Latinos love music with Spanish gibberish. This may be one of those examples of a hit from the 1950s. If I remember correctly, "Maquino Landera" would be considered a bomba, but regardless of its classification, it's fun. Enjoy this jam live from 1950s Puerto Rican television. Rest in peace, Ismael. 

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Ismael Rivera and Benny More


My boys (Benny More and Ismael Rivera), the best soneros in the Caribe, together in this photo with Rafael Cortijo on the far left. Check out this special on los mejores soneros (a nice overview of the evolution of their music and why their improvisational skills and vocal talent made them the best). Rest in peace. The world needs more amazing Afro-Caribbean singers...

Haitian and Jamaican Jams for Saturday


Enjoy some Haitian and Jamaican music tonight! Ran into an old Jamaican man who reminded me that Haiti and Jamaica are 'siblings,' so let's listen to Les Diables du Rhythme and some Gregory Isaacs. Nothing better than some good reggae to complete the night well. Oh, and enjoy some songs by Les Corvington, a 1960s group that is quite good. I think the 1960s and 1970s might be my favorite period in Haitian kompa, with some stuff from the 1950s and 1980s being aight. If only I could track down some groups from the 1940s, such as outfits Bebo Valdes recorded with, then I would be set. 


In addition, check out a 1960s twoubadou Haitian song, which shows its debt to the Cuban son quite obviously. Catchy! 

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Milonga and Tango


Been trying to get into more music from Argentina and Uruguay these days, especially since the history of tango and milonga is rooted in the Afro-Argentine and Afro-Uruguayan experience. I've devoured the music of Brazil and Colombia, why not expand my musical tastes to include tango, milonga, and candombe? My problem in the past with milonga and tango was how European the music was, European to the point of inducing boredom. But jams like the above 'milonga' is full of passion and at times quite moving. The tension of the piece and "Latin" rhythms reflecting African influences are quite moving. Indeed, it's quite similar to some Afro-Caribbean music, such as art music or classical composers, or rhythms like the habanera.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Africa Oye


Followers of this blog know I love me some Congolese rumba and soukous. The genre reflects Cuban and other Afro-Caribbean influences, combining the best of Cuban son, biguine, local African instruments and styles, and European vocal influences. And we all know how Congolese soukous has conquered the African continent musically. What I was quite ignorant of, however, was the influence of soukous on Cape Verdean coladeira and other genres. Such a beautiful song, Abel Lima and his group were wondrous musicians. The 'clean' and refined guitar, so essential for establishing the song, is reason enough to love soukous. "Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa oye!"

Sara Tavares


Been listening to Sara Tavares more in recent days. An Afro-French friend first recommended her to me, and I love her style, voice, and energy. As my friend told me, those in France are more exposed to what US audiences call "world music," so she heard the Cape Verdean Tavares on the radio in France. Check out "Bue" which is a little more jazzy.

A Haitian Version of "Bang Bang"

Came across a Haitian jazzy version of the boogaloo classic, "Bang Bang." Who would've thought Haitian musicians were listening to Puerto Rican and other Latino boogaloo from New York in the 1960s? I guess it was too good to pass over and not pay attention to. Joe Cuba would be proud, I imagine. 

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merengue For Christmas


Antonio Morel's old merengue, "Alevantate," is quite beautiful, simple, and old-fashioned. Indeed, in some ways it's quite similar to some Haitian music from the same time (1940s-1950s). Anyway, I really enjoy older Dominican merengue recordings. Check this one out!

How To Make Love To A Negro Without Getting Tired


Finally read this short but excellent (and hilarious) satire by Dany Laferrière. In some ways it was quite reminiscent of Salih's "Season of Migration To the North" in the explicit racial and sexual commentary on interracial relationships between white women and black women, the emphasis of the meta-textual story. Bouba and the narrator, two African immigrants (one from the Ivory Coast?) are working-class intellectuals living in Montreal who read the Koran, enjoy jazz (especially Bouba, the black Buddha who lives on his couch, reading Freud) consume literature (Miller, Bukowski, Hemingway, Baldwin, and a variety of other writers whose works I am not familiar with are alluded to), have sex with various types of white women (who serve as 'types' or models of various forms of white femininity) and white femininity's innate desire to rebel or undermine the moral order of Western civilization (where the black male/white female sex dynamic is part of the rupturing of white supremacy while also maintaining it through desire), and exposing the hypocritical liberal attitudes of Montreal, McGill, and Canada.

In that regard, Laferrière's satirical text, which at times seems to endorse embracing racial stereotypes of the black Other to make it with white women, leaves a more serious message about the prospects for racial equality for black immigrants in white-dominated countries, such as Canada. It ends on somewhat pessimistic terms, with the narrator completing his dream of finishing a novel about his life in a dream! But throughout all the satire and racial and gender commentary on life in the West, I see How To Make Love To A Negro as being a funny way of trying to address racial dynamics in society with a metaphor of white women and black men, given their unequal powers in societies and how deception and racial stereotypes prevent both black men and white women from seeing each other truly as individuals in their sexual relationships. Anyway, check out the short and fun novel for some laughs and some perspective on Black Montreal.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Memories of Years Gone By


Christmas memories of my youth always fill my head during the holiday seasons these days. Good times...

Monday, December 23, 2013

Alexandre Stellio


An enjoyable number that shows how biguine was played back in the 1930s. Very similar to jazz, too, particularly in the orchestra's instrumentation and improvisation. All these genres have similar origins, jazz, Haitian meringue, Cuban son, etc. 

Remy Mondey's "Meringue"


Listen to that saxophone! This is a hot number, influenced by Haitian early kompa and Dominican merengue. It's dark, uptempo, lively, and full of mirth. I'll have to check out more tumbele and other French Caribbean music besides Haiti! I haven't heard a track that moved me so much since "Bobine!" 

Samba for Sunday


Que samba é esse que acabo de chegar?
E Partido Alto mais e para quem sabe produzar

Beautiful old samba track I encountered via a black music blog (here). Africa lives in Brazil! 

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Merengue President


Who would've thought that the president of merengue would be from the Congo, and not the Dominican Republic. From what I've found out online, Nico believed his electric guitar sounded like the accordion in older Dominican merengue records available in the Heart of Africa. And yes, it does kinda sound like Dominican merengue, even if Congolese music owes much more to Cuban son. 

Friday, December 20, 2013

Reagan's Welfare Queen Was Real (Kind Of)


Well, I am not surprised a 'welfare queen' actually did exist as a real person, though Reagan exaggerated her exploits, at least the ones involving 'stealing' from public funds. Linda Taylor knew how to cheat the system, but her pilfering the state was nowhere near as unethical or absurd as cuts to social services and other policies pursued by Reagan (let's not even talk about race or Reagan's foreign policy). The sad thing is how black women are demonized as a result because of the media and politicians when the real welfare queens are not hustlers going to great lengths to steal pennies in comparison to welfare for the elite and corporations in this country.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Ishmael Reed's Japanese By Spring


Finally read Reed's Japanese by Spring, a powerful example of satire matched only by Reed's own Reckless Eyeballing. Some of the themes are the same, too, such as a critique of feminism, racism, the media, and a comparison of the experiences of one ethnic minority with that of blacks (Jews and Blacks in Reckless, blacks and Japanese in Japanese By Spring). Indeed, the novel is also a fun read for self-insertion. Reed becomes a character in the novel commenting on the media, stereotypes, university politics, the importance of multiculturalism, and the global world we all live in.

Though the main character, Chappie Puttbutt, plays the role of a black lackey for whatever force will empower him on his self-interested path to tenure and moving to the Oakland Hills, he eventually becomes a 'man' and no longer slavishly serves for white or Japanese masters who take over Jack London College. In many ways the novel is an amusing parody of the 'yellow peril' fears common through Europe after Japan's industrialization and imperialism in Asia in the first half of the 20th century, renewed by Japanese economic power in the 1980s and 1990s. The novel is also quite successful for seamlessly fusing parody, satire, and a political tract in defense of multiculturalism, integration, anti-imperialism, while celebrating Japanese (and Yoruba!) culture, history, and civilization. What dragged the novel down at times was Reed's occasional tendency to veer into rants and present data as if the novel was one of his essays, but that was not common enough to change the format of the work. Indeed, sometimes the moments where one really learns from the book is the more academic and pedantic wandering of Reed's pen, such as moments where we learn that the Japanese wanted peace with the US in 1941, somethign already known to the US government via spying on telegrams between Japan and Soviet Russia, thereby proving that the US never had to use the atomic bomb.

What stuck with me the most was how similar the 'culture wars' and fight to defend affirmative action and multiculturalism was in the 1990s to the present, even in the world where commodification and cooptation of 'diversity' have seemingly won out over the white right's academic backlash. To paraphrase the former white supremacist professor Crabtree on the white academic backlash to multicultural pedagogy, white academics on the right became worse than the rednecks they thought themselves superior to by rejecting others. Folks like literary critic Harold Bloom could learn a lot from Japanese By Spring.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Jonathas Granville


Jonathas Granville was one of the agents sent by Jean-Pierre Boyer to attract free African-American settlers to Haiti in the 1820s. It's interesting to see what the man looked like, although it does little to change my views of the Boyerist clique as disproportionately lighter-complected than the Haitian people, due to their interest in monopolizing political power. According to Wikipedia, the brother even married a cousin of Boyer, showing how interconnected all these Boyer elites were through blood, kin, and color (but the Wiki lacks proper citations).

I have blogged about the 1820s movement of 6,000-13,000 free blacks to Haiti here, but Pamphile offers some additional data on the 1820s emigration experiment that was an abysmal failure. According to him,  Boyer emphasized how similar Haiti was to free blacks from the US than an unknown and culturally different Africa (even though Haiti would prove to be very different culturally, socially, and linguistically for African Americans), Boyer funded the scheme (via Granville, Dewey, an American Presbyterian minister, and others) with coffee exports on the expectation that free blacks would labor as agricultural workers, and some interest and help from Philadelphia's black middle class and prominent people, such as Bishop Richard Allen. Granville spoke at gatherings for the emigration society, minimized differences between Haitians and African Americans, and left private writings that reveal a rather condescending view of the free people of color of the antebellum US ("“The colored people here are, whatever they say, in such a state of abjection that each time I am with them I feel that their degradation reflect on me.").

As Pamphile and other observers have noted, the emigration of the 1820s was doomed to fail in some key ways First, most of the free black emigrants were artisans and urbanites with no interest in agricultural labor like Boyer and the Haitian state desired. In addition, the cultural, religious, political, and social gap between African Americans and Haitians proved insurmountable to many, at least to one perspective in Port-au-Prince. Moreover, American recognition of Haiti never came, so Boyer ceased funding the migration in 1825! Intriguingly, Pamphile does suggest that blacks from the US who were mulattoes were more successful at integrating themselves into Haitian society, citing Benjamin Hunt to demonstrate how some of the US people of color were mulattoes who were accepted into the class and color structure of Boyer's Haiti. I suppose that last part ain't too surprising, but it certainly increases my interest in black immigrants in 19th century Haiti.

One of these days I'll have to blog about later emigration schemes or parallels in the Liberia/Sierra Leone cases and Haiti. I am certain there are other cases of black immigrants from other parts of the African diaspora to Haiti, such as Felix Darfour (from Darfur but educated in France), blacks from the French Caribbean (Papa Doc himself was of Martinican descent), or the case of slaves from the British Caribbean and "Dominicans."

Sunday, December 15, 2013

A Thousand Years Ago in Mauritania


I've always been fascinated by Mauritania and the Sahel region of Africa more broadly. My interest in the Almoravids and Sahel-Saharan relations began with my studies of Wagadu/Ancient Ghana, particularly in how foreign academics have tried to label conflicts as rooted in 'racial' differences instead of interrogating local concepts of ethnic difference, religion, and land. One of these days I'll write an overly long post on relationships between Saharan societies (such as Sanhaja Berber groups or Massufa, for instance) and those of ethnic groups in the Sahel and savannas of West Africa (Soninke, Mande, Fula, and many others). This lecture is a little too focused on Islam and religion for my taste, but certainly worth a listen. 

Sans Souci


Though the author's description of Henri Christophe lacks nuance (and contains factual errors), it certainly contains some fascinating pictures from different angles of Sans Souci, the finest palace of Henri Christophe (I have blogged about the Citadel here, too). 


Trouillot claims the name may have come from an African slave leader during the Haitian Revolution who was killed under orders of Christophe, but regardless of the exact origins of the name and inspiration for the palace, it's certainly an example of what de Vastey called our memory of African architectural genius when we covered Egypt, Ethiopia, Carthage, and Old Spain with impressive ruins. Check out the rest of the pictures in the article! 

Jasper Country Man


Humphrey brings the funk on this classic, though it's not as good as "Harlem River Drive." Who thought jazz flute would go well with funk made a good decision, even if it does sound the same after a while. Some deep grooves on this one.

Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

While reading Ishmael Reed's Japanese By Spring, I couldn't help but enjoy the quotation of Seishisai's Shinron:

"Today, the alien barbarians of the West, the lowly organs of the legs and feets of the world, are dashing about across the seas, trampling other countries underfoot, and daring, with their squinting eyes and limping feet, to override the noble nations. What manner of arrogance is this!"

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Haiti Noir

Finally finished reading Haiti Noir on my Kindle last night. It was appropriately horrifying, full of plot twists, and contained rich cultural and historical material to live up to the 'noir' aspects of short story fiction. One story that particularly stood out to me was the tale of a wealthy girl kidnapped for a ransom because of the surprising and ominous twist. Though some stories were more cliched and less interesting, it was refreshing and often humorous to see the fusion of supernatural phenomena and Haitian folklore with traditional noir elements. All in all, a great and quick read worth your time, edited by Edwidge Danticat.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X


A powerful scene I remember from Spike's Malcolm X biopic. Rest in peace, Malcolm, rest in peace, Mandela.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Ndodemnyama


While reading Jemima Pierre's thought-provoking piece on the reality of post-apartheid South Africa, I could not help but play the above anti-apartheid song. The article also has a great title ("Reconciliation is Not Decolonization"). Jemima Pierre is an excellent cultural anthropologist who has demolished so much of the academic/sociological material written by mostly white 'scholars' on race, black immigrants in the US, and West Indian/Caribbean ethnic groups in the US as drivel motivated by white stereotypes of the 'black underclass' and blackness itself. She also appears to be an astute observer and follower of trends in African history, no doubt perhaps influenced by her anthropological research. As a Haitian-American, Pierre's work has been valuable for undermining stereotypes of native African-Americans while also enlightening for African affairs. 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The N-Word

"Can you lend a nigga a pencil?"

One of the finest moments in The Boondocks is watchable here. Though the "N-word" is just a 'word,' words have power that varies with who uses them. I still detest white usage of the word, but hey, white folks will think we're niggas regardless of saying it out loud. I just wish more folks got angrier about other obvious or visible signs of racial inequities rather than symbolic or verbal forms of racial discrimination.  

Never Can Say Goodbye


For all the loved ones, ancestors, and people who have helped make our lives a little easier. 

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Right and Wrong Are Just Words


"God": Right and wrong are just words. What matters is what you do.
Bender: Yeah I know, that's why I asked if what I did-- Forget it.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

What's Goin' On?


"You know we gotta find some way to bring some lovin' here today."

RIP Mandela

Although I am not really too interested in hagiography, Mandela was indeed a 'great' person and complex figure whose death, though perhaps to be expected, will be mourned forever. It seems ironic that he would die so close to the anniversary of the death of Fred Hampton, illustrating how the struggles of black folks in the US and Africa are entwined.

http://africasacountry.com/three-myths-about-mandela-worth-busting/
http://africasacountry.com/songs-for-mandela-south-african-edition/

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Julia Alvarez's A Wedding in Haiti

I finally read Alvarez's A Wedding in Haiti and though it was endearing, full of detail on the personal life of Alvarez (as well as forms of Dominican 'whiteness' in Santiago), and well-intentioned, it was sad to see how dependent she was on foreign white writers for understanding Haiti's history (something she compares to a nightmare at one point and exaggerates the extent of a 'genocide' against the remaining whites in Haiti during the days of Dessalines). But her relationship with the Haitian worker Piti and his family (and that of his Eseline, his future wife, which inspires the first trip to Haiti taken by Alvarez, her husband, etc.) is useful for looking at symbiotic and positive relationships between Haitians and Dominicans, even if it began with Alvarez and her white American husband starting a coffee farm, inherently unequal power relations.

What I particularly enjoyed was some of the rather repetitive and silly human drama that comes with all couples or trips. Alvarez and her husband, Bill, fighting and arguing, especially on their second trip to Haiti after the earthquake, was actually humorous and provided a fully human portrait of herself and her companions. Moreover, she has a very compassionate take on Haiti post-earthquake, describing in sad detail the devastation of Port-au-Prince, her own guilt and fears (she's influenced by the media reports of large-scale violence and crime in Haiti), and the obvious social inequality. Unfortunately, Alvarez lacks a more critical lens that sees beyond the benign intentions of missionaries, aid workers, and NGOs as a contributor to dependency and the inability of the Haitian state to develop accountability.

She does get to see rural Haiti (Moustique and other small villages and towns, for instance), go to Le Cap, visits Port-au-Prince (including spending a night in Petionville with a wealthy son of an American and a Tuareg woman from Niger, Adam), gets a personal tour of the capital from a Haitian police officer assigned at the Dominican consulate, experiences Haiti while driving across the country (from Santiago in the DR to all over the Haitian countryside (for the wedding, one in which Piti and Eseline are chastized for premarital relations!). It's an interesting book for sure, and certainly speaks to the possibility for people of different cultures, races, and languages to communicate, as Alvarez did with Eseline, her mother, her own parents deteriorating due to age and Alzheimer's, and Haitian people she encounters, such as one woman she shares an extra portion of pineapple (or was it mango?) with. Like I said previously, it's an endearing book written with simple prose that is immediately accessible and likely a reflection of some of the Dominican goodwill and interest in less combative or hostile relations with the sibling on the other side of the island. Who knows, maybe I'll finally read How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, a novel given to me by a friend.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

White Faces in Majority Black Public Schools?

One topic I have not encountered much academic literature on is the experiences of white students in majority black, 'inner-city' schools. I have met a handful of such people (their rarity is proof of how extensive racial segregation is in the US), and they were a mixed bag in their political orientation and class identity, though most came from lower class backgrounds or working-class roots. Some were Jewish secular leftists, or their descendants, who remained in neighborhoods that 'became' black in the Age of White Flight. Others were working-class whites who were "ethnic" at one point, and remained in the city limits and sent their children to inner-city schools. Others I have encountered are from poor families and rough circumstances, but seem to get by or have gotten through inner-city, often under-performing schools.

What I would love to see in some academic analysis is a discussion of how white students in these types of schools experience race, when do they develop a 'racialized' identity as white, and how their perceptions of black children (and blacks in general) are influenced by their deep and extensive firsthand interactions with predominantly people of color. In addition, I would have to gather some demographic and class data pertaining to how white students experience a gendered form of whiteness in "majority-minority" schools. Perhaps I'll start by questioning some white folks I know, though the ideal candidates would be people who are currently having that experience or recent graduates. Although I know some older whites who could be useful, too, though back in the 1970s the inner-city schools in the two large Midwestern cities I am accustomed to were very different.

Bobine


I love me some "Bobine." There is a 'bouncy' and joyous feel to the song that possesses an attractive but deceptively simple music structure. In addition, the melody is just perfect. My favorite version of the song, however, would not be the original recording by Les Ambassadeurs, but rather Los Diplomaticos de Haiti and a close second in Johnny Ventura. It also goes to show one how similar Haitian and Dominican popular music can be, with the ability of Dominican merengue artist Johnny Ventura to so expertly sing "Bobine." As for Los Diplomaticos, they feature a great saxophonist and guitarist who offer an almost folksy, roots sound to the music. Songs like "Bobine" are why folks who ignore Haitian and French Antillean Caribbean music are missing out. Haitian kompa is fun, highly rhythmic, passionate, and reveals the importance of transnational bonds and cultural exchange in the Caribbean world. Enjoy the song! The other versions I found online were less impressive.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

A Problematic Scene in The Wire


A powerful but problematic scene from "The Wire" on the question of violence in Black America. Though Bunk is right in many ways about how death ripples out, regardless of the victim's background or status, his statement about how "fall we done fell" is problematic and can be easily twisted into some form of culture of poverty or black dysfunction as a product of the black urban proletariat themselves. In other words, the urban poor of Baltimore and other black communities elsewhere and the alarming homicide rates are seemingly placed solely as the responsibility of the black urban poor themselves rather than a product of the War on Drugs and structural racism. Personal responsibility is obviously huge when discussing violence and homicide, but in this context, and for primarily white audiences, it's a little unclear and potentially dangerous to hear this kind of Moynihan-esque explanations for violence among the black underclass (blaming the victim essentially). 

This kind of stuff is something I observed as a pattern in the television form of "The Boondocks," which has led me to rethink my thoughts about "The Wire," too. Though David Simon's pessimistic program is more about systemic or institutional dysfunction rather than black cultural pathology, notions and ideas from the latter do appear in the series, something picked up on by black critics, such as Ishmael Reed. In addition, it's another example of white men profiting from and being recognized as 'experts' in the field of 'urban literature' and art, even though African-Americans from Baltimore's troubled neighborhoods would be far better at telling their own story than a white guy. This ain't to say that whites can't write about black life, but my sympathy for some of Reed's critiques of the show and how blacks are exploited and used in ways that prevent them from telling their own story for mainstream ('white') America has led me to a healthy skepticism and natural resistance to a lot of the shows touted as 'realistic' depictions of black life (and yes, I know 'black life' means many things, there is no monolithic standard of 'blackness). 

Guy Durosier


Beautiful music that reminds me of some deceased ancestors. Rest in peace.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Haitian Music for the Weekend


Really enjoying Les Shleu Shleu these days. Check out this one, too. The band's mini-jazz format, collaboration between guitar and saxophone, and, at times, carrying rock and other influences, is a potent combination. I can see why they were a hit not only in Haiti but also elsewhere in the French Antilles, Colombia, etc. 

Friday, November 29, 2013

An Evening with Abbey Lincoln


The inimitable and unforgettable Abbey Lincoln, a beautiful jazz singer with a perfect voice. Though perhaps better known for her marriage and work with fellow radical jazz artist Max Roach, Lincoln was a talented artist in her own right with numerous worthwhile songs, including Strong Man, Let Up, Lonely House, Afro Blue, Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe, When Malindy Sings, Lost In the Stars, etc. Rest in peace, Abbey Lincoln. 

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Menina Bonita Não Chora


If the world doesn't already know, I love me some early Jorge Ben samba. Jazzy, propulsive rhythms, and Ben's voice make for great music nearly every time. This particular musical gem telling a beautiful girl to not cry is an under-appreciated track from Ben's first album, one of my favorites. Though Jorge would later move beyond the jazz arrangements, I still long for more Brazilian music like this. Unlike bossa nova, this samba-jazz was more of a mixture of jazz and samba rhythms (as well as the lack of restraint and nearly cool jazz vibes of so much bossa nova). 

Freddie Hubbard's Crisis featuring McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones


Though "Crisis" recorded previously with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is a hard bop classic, this version featuring McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones is more satisfying. Hubbard had recently collaborated with Jones and Tyner via John Coltrane (check out the Africa/Brass sessions), so he was used to working with them. As I have said in the past, the strength of the Coltrane Quartet rested in the foundation set by Tyner and Jones, who provided complex rhythmic and harmonic backing while also taking adventurous solos. Hubbard is really trying to outdo his previous recording with Blakey, but Jones and Tyner steal the show here (and, well, Wayne Shorter). Jones applies his characteristic quasi-Latin swing, Tyner comps, and Shorter blows away contemplatively in a state of restrained crisis (hey, just like the title of the song!). Now, if we could only get rid of McKinney's euphonium, then this great song could be even greater. Hard bop like this with the some of the best musicians of 1960s jazz is a truly rare delight. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Byron's Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature


I finally perused Gay L. Byron's Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature. Unfortunately, the book was a little underwhelming after waiting several months to read it, though some of that was due to my high expectations. In addition, the book was too thin and short to properly address some of the deeper questions of race and 'blackness' in early Christian discourse. However, Byron's strength lies in challenging some of the previous assertions about notable cases of 'blacks' in patristic writings, exegesis, Biblical passions and commentary, and monastic writings based on the desert fathers of Roman Egypt.

First, one must ascertain whether one agrees with the collective 'black' group of Egypt, Ethiopia, and blackness for analyzing the discourse on race, color, and ethnic difference in ethno-political rhetoric of early Christianity. Some, for instance, might take issue with Byron's inclusion of Egyptians as 'black.' I can see why one would, particularly given a later chapter's focus on how monastic communities in Roman Egypt distanced themselves from "Ethiopians" (remember, Ethiopians in this context refers to dark-skinned people from Africa, not modern Ethiopia). However, if one remembers that blackness can be broad and reads the Greco-Roman and Christian sources, one could find numerous examples of pre-Christian Greco-Roman literature and Christian writings that refer to Egyptians as blacks or associate them (alongside Ethiopians) with ethno-political rhetoric that clearly lumps them as a collective 'black group.'

In that sense, I concur with Byron including Egypt as part of this trend in Greco-Roman literature around the Mediterranean, because we have examples from Herodotus, Aristotle, a plethora of Greco-Roman writers, Greek Alexandrians, and Christian references that clearly distinguish Egyptians from a presumably 'white' or intermediary color non-Egyptian peoples of the circum-Mediterranean used to refer to themselves (if Suetonius can compare Egyptians and Ethiopians to demons and emblems of darkness, clearly both groups were perceived as 'black' to varying degrees).

Upon establishing the veracity of Byron's categorizations, one can assess the remainder of her claims. She is certainly well-read in the necessary secondary sources on Greco-Roman and Christian views of blackness in Late Antiquity (she's clearly read Thompson, Brakke, Snowden, and a myriad of other classicists and specialists). Undoubtedly, negative views of blackness in the Greco-Roman world proliferated throughout the Mediterranean and shaped how Christian and Jewish communities perceived dark-skinned people, too. Indeed, as Thompson and others have established, Greco-Roman views of blacks (be they Egyptian, Ethiopian, or black, melas) as representatives of the extreme ends of the earth, blackness equated with immorality, lust, and evil, or ugliness and the use of color symbolism to associate blackness with moral inferiority, criminality, unpleasant odors, and other stereotypes influenced patristic literature and Christian thought.

Indeed, as Byron intriguingly demonstrates, native Egyptians in Roman Egypt were marginalized, excluded from Roman citizenship, and elite Jews, Romans, and Greeks living in Alexandria all adopted a condescending and superior attitude to Egyptians. Furthermore, Egyptians were equated with geographical extremity, mythic idealization, described as dark-skinned or black, and equated with evil, heresy, and sin by Jewish and early Christian communities. These numerous parallels with pejorative and negative views of Ethiopians or blacks by Greco-Roman figures from Juvenal to Church Fathers with views of Egyptians certainly helps make the case for viewing them as a whole rather than separate groups in relation to lighter-skinned Greeks, Romans, and Near Eastern populations.

Let's look at Byron's take on some examples of Christian adoption and adaptation of broader Roman world views of blackness and how that shaped Christianity. For instance, the use of blackness, Ethiopians, and Egyptians as polemical devices in the work of Tertullian, who used the notion of Egypt and Ethiopia as sinful lands to discourage Christians from attending spectacles (or other events popular among pagans in the Roman Empire. Writers such as Jerome refer to Ethiopians and blacks as being 'blackened' by their sins while Origen looks at the black bride in Song of Songs as a metaphor for the Gentile Church, which, becomes beautiful and white through conversion and baptism.

So ethno-political rhetoric of Christian authors could reflect poorly on blacks (as sinful, heretics such as the Arianist or Nestorian 'heresies,' and lustful as in the stories of Egyptian monastic communities and their fear of Ethiopian demons symbolizing lust and temptation) or actually use them (Egyptians, Ethiopians, and blackness) to express the inclusive, universal extent of Christian salvation for the world (such as in the work of Augustine, Origen, or even the Moses the Black stories about his successful incorporation into Egyptian monastic communities in Upper Egypt, which apparently was only one of many examples of blacks joining Christian monks in Late Roman Egypt). This is not too surprising, and something observable in non-Christian Greco-Roman literature (Pliny and a few others write positively of blacks, despite the difference in what Thompson refers to as black deviance from the somatic norm of the Roman world).

Where it differs, however, is in how Christianity was, by its very nature, inevitably tied to the idea of universal salvation through the proselytizing efforts of early Christians such as Paul. Blacks could assimilate in the Roman world (such as the writer, Terence, of Carthage), just as in Christianity ('blacks' in Egyptian monasteries or Egyptian Christians themselves were proof of black inclusion, as were the tales of the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8:26). Christianity's radical equalizing message about the disappearance of status, ethnic difference, and slave or free in the eyes of God, however, was of a far more egalitarian message than anything found among the pagan elite of the Roman Empire.

If differences such as Gentile or Jew, Scythian or barbarian, slave or free, ultimately did not matter before Christ, Christianity offered a far more fulfilling and welcoming space for ethnic difference than it is given credit for. Of course, rhetoric is different from reality, and clearly social divisions within Christian communities based on ethnic difference, class, and status shaped the evolution of the faith (and it's numerous heresies, divisive church councils, etc.), as one would expect. But the promise of universalism and Christian redemption meant even the blackest of Ethiopians could be washed 'white' or have a 'white soul' if they accept Christianity.

Thus, despite some ugly color symbolism and discomforting ethno-political rhetoric, it is known for certain that some Christian writers did not mean literal 'black' populations when using Ethiopians, Egyptians, and blackness as metaphors for sinfulness, lust, or demons. It nevertheless can be used to suggest blackness is demonic or aesthetically inferior, but as Origen's commentary on the black bride shows, Christianity was 'black' in its early years but purified and washed white by orthodox, non-heretical practices and inclusiveness. If even the blackest Ethiopians and whitest Scythians were eligible for redemption, then all corners of the oikumene and everything in between are welcomed to Christian fraternity.

Now, what I wish Byron had demonstrated in these chapters is a dedication to unveiling the etymology of blackness as a sign of moral shortcomings and evil in the Christian context. Did this just arise from Zoroastrianism and previous religions, or perhaps something embedded in ancient religious thought (an association of blackness with evil, moral darkness, and ugliness?). Of course, we know that in ancient Egypt blackness was associated with fertility and divinity, but how did the predominantly "anti-black" view of darkness spread in the Roman world?

I also believe Byron's work was weakened by a lack of attention to the question of Egyptian perceptions of their southern neighbors during the Christian era. Or a better answer as to the composition of many of the monastic communities of Egypt (where these 'desert fathers' fostered the model for Christian monasticism that would later spread to the 'West') instead of saying some were lowly Copts at the bottom of Egyptian society whereas others were Hellenized elites. The cosmopolitan, unstable, and multiethnic Upper Egypt-Nubia border deserves a more detailed description and overview to properly place Egyptian views of 'blackness' in Late Antiquity in the proper context. Byron is probably right that the violent raids and burglaries committed by invading Blemmyes and other 'black' peoples ransacking Upper Egypt in the late Roman period shaped the later recordings of stories attributed to monks of facing temptation and danger from "Ethiopian demons" (the declining Roman empire, encroaching barbarians, loss of security, and seemingly chaotic end of an era may have fueled fears of 'blackness' from the south of Egypt that led to 'anti-black' sentiment).

What was the 'racial climate' of Roman Egypt during this period of Blemmyes' and Nubian military threat? Clearly the situation on the ground was more complex as some Nubians continued to worship the old gods such as Isis at the temple at Philae, while others would adopt Christianity or even join the monks! How can one accurately describe Egyptians using ethno-political rhetoric in Christian writings against other dark-skinned people (even if they clearly saw themselves as distinct from their southern neighbors in 'racial' or 'color terms' remains controversial given the adoption of Greek and the Greek "Ethiopian" to describe black neighbors). Not to revive the endless debate on the 'blackness of ancient Egypt,' but certainly the question of 'defensive othering' as a possibility should be considered in the trend of Egyptian monastic stereotypes of ugly, smelly, demonic blacks?

Of course, the question of malodorous black women tempting Egyptian monks speaks more to their attraction to black women (though women were rare and all generalized as the embodiment of physical pleasure and lust by monks, which meant women of all colors were also smelly), but the question of gender dynamics, self-denigration of blacks to be fully incorporated (Moses the Black was taunted, insulted, and mocked for the color of his skin to test virtues of a monk, such as apathy and patience, but what does it say about Late Roman Egypt if 'blacks' were really seen as inferior? It's probably not meant to be taken literally and these stories of Anthony and Moses the Black were not recorded until decades or centuries after the historical figures lived, but it provides some insight onto how ethno-political discourse used the political and social realities of the day to represent some 'higher truth.'

Overall, Byron's text is thought-provoking and a worthwhile read, but too short and avoids answering some larger questions. Byron had no interest in psychoanalysis of some of these patristic writers or other classical sources, but more inclusion of psychoanalysis and theories of race, ethnic difference, and Afrocentrism would have added more nuance to the discussion. Now I have a better understanding of some of the torment Moses the Black was subjected to (or at least how later accounts described it as such) and other aspects of the Ethiopian Eunuch, but still believe a fuller discussion of 'race' in the Nile Valley, specific mention of Nubian Christianity, and Aksumite conversion to the faith would shape 'blackness' in Christian thought. That is the next frontier, I suppose, a fuller and more integrative look at African Christianity in Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia, which could shed light on how those territories were used or rendered symbolically in Western Christian thought. Another question, how pervasive were elite Roman and Greek views of 'blackness' in Egypt then? Was there a trickle down effect of certain color symbolism and stereotypes ideologically throughout the expanding Christian world?

Soy Antillana


A fascinating song reminiscent of that brief moment of a political alternative for the Caribbean in the 19th century. A brief moment where the class and racial dynamics of the Greater Antilles were, during the height of anti-colonial liberation struggles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, united against US and European colonialism and racial slavery. Of course, white creoles of Cuba and Puerto Rico did what they tended to do, betray and sell out their black and brown compatriots to Europeans or white Americans, but for a time, anti-colonial movements collaborated in the two wings of the Antilles (Cuba and Puerto Rico) while also overcoming fear of Haiti and black rule. Look up the following historical figures and uncover the idea of a pan-Caribbean federation that would've established an alliance among Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as well as the central role of the 'first black republic' in protecting Caribbean sovereignty. Look up the following historical figures:

1. Antenor Firmin
2. Gregorio Luperon
3. Jose Marti
4. Ramon Emeterio Betances
5. Antonio Maceo
6. Arturo Schomberg

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Being Black in San Francisco

Came across this interesting article today about the experiences of a black woman living amidst white hipsters who have taken over the 'progressive' city of San Francisco, the very same city that has essentially put all the niggas on the other side of the bridge, to quote Chappelle. Although I have never lived in or even visited the Bay Area yet, I can speak to hipster and 'progressive' white racists from a similarly stereotyped 'progressive' or 'liberal' American city. White folks from a local progressive party (including one loser and former drug addict who lost in a race for political office, thank God), hipsters I lived with in a housing cooperative, and many others all made me sympathize with the writer of the above piece.

William DeVaughn's Thanksgiving Jam


I first heard this soul classic about a year or two ago, when I initially mistook it for a song I once heard on The Boondocks (this one). DeVaughn kinda sounds like Curtis, so I can see why many folks on Youtube thought it was a Mayfield number. But this is soul at its finest and perfect for the upcoming holiday 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Carlos Cooks: Dominican-American Garveyite and Black Nationalist


Carlos Cooks, a Dominican-American black nationalist who influenced much of radical Harlem back in the day. He reminds me of Arturo Schomburg as one of those rare Afro-Latinos who moved to the US and became a part of various forms of Black intellectual and political circles in New York. This faithful Garveyite designated Garvey's birthday a black holiday, helped organize buy black campaigns in NYC (although an African-American Muslim called the "Black Hitler" by Jews who accused him of anti-Semitism also shaped 'buy black' consumerism in Harlem by organizing boycotts of white-owned stores in Harlem), influenced Malcolm X and shaped various forms of Pan-Africanist organizations and ideals. 

It really shows one how transnational and transcolonial Marcus Garvey's UNIA was in the circum-Caribbean world, probably spreading to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Central America through West Indian workers (and from them to New York, where Caribbean immigrants have shaped black resistance and radicalism since the early 1900s. 

Sources:

Myriam Chancy on Haiti and Latin America

Chancy is on point in describing the general approach in Latin American Studies to Haiti, which is one of exclusion or neglect (despite a shared history with the Dominican Republic). Based on my engagement of Latin American Studies in university, Haiti was almost always ignored or superficially included in "Latin America." Like Chancy says, in the realm of political science, Haiti could be lumped with "Latin America," often focusing on its negritude as a cause for its extreme poverty. Intriguingly, Chancy is part Dominican herself and interested in the DR's literature and history. She actually believes Dominican identity is weakened (yet economically stronger) than Haitian identity ideologically, something perhaps a little too much. What I find interesting is a pattern she observes in Dominican-American letters of increasing curiosity and acceptance of Haiti versus that of older generations of Dominican writers and their virulent anti-Haitian sentiment. Indeed, one can find evidence of that in Junot Diaz, for instance, but I wish Chancy gave some examples of other writers who are more willing to accept Dominican blackness (besides Silvio Torres-Saillant). 

Ornette Coleman and Jackie McLean's Old Gospel


It's Sunday, so you know what that means? Praising the Lord with gospel jazz! I recently came across a collaboration between Ornette Coleman (playing trumpet instead of sax) and Jackie McLean that embodies that religious gospel-blues feel that so many jazz artists came up with. Coleman and McLean never forgot where they came from, that's for sure.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Melissa Harris-Perry's Finer Moment


For a long time my favorite MHP moment from her show on MSNBC is keeping it real with some business-minded corporate hack guest who tried to defend the 'job creators' and '1%' who take risks financially and 'create jobs' and 'wealth.' She keeps it real and talks from personal experience with the realities of life for low-income black communities in New Orleans to demonstrate that being poor is a greater risk (for schooling, jobs, safety, mental and physical health, the list goes on to other disadvantages and risks not mentioned by MHP). Unfortunately, the crisis of poverty will likely not be alleviated anytime soon, but props to MHP for saying something of substance and more meaningful than, say, defending Obama and the Dems. 

Melissa Harris-Perry and Bell Hooks


An interesting conversation between two 'titans' of black feminist thought today. hooks, in my opinion, is far more applicable and interesting on the question of black feminism and progressive or revolutionary ideology and thought (the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy lets you know immediately where hooks stands). Unfortunately, MHP seems to have either sold out somewhat to be on MSNBC or was never the 'progressive' she touted herself to be, but regardless of her political orientation and sometimes problematic show she's not the reason I watched this (love you bell hooks!).

Friday, November 22, 2013

Macy Gray, Cape Town, Life


Apparently my brother met Macy Gray at a grocery store recently. He did not know of her at the time, so he was not as stunned as I would've been, but she is still a tall black woman with a gigantic afro. My brother should have promoted himself and his music to her, but opportunities come and go like the breeze. Also, check out this post about Cape Town and the shortcomings and hypocrisy from the DA. In my opinion, if the DA's only real claim to fame is being a little more efficient and organized than the ANC, that don't mean much and they will remain a political party lacking any broad-based appeal or legitimacy. 

A Junkie Walking Through the Twilight


I am not sure why I care so much, but today I was struck by an obviously strung out man trying to return most certainly stolen over the counter medications to the store at work tonight. He was a wreck in every conceivable way: could not stand still, could barely write without incessant twitching, couldn't speak straight, offered to sell his cellphone to me, a shift supervisor, and customers at the store for 25 dollars (he claimed it was to purchase gas for his car, but we all know that's BS, unless that gas is to drive his car to his dealer). 

We get a lot of depressing customers and crazies who come through that store, especially at night. Indeed, today we had one man who might have been homeless shoplift right in front of me (I was ringing customers out and noticed him stuffing his backpack with liquid soaps) and flee just as I shouted at him and the shift supervisor was on his way to the front end of the store. And per usual, some adolescents came to the store in group (a telltale sign of shoplifting) and I witnessed them stealing some medicines, lubrication, and pregnancy tests. My shift supervisor caught them after I called him and he watched out for them, but the fiends tear the boxes open and just steal the lube, pills, contraptions, etc. that they're looking for. If not, they tear off the security tag or take a chance and run through the door. 

But I am used to shoplifters and thieves. I'm used to the mentally ill and somewhat 'off' customers and regulars, such as the one man who shows up, skips people in line, and doesn't have enough money to pay for things (and sometimes no money at all). I am not used to seeing people in such debilitating states of drug addiction. That man, emaciated, unable to articulate himself clearly, and despite it all, lying through his teeth and attempting to have a conversation with me where both sides knew everything he said was bullshit. It was one of those truly rare moments where communication between two people was, despite the obvious lies if one follows it literally, 'free' in a sense. My heart goes out for that man and all other Bubbles out there, struggling to keep their head above water in these modern, urban wastelands. 

As The Wire teaches us so clearly, if you walk in the garden, you better watch your back. Though I probably won't ever see him again, I hope for the best and actually wish I could have given him cash back on his stolen items he did not have a receipt for (instead of store credit). Drug addiction ain't no joke, obviously, and those 'crackheads, junkies, and methheads need the most help in these dire times where addiction of all sorts destroys entire nations (looking at you, Wall Street, for your corporate greed and addiction and love of money that nearly destroyed the US and global economy).

I suppose my last thing I could possibly say is to reiterate the rarity and importance of fake, pseudo-sincere conversations in forcing us to acknowledge our fellow humanity with those perhaps even more downtrodden. Indeed, one can break through to the other side despite the largely meaningless exchange of words that passes as conversation today, something I did not expect to have with a drug addict this week. Sir, whoever you are, keep your head up. 

Long Street, Cape Town

Long Street. It's the 'nightlife district of Cape Town and nothing but those two words does a better job of conjuring images of packed streets, fake cab drivers and thieves, hordes of college students and 'real people' enjoying themselves while inebriated, overpriced and mediocre clubs and some decent restaurants and take-away places. Long Street during the day is nothing like Long Street at night, however. During the day, it can be a busy street with lots of traffic, both automobile and pedestrian, but it's usually quiet for a busy area. It feels very 'urban' and nothing like the southern suburbs of Cape Town where I spent a lot of time. In addition, it's near the gorgeous Company's Garden, the Slave Lodge, the National Gallery of Art, and several other important sites and spaces in the city centre of Cape Town.

So, if you're in the area during the day (there is also an extension of the UCT campus nearby, so one could get to the city centre for free via the university's Jammie Shuttle system for UCT students), there are lots of sights to see, interesting restaurants (including Addis in Cape, a delicious though expensive by South African standards restaurant right off Long Street, or the best falafels I had in South Africa at a Turkish place on Long Street) and beautiful public spaces to see. There's even a decent and very clean McDonald's and lots of other options, depending on one's taste (McDonald's in South Africa is not too different from US McDonald's, which was a little surprising because the KFC menus differed greatly by offering pap and some specifically South African dishes one would never find in the US). I suppose if you take the trains or minibuses to the city center, one should always be careful at the Central Train Station (where minibuses and trains stop, several random businesses operated, and 'questionable' people congregated). I never went there at night after 8, but one gay European guy I knew was almost robbed by a group of men (he probably stood out, given his love for dressing stylishly and perhaps being too flamboyant and flashing a nice phone) so it's always wiser to not go through that station at night if you're alone. Surprisingly, the guy escaped unscathed despite hitting one of the men with an umbrella!

Anyway, back to Long Street. At night, it's a whole other story. Gone are the more family-friendly spaces in the city centre and welcome to a night of sin, lust, clubbing, etc. I went out a few times, but never enjoyed it much. One club, Joburg, was a hip-hop club with a high fee of about R50 for entry (women were exempted that night) but only playing loud, dated, and commercial hip-hop music. Long Street is packed with drunken revelers, a myriad of taxis operating with trustworthy and known companies or independent, mostly African (from other African countries of black South African) 'taxis' who were a little sketchy but sometimes very easy to negotiate a good price. One could have great conversations with Congolese, Kenyan, South African, and an assortment of African taxi drivers from across the continent, such as one nice Congolese man who was very interested in talking about Congo and Haiti with a Haitian-American friend and I. Of course, he was impressed by how much we knew about his country, probably because he's not used to meeting any Americans who know a damn thing about Congo DRC.

Moving on, some of the other clubs and restaurants were nice but, again, most of the music was often generic popular music or things that just didn't interest me. In addition, alcohol also has a tendency of bringing out the worst in some people and led to pointless, inane, and unnecessary conversations and fights (all verbal) within some of the groups I occasionally hung out with. So, if you like drinking, being around drunk people who will hit on any and all women in your group (well, almost all women), and being unable to hear someone due to loud music and loud crowds, Long Street just might be the place for you. Indeed, some women's inferiority complex and self-loathing due to sexist, patriarchal gender norms and the attention certain better-looking women got could incite immature and heated conflict, despite everyone being old enough to know better. Oh well, welcome to Long Street, and welcome to the expected reality of college girls with low self-esteem.

Though I did not spend too much time there nor did I 'party it up' often, Long Street provided me with one of the mos relaxing evenings. I was with an American friend on Long Street one night after not seeing each other for weeks, and so we ended up going to a hookah place after a bar and ran into two Bahai acquaintances. My friend, Jess, knew one of them through a dinner party, a South African from Durban, and he was with a close friend of his, a postgraduate student at UCT and from Paraguay (but spent a significant portion of his time in the UK). We ended up chatting for several hours, talking about life, the Bahai faith, etc. Some of it was beyond me due to my ignorance of the faith at the time (that would change somewhat after talking more with the two fellows), but there were endearing moments, such as the childish glee those two grown men (one a recent UCT graduate living and working in Cape Town, the other about to graduate and pursue a career abroad) revealed when telling me about the possibility of purchasing a peanut butter milkshake from a restaurant on Long Street. Regardless of my general disdain for peanut butter, the happiness on their faces over something so simple and the child-like way they said, "Peanut butter!" forced me to order it. Good times, perhaps the best of times, on Long Street.

Of course, one should also check out the Timbuktu Cafe, this decent Indian joint, and a plethora of other things on and around Long Street. There's so much to see, though the city centre of Cape Town is not very impressive in the way that Johannesburg wows. And if you're one of those nightlife people, taking the cabs to Long Street every weekend (and sometimes weeknights) and enjoying the overpriced drinks, etc. will be your day. I guess if one is coming from Europe or the US, they're not too expensive, and one can feel surrounded by fellow tourists and foreigners on Long Street. Most Coloured and Black South Africans in the Cape Town area don't make enough money to enjoy Long Street like the whites and non-Capetonian people of color (including 'black diamonds' from Jo'burg or international students, expatriates, and foreigners passing through Cape Town). Indeed, if one likes the idea of being in Africa but feeling like one is in Europe or North America, there are spaces in Long Street (and, of course, other parts of Cape Town) where the only people of color you see are waiters, cleaners, security and one can listen to mediocre European dance music or pop and hip-hop from the US.