tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/funk-26910/articlesFunk – The Conversation2020-04-07T13:36:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1357572020-04-07T13:36:00Z2020-04-07T13:36:00ZBill Withers: soul music’s ‘everyman’ wrote songs for the world to lean on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325756/original/file-20200406-74220-1quydxg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C723%2C897&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ain't No Sunshine: Bill Withers in 1976.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Columbia Records</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even before Bill Withers passed away from heart complications at the end of March, his 1972 hit Lean on Me had already become something of a marker for public solidarity in the face of the coronavirus. From <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/education/pupils-across-scotland-share-their-goodbyes-schools-begin-coronavirus-shut-down-2503411">schoolchildren in Scotland</a>, to quarantined apartment <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/21/819603870/inspired-by-italy-dallas-residents-sing-together-from-their-apartment-windows">residents in Dallas</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51977454">online virtual choirs</a> around the world, the song has been a prominent feature of musical responses to the crisis. </p>
<p>This is unsurprising. It was already a staple of charity concerts, and had been performed at the presidential inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.</p>
<p>Its appeal, like much of Withers’ music, lies in its accessibility, universality and the simplicity with which it aligns the spiritual and the secular. Simple, however, isn’t the same as easy. What made Withers distinctive was the extensive applicability of his songs, and the deceptive ease with which he packed straightforward structures with emotional content.</p>
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<p>This was of a piece with his background and uncharacteristic path into – and out of – music making. Having grown up in the hardscrabble mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, he arrived in Los Angeles to begin a music career – self-taught and having overcome a stutter – after a nine-year stint in the US Navy. </p>
<p>Uncertain and rough around the edges, he kept his job at the aircraft factory throughout the recording of his first album. He had to be told by an impressed Graham Nash: “You don’t know how good you are”, and can be seen carrying his factory lunch box on the cover of his debut album.</p>
<h2>The power of understatement</h2>
<p>This is reflected in his work, which carries an air of understatement that reinforces its effect. Having imbibed the country music as well as the gospel of his hometown, Withers straddled the traditional hinterland of soul music and the emerging “singer-songwriter” format, and has been described as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/03/us/ap-us-obit-bill-withers.html">the last African-American Everyman</a>”. </p>
<p>His rich baritone notwithstanding, and despite undoubted vocal prowess (the long-held note on Lovely Day, for instance) he largely eschewed the pushing at the edges of the range that marked much soul music of the 60s, and the vocal gymnastics that followed in the 1980s.</p>
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<p>His songs, also, veered away from the punch and pomp of the genre. As he described it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0thRH4qucU&feature=youtu.be&t=156">in a 2009 BBC documentary</a>, the record companies had a different idea:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They didn’t want me to do anything quiet. They had this rhythm and blues syndrome in their mind, with the horns, and the three chicks and the gold lamé suit, and I wasn’t really into that. I had a job … I don’t need you guys.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The power of Withers’ music rests in the way it aligns the purely personal with wider concerns, often through straight description, filtered through well-crafted turns of phrase. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv5pagal-ls&feature=emb_title">Grandma’s Hands</a>, for instance, depicts growing up in a deprived neighbourhood, and generations of experience, through an account of his own grandmother, who helped to bring him up.</p>
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<p>The Vietnam War is addressed through the ostensibly prosaic device of a letter dictated by a veteran who says, having lost his right arm, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6qhfY-aLnk">I Can’t Write Left Handed</a>.</p>
<h2>Just a regular guy</h2>
<p>As a result of this, he has had a disproportionately large impact from a comparatively short recording career – nine studio albums in total, and a live album recorded at the Carnegie Hall, that stands as a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vgrg/">paragon of the form</a>, all in an active recording career of eight years between his first release in 1971 and his final album in 1985, with an eight-year hiatus due to tensions with his record company. </p>
<p>These tensions were eventually to lead to him walking away from the industry altogether. Ambivalent from the start, he erased one album <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-withers-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-quit-successful-career/">over a pay dispute</a> and his relationship with Columbia finally deteriorated due to what he saw as the failure of the “blaxperts” – his label for the record company personnel, to accommodate his own style. The “fame game”, <a href="https://youtu.be/S0thRH4qucU?t=651">as he called it</a>, “was kicking my ass”. Comfortable in his own skin, and with his legacy, by 1985, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bill-withers-the-soul-man-who-walked-away-111535/">Withers felt no need to either fight, or compromise</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m very pleased with my life how it is. This business came to me in my 30s. I was socialised as a regular guy. I never felt like I owned it or it owned me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is an unusual outcome for so successful a career, to be sure. But it’s entirely consistent with his music. Some artists achieve longevity through constant evolution and overt experimentation. Others do so by carving a decades-long trail through the charts. Withers managed to create a host of canonical songs through his capacity to translate his own experience into both danceable and widely resonant grooves – from the friendship of Lean on Me through the darker hues of Who Is He and What Is He To You to the socially inflected commentary of Harlem. </p>
<p>It was less that he worked in a form that no-one else was using. Just that he did it better than most.</p>
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<p>Of his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bill-withers-the-soul-man-who-walked-away-111535/">he said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not bad, indeed. As the subsequent years, and the hundreds of multiple and varied <a href="https://www.whosampled.com/Bill-Withers/">covers and samples</a> of his songs have shown, people continue to lean on his music and will be doing so for a long time to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>His songs struck a chord with millions and Lean on Me has become an anthem for the coronavirus pandemic.Adam Behr, Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1351542020-03-31T12:55:54Z2020-03-31T12:55:54Z50 years on, I can’t stop listening to this seminal Miles Davis album<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324242/original/file-20200331-65499-mwzl68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3376&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kraft74 via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While recording with Miles Davis, Columbia Records jazz producer producer Teo Macero sent a memo to the label’s executives that <a href="https://dangerousminds.net/content/uploads/images/4DzOffsdfsdfsd.jpg">read simply</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Miles just called and said that he wants this album to be titled: Bitches Brew. Please advise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The uneasy terseness of that brief statement encapsulates the tension in Davis’s career that lay behind the recording. The trumpeter had a prickly reputation and although they would develop a successful working relationship, he had got off to a shaky start with new label president Clive Davis in a clash over his royalty agreement. </p>
<p>It also reflects the balance between chaos and precision, past and present, in the album itself – released 50 years ago this week – that helped to redefine jazz and had an enormous impact on popular music at large.</p>
<p>Not many artists in any medium get to recalibrate their field. Fewer still do so more than once. Davis, by the end of the 1960s, had already been at the forefront of key developments in jazz. After early years under the auspices of be-bop revolutionaries including Charlie Parker, his own stylistic development pulled the music in his wake, with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/nov/02/birth-cool-jazz">“cool jazz” of the 1950s</a>, and then the innovation of “<a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20330023.pdf">modal jazz”</a> exemplified by the hugely successful Kind of Blue. </p>
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<p>While his landmark quintets had helped to nurture the careers of giants like <a href="https://www.jazzwise.com/features/article/miles-davis-and-john-coltrane-yin-and-yang">John Coltrane</a>, Davis remained unsatisfied, commercially and artistically. Always musically restless – and always with an eye on the box office – he was acutely aware that rock had changed the commercial landscape and, typically, alive to the aesthetic potential for jazz. He described the situation in <a href="https://www.milesdavis.com/books/miles-the-autobiography/">his autobiography</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nineteen sixty-nine was the year rock and funk were selling like hotcakes and all this was put on display at Woodstock. There were over 400,000 people at the concert… And jazz music seemed to be withering on the vine.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Virtuoso vision</h2>
<p>Inspired by the funk of Sly and the Family Stone, and the psychedelically infused blues of Jimi Hendrix, Davis accelerated the use of electric instruments he had already pioneered on, <a href="https://www.milesdavis.com/albums/filles-de-kilimanjaro/">Filles de Killmanjaro</a> and <a href="https://classicalbumsundays.com/the-story-of-miles-davis-in-a-silent-way/">In A Silent Way</a>.</p>
<p>A key influence was his then partner, Betty – who had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/arts/music/betty-davis-they-say-im-different-documentary.html">her own</a> recording career). She introduced Davis to psychedelia and Hendrix, and inspired the album’s title, noting that “there was nothing derogatory about it” (not a foregone conclusion, given <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/movies/19broe.html">Davis’s relationship history</a>). </p>
<p>The album also pioneered jazz compositional practice. Rather than entering the studio with scores, Davis gave his band sketches, scribbled chord sequences, and proceeded, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xgAVXHhuNYgC&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q&f=false">in his own words</a>, to “direct, like a conductor”. The music thus evolved organically across the sessions, driven by the musicians’ individual virtuosity, corralled by the force of Davis’s vision.</p>
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<p>The dense, brooding sound was also a factor of the decision to use multiple players on most tracks: three keyboards, two bassists, two drummers – a cast comprised of future leaders, including saxophonist <a href="http://www.bluenote.com/artist/wayne-shorter/">Wayne Shorter</a>, guitarist <a href="https://www.johnmclaughlin.com/">John McClaughlin</a>, drummer <a href="https://www.jackdejohnette.com/">Jack DeJohnette</a>, keyboardists <a href="http://chickcorea.com/">Chick Corea</a> and <a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/people/joe-zawinul">Joe Zawinul</a>.</p>
<h2>Birth of fusion</h2>
<p>While the co-mingling of jazz improvisation with rock instrumentation had roots in Davis’s work leading up to Bitches Brew, its explosive – and initially divisive – release made dialogue between the two forms inescapable. McLaughlin, Corea and – in their band Weather Report – Zawinul and Shorter would all become leading lights of what came to be known as “fusion”.</p>
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<span class="caption">Musical chameleon: Miles Davis performing in 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JPRoche via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>The use of the studio was central to the innovation at play. Davis <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lgdQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA178&lpg=178#v=onepage&q&f=false">instructed Macero to</a> “just let the tapes run and get everything we played… Just stay in the booth and worry about getting the down the sound”. Davis and his band created layered textures of sound, bringing in rock distortion, funk and Latin rhythms to create a melange that hadn’t been heard before in either jazz or rock.</p>
<p>Macero’s editorial role shaped the hours of jamming, bringing focus to the project, moving, cutting and splicing the raw materials, making the studio itself the final ingredient and adding punch to the sprawling improvisations.</p>
<h2>Black Power and politics</h2>
<p>From the title to the music itself and the distinctive cover art, the album also acknowledged the surrounding political situation of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and black consciousness in America. Its dissonance was as much a response to the burgeoning Black Power movement as an appeal to the white rock audience. The tautness in the music derived from Davis trying to combine these variegated strands in both a product and a reflection of the turbulent times.</p>
<p>Its refusal to resolve these into an easily digestible form was ultimately what made it a lynchpin of progress for jazz. It sold half a million copies by 1976 (compared to Davis’s usual sales of around 60,000) and was his highest entry on the Billboard charts. Jazz and rock may have ultimately pursued different trajectories. But the longer-term influence of Bitches Brew stretched far beyond its home genre, with the likes of Radiohead citing the precarious mixture of precision and collapse <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/radiohead-ok-computer-paranoid-android-influences-593206">as an inspiration</a>.</p>
<p>The 20th century contained many icons who reinvented themselves multiple times. Davis’s signal achievement was to remain consistent in his search for new sounds, reshaping the musical world around him each time. Bitches Brew reinvigorated jazz as a commercial and artistic force, propelling fusion into the musical bloodstream of the 1970s. </p>
<p>It launched the next generation of jazz leaders from what previous alumnus – saxophonist Jackie Mclean – had called “the university of Miles Davis”, uncovering new paths for rock and studio practitioners of all stripes as it did so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>Davis’s 1970 album Bitches Brew turned jazz on its head and paved the way for fusion. More recently, Radiohead cited it as a key influence.Adam Behr, Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301732020-01-27T12:20:59Z2020-01-27T12:20:59ZHow Minneapolis made Prince<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311692/original/file-20200123-162185-1tqmmgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C3853%2C2382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prince performs at Minneapolis' First Avenue nightclub in August 1983.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prince-performs-a-benefit-concert-for-the-minnesota-dance-news-photo/523840888?adppopup=true">Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been four years since Prince’s death, but fascination about the artist, the man and his mythology endures.</p>
<p>Prince’s peers, critics and fans are often quick to cite his creativity, versatility and talent. </p>
<p>But as a longtime Prince fan <a href="https://sst.asu.edu/content/rashad-shabazz-0">who’s also a human geographer</a>, I’ve found myself drawn to the way his hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, cultivated his talent.</p>
<p>Prince did not come of age in a vacuum. He was raised within the sonic landscape of a city that had a rich tradition of musical education, experimentation and innovation. </p>
<p>Long before Prince put the city on the musical map with albums like “1999” and “Purple Rain,” local musicians were creating a polyphonic sound that reflected the city’s migration patterns – a sound influenced by economic, social and political forces. Prince inherited this musical landscape, and would go on to synthesize the sounds of the city to change the course of 20th-century pop music. </p>
<p>Simply put, Prince would not sound like Prince without Minneapolis. </p>
<h2>The waterfall that built a city</h2>
<p>Minneapolis’ story began with a struggle over land. </p>
<p>In 1680, European explorers came across <a href="https://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/stanfall.htm">the only waterfall on the Mississippi River</a>. Wanting to harness its power and settle the land around it, these pioneers began a century-long war with native Americans over control of the region. By the dawn of the 19th century, the federal government had <a href="https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/military-history/expansionist-era">taken control</a> of the area and its resources.</p>
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<span class="caption">Albert Bierstadt’s ‘The Falls of St. Anthony.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bierstadt_Albert_The_Falls_of_St._Anthony.jpg">Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum</a></span>
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<p>The municipality of St. Anthony was incorporated on the eastern side of the river in 1849. The town of Minneapolis, located on the western side of the river, was formed in 1856 and became a city in 1867. In 1872, <a href="https://www.mnhs.org/millcity/learn/history/timeline">the two cities merged</a>.</p>
<p>Due to its proximity to the waterfall, Minneapolis staked its economic future on milling. At the end of the 19th century, Minneapolis was producing more flour than any other region in the country, <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2017/10/peak-minneapolis-flour-milling-industry-coincided-world-war-i/">earning the title</a> “flour-milling capital of the world.”</p>
<p>As the city’s industrial ambitions grew, so too did its immigrant population. Scandinavians came in waves, <a href="http://www.stevenshistorymuseum.com/2017/03/06/scandinavian-immigration-influence-minnesota/">and more Norwegians settled in Minneapolis than in any other state in the union</a>. They were joined by migrants from the American Northeast and South looking for work. </p>
<p>The rugged towns on the icy shores of the Mississippi River had become a thriving metropolis. </p>
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<span class="caption">Mills would help transform Minneapolis into a thriving metropolis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mills-and-railroad-yard-news-photo/576824648?adppopup=true">Minnesota Historical Society/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Music central to the city’s identity</h2>
<p>Though mills dominated the landscape, it was music that united the city’s disparate identities and ethnicities.</p>
<p>The early music scene was a mix of sounds – Scandinavian folk music, Northeastern classical music and Southern hillbilly rhythms. </p>
<p>Church hymns, folk songs and the patriotic jingles of military and marching bands filled the streets. Glee clubs cropped up at the newly founded University of Minnesota. Smaller groups, like the Quintette Club, a four-part harmony group, sprung up. And in 1855, the Minnesota Musical Association <a href="http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-216254.pdf">put on the city’s first music convention</a>. </p>
<p>Music could also be heard day in and day out in the bars and brothels that drew mill workers. Meanwhile, the Northeastern robber barons who owned the mills along the river <a href="http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-216254.pdf">built majestic music halls to resemble those in New York and Boston</a>. The Pence opera house opened in 1869. Classical music societies, opera clubs and the first philharmonic clubs were also founded during this time. By the 1880s, the city was regularly organizing public concerts that attracted huge crowds.</p>
<p>Then, in 1910, the city made an important change to its public school curriculum, one that ingrained music in the city’s identity: Musical education became mandatory. All students in every school had to take and pass a music class in order to matriculate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this c. 1880 photograph, a Minneapolis family poses with its instruments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/musical-family-every-member-of-the-family-plays-an-news-photo/516019406?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The superintendent of music education, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/THADDEUS_P_GIDDINGS_A_BIOGRAPHY.html?id=SHLOrQEACAAJ">Thaddeus Paul Giddings</a>, spearheaded the effort, designing and promoting a curriculum that stressed sight reading, posture and tone. Giddings was a bold innovator: Minneapolis’ school system <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/THADDEUS_P_GIDDINGS_A_BIOGRAPHY.html?id=SHLOrQEACAAJ">was the first in the nation to make music education compulsory</a>.</p>
<p>To Giddings, music was not just a simple pleasure but a fundamental part of childhood development.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0027432114528716">Music for every child and every child for music</a>” was the mantra that guided him. </p>
<p>As a result, Giddings democratized music education and music performance. So successful were his methods that, according to a 1940 article in the Minneapolis Star, one in every six children in the system – spanning race, class and ethnicity – played at least one instrument.</p>
<h2>Black migration brings the 12-bar blues</h2>
<p>Between World War I and World War II, <a href="https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Temporary-Farewell/World-War-I-And-Great-Migration/">nearly 2 million blacks fled the South</a>. Fleeing Jim Crow racism and lynching, they landed in cities across the Northeast, West and Midwest, including Minneapolis.</p>
<p><a href="https://growlermag.com/faces-of-minnesota-soul-food/">Minneapolis didn’t see the massive influx</a> of black migrants that other major cities experienced, but black Southerners nonetheless had an outsized impact on the city’s music scene.</p>
<p>Their primary contribution was the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essays12bar.html">12-bar blues</a>, which introduced the city’s white residents to the sounds and rhythms of the Mississippi Delta. The progression allows a musician <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMy-7hyDG38">to play three chords in constant rotation</a> – the one, four and five chords – to create a steady harmony. This, in turn, creates space for solo improvisations. </p>
<p>These influences – combined with the city’s promotion of music and emphasis on education – ensured that Prince, who was born in 1958, would be raised in one of the country’s most fertile incubators for new music.</p>
<p>Yes, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3558565/How-12-year-old-Prince-tossed-father-caught-bed-girl-moved-friend-s-basement-enjoyed-hedonistic-wonderland.html">his parents were talented musicians</a>, with his father’s piano playing inspiring him from a young age. And Prince <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2016/04/prince-genius.html">was a genius</a>: By his mid-teens, he could play guitar, piano, drums and bass; he could hear a song and instantly play it back. </p>
<p>But his music classes in school played a significant role in his music education. He was also surrounded by a sonic culture built on fusion, education and black styles – a scene that prized combining genres, improvisation and creating new sounds.</p>
<p>In his magnum opus, “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/sign-o-the-times-190234/">Sign O’ the Times</a>,” Prince created a mash-up of psychedelic-rock, gut-bucket funk and cutting-edge R&B. Like the sounds of Minneapolis, this double LP defied existing musical genres and made synthesis its raison d'être, expanding the horizon of what was possible in popular music. </p>
<p>We also witnessed the city’s rich musical legacy in the diverse sounds that emerged alongside Prince’s: Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and the Suicide Commandos, to name a few. </p>
<p>Minneapolis gets little love whenever there’s a Prince tribute. People are quick to cite his brilliance, legendary work ethic – <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ableton/videos/loop-susan-rogers-looks-back-on-princes-work-ethic/10154681523857168/">the man didn’t sleep</a> – and virtuosity. All of which are worth noting. </p>
<p>But in the music of Prince Rogers Nelson, the unseen notes of a city born amid war, mills and migration linger.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashad Shabazz receives funding from The Humanities Research Institute at Arizona State University. He is a member of the American Association of Geographers.</span></em></p>Prince was a musical genius, but he didn’t come of age in a vacuum. A human geographer explains how Minneapolis’ unique musical culture nurtured and inspired the budding star.Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1033042018-09-19T08:51:17Z2018-09-19T08:51:17ZNew Prince album: why posthumous releases can sell both artist and fans short<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236910/original/file-20180918-158213-1ru06oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Northfoto via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two years after Prince Rogers Nelson’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/prince-20207">untimely 2016 death</a> in Minnesota from a fentanyl overdose, the Prince estate and the music industry are seemingly ramping up their efforts to keep the Purple One in the forefront of our minds with a slew of posthumous releases and re-releases. But with 100m records already sold, would Prince have approved of all this activity in his name – and is it really fair to fans?</p>
<p>In August, Sony <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/prince-estate-and-sony-release-23-long-unavailable-albums-digitally-1202908647/">released 23 hard-to-find albums</a> for streaming and download that were originally from the period 1995 to 2010. One of the records in the package is a powerful 37-track compilation called <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-princes-anthology-1995-2010-shows-years-of-genius-hiding-in-plain-sight-714147/">Anthology 1995-2010</a> which functions as a “best of” from this period. “Years of Genius Hiding in Plain Sight”, ran the headline of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-princes-anthology-1995-2010-shows-years-of-genius-hiding-in-plain-sight-714147/">Rolling Stone magazine’s review</a>.</p>
<p>Tracks include Emancipation, Prince’s anthem celebrating his sense of liberation from the tyranny of his record companies, and Black Sweat, a mechanistic slice of industrial funk that both objectifies and celebrates black male sexuality.</p>
<p>But more controversial is a new nine-track posthumous album of unreleased Prince recordings. Announced on the date of what <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44401051">would have been his 60th birthday</a>, Prince & A Microphone 1983 was recorded on September 21, 1983 in the artist’s home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota onto cassette tape. It features Prince singing and playing the piano. Tracks will include an early version of Prince classic Purple Rain, a cover of Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You, and the spiritual Mary Don’t You Weep from the soundtrack of director Spike Lee’s comedy-drama movie BlacKkKlansman. </p>
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<p>Troy Carter who works as an entertainment adviser for the Prince estate <a href="https://thevinylfactory.com/news/new-prince-album-piano-and-a-microphone/">is quoted as saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This raw, intimate recording – which took place at the start of Prince’s career right before he achieved international stardom – is similar in format to the Piano & A Microphone Tour that he ended his career with in 2016. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Uncut diamonds</h2>
<p>So does the quality of the tracks and this bookending of Prince’s career justify the release of what could be described as some home noodlings recorded onto a less than satisfactory audio recording medium? It’s certainly a long way removed from the carefully choreographed planning behind <a href="https://theconversation.com/which-lazarus-was-bowie-really-referring-to-in-his-mesmerising-swan-song-53127">David Bowie’s final releases</a>.</p>
<p>Ahead of the release, the record company has drip-fed fans with three songs. I’m looking forward to hearing the whole album, but here is my impression of what I have heard so far. </p>
<p>Mary Don’t You Weep is a gospel classic covered by artists including Aretha Franklin, The Swan Silvertones, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen which was originally recorded by gospel pioneers The Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1915. Prince reinvents it as a deep minor blues track that focuses on the secular blues theme of male abandonment rather than the African-American Christian narrative of resistance that the song traditionally embodies. Prince’s voice swoops and growls through the octaves with the sparse rhythmic piano accompaniment providing the perfect backdrop for his impassioned vocal.</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pop-life-how-prince-played-the-music-industry-58299">Pop Life: how Prince played the music industry</a>
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<p>At six minutes 22 seconds, the song 17 Days is a more self-indulgent number based around a repetitive two-chord vamp that at times strays into “jazz odyssey” territory with an ill-advised piano solo that doesn’t come off. In an almost shockingly intimate exchange that smashes through the fourth wall, we hear Prince say to the sound engineer, “Is that my echo?” and “Can you turn the lights down?”</p>
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<p>Why The Butterflies is the third of the tracks released so far. There are several false starts until Prince settles into a key and rhythmic shape. You can hear him playing with melodic and rhythmic ideas gradually teasing out lines from what was maybe just an initial lyrical concept – it certainly isn’t a fully developed song at this point. </p>
<p>So is this hard-nosed critical appraisal is really fair? And will his “true” fans really care if the finely wrought production that is the hallmark of the best of Prince isn’t present here? Is this album selling both artist and audience short?</p>
<p>The tracks do give some insight into Prince’s work process and offer fans an intimate seat next to the piano as Prince plays through his ideas. But, for an artist who was so notoriously controlling about his product, it’s unclear whether this is something he would have wished for.</p>
<h2>Everyone loves you when you’re dead</h2>
<p>Posthumous albums have had a mixed reputation over the years, ranging from the essential, such as Nirvana’s five-times platinum <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/12/nirvanas-tense-brilliant-em-unplugged-in-new-york-em-20-years-later/282040/">MTV Unplugged in New York</a> or Otis Redding’s 1968 classic <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/inside-otis-reddings-final-masterpiece-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-122170/">(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay</a>, to the controversial – there was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/24/michael-jackson-may-not-have-sung-lead-vocals-on-posthumous-album-sony">legal action</a> to determine whether all the lead vocals on Michael Jackson’s 2010 release Michael were performed by the artist or by Jackson family friend Eddie Cascio. </p>
<p>Sometimes, artists miss out on their own success – no material recorded by legendary blues pioneer Robert Johnson was released until after he died in 1938, while Washington DC-based balladeer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/12/arts/death-shy-singer-finally-grabs-spotlight-cd-s-carry-eva-cassidy-s-voice-wider.html">Eva Cassidy</a> only came to international prominence after her untimely demise from melanoma.</p>
<p>Too often an artist’s death gives their record companies or the artist’s estate an opportunity to cash in. Old demos, song fragments, B-sides and other sonic paraphernalia are corralled into something that is meant to resemble a coherent and worthwhile collection. Reviewer Jon Pareles <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/arts/music/from-amy-winehouses-archives-lioness-new-music.html">commented in The New York Times</a> that Amy Winehouse’s 2011 posthumous release Lioness: Hidden Treasures, “ekes out all it can from the archives” being “just the scraps of what might have been”. </p>
<p>But what of Prince? We will never know what he really thinks but in a <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/prince-talks-the-silence-is-broken-58812/">2004 interview</a> in Rolling Stone magazine he spelled out his desire for independence and the power to define himself, away from the influence or pressure of the music business: “Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.” In my opinion, perhaps the record companies and the people who run Prince’s estate should reflect on that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian York does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a new Prince album coming out, two years after his death. Would the artist approve?Adrian York, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Music Performance, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740452017-05-12T06:39:30Z2017-05-12T06:39:30ZSex, drugs and feminism: for Brazil’s female funk singers, the personal is political<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160811/original/image-20170314-10731-1hqa1vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Deize Tigrona at the 2016 Back2Black music festival.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/PuoBwu">Midia Ninja/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At first sight, there is seemingly nothing feminist about <em>Carioca</em> funk, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5280519/_Eu_s%C3%B3_quero_%C3%A9_ser_feliz_._Quem_%C3%A9_a_juventude_funkeira_no_Rio_de_Janeiro">the electronic dance music</a> coming out of Rio de Janeiro’s poor <em>favelas</em>. Nearly all the songs sung by women are of the sexually explicit, sometimes violent <em>funk putaria</em> variety – hardly empowering. </p>
<p>At least, that’s what I thought when I began my post-doctoral research into the genre in 2008. From my white, middle-class perspective, the salacious lyrics were an expression of machismo, borne of Brazil’s patriarchal society. I understood this type of music, along with the artists’ suggestive performance styles and outfits, as objectification of women that further subjected them to male power. </p>
<p>I couldn’t have been more off base. In truth, by singing frankly about sex and life on the streets in the first person, Rio’s <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7136905/ENECUT_Adriana_Facina">female funk singers are bringing the rough realities of the city’s toughest neighbourhoods</a> to mainstream audiences and emboldening a new generation of young female artists.</p>
<h2>Favela funk</h2>
<p>I was at my first participant-observation session, attending a <em>favela</em> dance party, when I spotted the samba school rehearsal yard full of sound equipment. A woman’s voice blasted in my ears. </p>
<p>It was the group <a href="https://www.letras.mus.br/gaiola-das-popozudas/">Gaiola das Popozudas</a>, and the lead singer, Valesca, was wailing to the deep beat of the electronic drum: <em>Come on love/beat on my case with your dick on my face.</em> </p>
<p>I thought: it’s not by chance that this is the first sound I’m hearing on my very first day of fieldwork. There is something I have to learn from these women, certain personal certainties I need to deconstruct. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160813/original/image-20170314-13485-19bzmqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Valesca Popuzuda is the first Brazilian funk artist to publicly call herself a feminist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Valesca_-_Fora_do_Eixo_2.jpg/1280px-Valesca_-_Fora_do_Eixo_2.jpg">Circuito Fora do Eixo/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>A product of Brazil’s African diaspora, funk music (which bears little resemblance to the more globally familiar George Clinton variety) began to appear in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s, with original lyrics written in Portuguese. Over the past decade, artists have taken to adapting foreign songs with invented new lyrics, rather than translating the original songs. </p>
<p>With the dawn of songwriting contests at funk parties, young fans became MCs, penning lyrics that talked about the slums where they’d grown up and declared their love for partying and for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/11892221/_BAILE_MODELO_REFLEX%C3%95ES_SOBRE_PR%C3%81TICAS_FUNKEIRAS_EM_CONTEXTO_DE_PACIFICA%C3%87%C3%83O">other pastimes available to poor black youth in Rio de Janeiro</a>. </p>
<p>Back then, there were few women on the stage. When they did perform, female artists, such as the 1990s idol MC Cacau, often sang about love. </p>
<p>An important exception was MC Dandara, a black woman from the streets who saw breakout success with her politicised <em>Rap de Benedita</em>. This old-school rap centred on Benedita da Silva, a black <em>favela</em> resident who was <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/gah/da-silva-benedita-1942">elected to Congress as a Workers’ Party representative</a>, only to be treated with massive prejudice by the mainstream press. </p>
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<p>Even Dandara’s stage name was deeply political: Dandara was a warrior woman who was one of the leaders of Brazil’s Quilombo dos Palmares <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/20/brazil-s-quilombosfoundedbyescapedslavesofferawindowtothepast.html">runaway slave settlement</a>, which in the 18th century grew into an abolitionist organisation. </p>
<p>By the turn of the 21st century, male dominance of funk was being challenged as more and more female MCs came onto the scene. The pioneer MC Deize Tigrona, who hailed from one of Rio’s best-known and most dangerous <em>favelas</em>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-rios-infamous-city-of-god-2015-10">City of God</a>, was a housemaid when she first made her name singing funk. </p>
<p>Her songs are erotic but jocular. One of Deize’s first hits was <em>Injeção</em>, in which a shot she gets at the doctor’s office becomes a ribald reference to anal sex (the refrain: <em>It stings, but I can take it</em>). </p>
<p>Around the same time in the early 2000s, another City of God resident found fame by singing about sex and pleasure from a woman’s standpoint. Tati Quebra Barraco was black, like Deize, and she challenged prevailing Brazilian beauty standards singing, <em>I’m ugly, but I’m in style/I can pay a motel for a guy</em>. </p>
<h2>Funk goes feminist</h2>
<p>Affirming fame, money and power, Tati became one of the most successful women in funk. Together, she and Deize ushered in what later became known as feminist funk, influencing a generation of budding female artists in the <em>favelas</em>. </p>
<p>Soon, the artist <a href="https://www.letras.mus.br/valeska-popozuda/">Valesca Popozuda</a> became the first funk performer to publicly call herself a feminist. Valesca, who is white, picked the stage name <em>Popozuda</em>, which refers to a woman with a big behind (a physical trait much appreciated in Brazil). </p>
<p>Since leaving her band, <em>Gaiola das Popozudas</em>, to launch a solo career, Valesca has become known for explicit lyrics that outline what she likes to do in bed – and not just with men, either. </p>
<p>With songs that evince support for LGBTQ people, among other marginalised communities, her defence of female autonomy is clearly political. In <em>Sou Gay</em> (I’m Gay), Valesca sings, <em>I sweated, I kissed, I enjoyed, I came/I’m bi, I’m free, I’m tri, I’m gay</em>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The video for ‘I’m Gay’ by Valesca Popuzuda.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Valesca has become an icon of grassroots feminism for speaking out against prejudice of all stripes. On other tracks, she has spotlighted issues important to working-class and poor women in Rio de Janeiro. </p>
<p><em>Larguei Meu Marido</em>, for example, tells the tale of a woman who leaves her abusive husband and finds that he suddenly wants her back now that she’s cheating on him (as he used to do to her). Live on stage, when Valesca calls herself a slut, the ladies in the crowd go wild. </p>
<p>Following in the footsteps of these pioneering artists, today many female funk artists sing about an ever-widening variety of topics. The industry still has gender issues, though. Women may have broken through as stage talent, but they are still scarce as funk DJs, entrepreneurs and producers. Men run things behind the scenes. </p>
<p>That will surely change, too. Nothing is impossible for these Brazilian women who, immersed in a deeply patriarchal society ruled by conservative Christian values, found the voice to scream to the world: This pussy is mine!, translating into the language of funk the core feminist slogan: my body, my choice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adriana Facina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By singing frankly about sex and life on the streets, the pioneering women of Rio de Janeiro’s funk scene are redefining what feminism sounds like.Adriana Facina, Anthropology Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761872017-04-21T10:30:35Z2017-04-21T10:30:35ZPurple Reign: the sublime mystery of Prince<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165915/original/file-20170419-2392-140onma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/budapest-hungary-aug-9-rock-pop-89857048">Northfoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A year on from his death and Prince remains firmly in the public consciousness as an iconic force in the world. Ever since the news that he was found dead at his Paisley Park estate of an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36436767">accidental drug overdose</a> aged just 57, the music world, fans and public alike have sought to mark his contribution both to music and wider culture. </p>
<p>Prince once <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/feb/19/urban.popandrock">told the Guardian</a>:
“What’s missing from pop music is danger. There’s no excitement and mystery.” Reflecting on his death and the public reaction and media coverage since April 2016, this may well be key to his iconic status. Perhaps he provided just that which he said was missing. He gave us danger, mystery and excitement in a way no other artist did. </p>
<p>And in a culture where oversharing is standard, Prince remained an elusive star. It appeared that few people really knew him. He was reluctant to discuss anything but music with the media. He didn’t allow interviewers to record him and responded in ways that tended towards the cryptic, which many found frustrating.</p>
<p>As someone who has admired his career for decades, it is also his ability to access the sublime that was so captivating. To transcend boundaries throughout his career that cemented his status in life and perhaps even more so in death. Once <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/a-final-visit-with-prince-rolling-stones-lost-cover-story-20160502">describing himself</a> as “music” itself, Prince was the embodiment of being oneself and expressing that through music.</p>
<h2>Sublime</h2>
<p>The concept of the sublime – the quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder – emerged in the 17th century. The emotions it inspires have been a source of inspiration for artists and writers ever since. While not easily applied to many figures in contemporary popular culture, this term is fitting for an artist as prolific as Prince. </p>
<p>First and foremost, this was evident through his musical output. A virtuoso musician, Prince was adept at revealing the elegance in many genres of music. He presented exquisite melodies and lyrics wrapped up in an ornate and often dramatic package. His 2007 Super Bowl halftime show – widely considered to the best of any artist – exemplifies his performance style.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prince’s Super Bowl show.</span></figcaption>
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<p>His performance aesthetic was unlike anyone else’s and he pioneered an approach that has been much copied but never rivalled. Prince was bold, unapologetic and mesmerising. His approach was not to self-censor but to celebrate his preoccupation with sex – in songs like Cream and Sexy MF – and let the public decide whether or not they liked it.</p>
<p>Another aspect of Prince’s sublimity was evident in the way he displayed a distinct disregard for boundaries. His refusal to accept limits or preconceived ideas surrounding genre, race or gender was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/21/prince-broke-expectations-black-american-men-musical-genius-performances">evident</a> in almost every part of his work. In so much of his musical output, race and gender struggles were front and centre.</p>
<p>Prince transcended gender norms in ways that had rarely been seen in mainstream music. He played with racial, sexual and gender signifiers in such a bold way and rejected black patriarchal stereotypes and cliches.</p>
<p>His sensual style left a subversive mark upon popular culture and certainly one that expanded expressions of gender and eroticism for both performers and the consumers of his image and music far beyond the conventional. He was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/23/prince-gender-masculinity-femininity_n_9760080.html">both macho and feminine</a> and embraced gender ambiguity. There are many examples where this is evident, not least the cover for Prince’s 1988 Lovesexy album in which he poses nude.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166259/original/file-20170421-12655-1r87476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prince’s 1988 Lovesexy album.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/emsef/27043295701/in/photolist-axPoQ-GokyYB-drgp57-29pNU-drfDdk-dodTuN-qvPiWy-2BDy6X-pydE8G-2JPwNG-vDVDD-2JKcWn-Fy7Efz-drfCUH-vThrG-DeN9p-HcHXCZ">Matt Sephton/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Time magazine <a href="http://entertainment.time.com/2012/04/20/top-10-controversial-album-covers/slide/prince-lovesexy/">declared it</a> “One of the most controversial album covers of all time”. Not only does Prince present himself naked but he incorporates conventionally feminine iconography. Flowers burst into bloom all around him, his arm covers his chest and he gazes demurely into the distance. </p>
<p>Then, in 1993, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol that fused the male and female symbols together.</p>
<p>Prince was a <a href="http://www.independent.ie/style/celebrity/celebrity-news/mentor-prince-a-champion-for-women-singer-janelle-monae-35442094.html">champion of women</a>. He worked with many female musicians and engineers throughout his career. He produced and mentored numerous female groups and wrote songs that became hits for female pop stars, including Chaka Khan, Sinéad O’Connor, Sheena Easton, and the Bangles. </p>
<p>His rebellion against music industry straight-jacketing was one of the defining elements of his artistry. Just after turning 18, Prince signed a six-figure deal with Warner Bros. The contract stated that Prince would produce his own albums, starting his career with a highly unusual degree of artistic control. </p>
<p>In the mid-1980s, after the multimedia success of Purple Rain, he convinced Warner Bros to help him launch the Paisley Park Records label from his Minneapolis estate. But by the 1990s, he was appearing in public with the word “slave” on his cheek as a symbol of his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/10/history-prince-contractual-controversy-warner-paisley-park#img-1">dispute with the record company</a>.</p>
<p>It is rare that the term sublime can be used to truly describe an artist. But Prince was so brilliant and impossibly prolific that – whether loved or despised – it is hard to argue against it. He offered us new ways of seeing ourselves and those around us through his life and his music. And for that, he will remain forever sublime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirsty Fairclough works for University of Salford. Purple Reign: An interdisciplinary conference on the life and legacy of Prince is a three-day international academic conference hosted by the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford and the Department of Recording Industry, Middle Tennessee State University, USA. The conference, taking place between 24th-26th May will provide fresh perspectives on the creative and commercial dimensions of Prince’s career, re-examining the meanings of his work in the context of his unexpected death.</span></em></p>A year after Prince’s death, fans the world over are still coming to terms with the loss of an uncompromising musical and cultural visionary.Kirsty Fairclough, Senior Lecturer in Media and Performance, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/725182017-03-05T10:36:37Z2017-03-05T10:36:37ZAfrofuturistic, cosmic jazz comes to the Motherland<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159131/original/image-20170302-14714-18pc15p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Saxophonist Kamasi Washington will be performing at the 2017 Cape Town International Jazz Festival.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The golden era days of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/style/jazz-rap-ma0000012180">jazz-rap</a> occurred during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hip-hop artists of the time sampled jazz and funk records to create their sound. </p>
<p>Unlike then, we are now entering an age where jazz and funk artists are redefining the boundaries and the sound of hip-hop. The <a href="http://www.capetownjazzfest.com/">Cape Town International jazz festival</a> has tapped into this new age. A number of these musical trailblazers are coming to the African motherland soon, where their musical prowess will be showcased at the annual festival.</p>
<p>Some context on these musicians: They do this delineation by fusing genres like <a href="http://pitchfork.com/features/pitchfork-essentials/9724-astral-traveling-the-ecstasy-of-spiritual-jazz/">spiritual/cosmic jazz</a>, <a href="http://www.stereogum.com/1822964/p-funk-albums-from-worst-to-best/franchises/counting-down/">Pfunk</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/west-coast-rap-ma0000002932">West Coast hip-hop</a> with ideologies of <a href="http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6001/Black-Consciousness.html">black consciousness</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/entry/your-far-out-guide-to-afrofuturism-and-black-magic_us_5711403fe4b0060ccda34a37">Afrofuturism</a> and <a href="http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=blackstudfacproc">syncretic black spirituality</a>.</p>
<p>We also see more of an emphasis on collaboration between hip-hop artists and contemporary jazz musos. Not only well versed in the golden era hip-hop, these jazz musicians also know their way around the jazz of yesteryear. This interaction sees more interplay between traditional hip-hop sampling methods and a jazz-based composition, improvisation and performance aesthetic in hip-hop. A prime example of this development can be found in songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “For Free? (Interlude)”, “<a href="https://worldgalaxyrecords.bandcamp.com/track/astral-progressions-feat-kurupt">Astral Progressions</a>” by contemporary jazz trumpeter <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/josef-leimberg-mn0001717508/biography">Josef Leimberg</a> featuring rapper Kurupt and the works of artists like the Canadian jazz band, <a href="http://badbadnotgood.com/">Badbadnotgood</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘For Free?’ by Kendrick Lamar from his album, To Pimp a Butterfly.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Unlike in the golden jazz-rap era, jazz is no longer a mere sonic muse or pallet for beat makers. It’s now at the forefront of hip-hop production and is directly influencing the trajectory of the genre. For jazz this period marks a new era of fusion that’s heavily influenced by the open minded innovators of the fusion movement of the 1970s such as <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/herbie-hancock-mn0000957296">Herbie Hancock</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829">Miles Davis</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/weather-report-mn0000243527">Weather Report</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tony-williams-mn0000791318">Tony Williams</a>. These musical revolutionaries were able to change the shape of jazz and other genres simultaneously through the redefinition and fusion of styles.</p>
<p>Something really magical is taking place at the moment. The last few years have seen a gradual increase of black artists who are really – as opposed to just aesthetically – tuned into the circuit-jamming frequencies and epoch-making ideas of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-clinton-mn0000533117/biography">George Clinton</a>), <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sun-ra-mn0000924232/biography">Sun Ra</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/2pac-mn0000921895/biography">Tupac Shakur</a>, <a href="http://malcolmx.com/biography/">Malcolm X</a> and everything in between and beyond.</p>
<p>As a scholar of Afrofuturism, a DJ and record collector I am extremely grateful that the Cape Town International Jazz Festival has booked some of these gifted young artists that have built this movement over the last few years.</p>
<p>I’m particularly excited to witness, in my own city, the stellar art of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/laura-mvula-mn0003052732/biography">Laura Mvula</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/taylor-mcferrin-mn0001881073/biography">Taylor McFerrin</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marcus-gilmore-mn0000935640/credits">Marcus Gilmore</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kamasi-washington-mn0000772447">Kamasi Washington</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/digable-planets-mn0000826762">Digable Planets</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Laura Mvula</strong></p>
<p>I can best describe Birmingham native Mvula’s music as ethereal, spaced out vocal jazz with gospel and African choral roots. She sounds unique, exploring themes of blackness, spirituality and space in an elegant manner. </p>
<p>Her style is minimal, clean and elegant with a particular knack for making full use of emptiness and space. Listening to her music makes me feel like I’ve been teleported to church in outer space. Worth noting is that her African surname is of no significance to her music – it’s simply her Zambian husband’s surname.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Laura Mvula’s musical feel is well illustrated in this song ‘That’s alright’.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Digable Planets</strong></p>
<p>The title of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/digable-planets-mn0000826762">Digable Planets</a>’ 1993 jazz-heavy debut release “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/reachin-a-new-refutation-of-time-and-space-mw0000616174">Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)</a>” is an apt and clear indicator of the musical direction they were taking during that period. This particular album served as my first introduction to jazzy hip-hop and the idea of “space, jazz and blackness”. Their second release “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/blowout-comb-mw0000119422">Blowout Comb</a>”, which is super Afrocentric and created around themes of Black Nationalism, black urban culture, jazz and entomology, took me further down the rabbit hole of Afrofuturism .</p>
<p>For me the group exemplifies my comparison between the golden era of hip-hop, the advent of late 90s <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/neo-soul-ma0000004426">neo-soul</a> and the here-and-now, as they were one of the first groups to explore Afrofuturism, space, time travel, blackness and urban culture through the idioms of jazz and hip-hop. They definitely set the tone for this kind of expression and continued to do so even after their protracted hiatus which occurred between 1995 and their reunion tour of 2016.</p>
<p>During that period group member Ishmael Butler went on to establish another highly influential Afrofuturistic outfit, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/shabazz-palaces-mw0002138257">Shabazz Palaces</a>, and Cee Knowledge created and recorded with the spaced out hip-hop/jazz band <a href="http://cosmicfunkorchestra.com/">Cee Knowledge and the Cosmic Funk Orchestra</a> while Lady Mecca went on to record her solo hip-hop offering, “<a href="http://prince.org/msg/8/431132">Trip The Light Fantastic</a>”. One simply cannot discuss Afrofuturism and jazz within the bounds of hip-hop without mentioning Digable Planets and their unique legacy.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Digable Planets with their hit ‘Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)’</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Taylor McFerrin and Marcus Gilmore</strong></p>
<p>The idea that DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/taylor-mcferrin-mn0001881073/biography">Taylor McFerrin</a> is teaming up with jazz drummer <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marcus-gilmore-mn0000935640/credits">Marcus Gilmore</a> is most thrilling because they have never recorded a collaborative album that showcases their collective sound. This collaboration is an argument in favour of the assumption that musicality is innate by way of one’s genes. Both these artists are direct descendants of two of the most prolific artists of our time.</p>
<p>Gilmore, who is the grandson of legendary jazz drummer <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/roy-haynes-mn0000290464">Roy Haynes</a>, recently recorded an album with the jazz fusion giant Chick Corea. Gilmore has also collaborated with foremost Afrofuturist <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/flying-lotus-mn0000717419">Flying Lotus</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ravi-coltrane-mn0000401568">Ravi Coltrane</a>. Both are from impeccable jazz stock – the latter the son of jazz gods, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-coltrane-mn0000175553">John</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/alice-coltrane-mn0000006143/biography">Alice</a>, and the former their grand nephew.</p>
<p>McFerrin, the son of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-mcferrin-mn0000768367">Bobby</a>, is known for his left-field, futuristic fusion of electronica, jazz, soul and hip hop. He is affiliated to the aforementioned Flying Lotus’s experimental LA-based <a href="http://www.thefader.com/2015/08/26/brainfeeder-flying-lotus-label-interview">Brainfeeder</a> record label, a purveyor of some of the finest Afrofuturistic art of the last decade.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gilmore and McFerrin in concert.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Kamasi Washington</strong></p>
<p>Saxophonist <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kamasi-washington-mn0000772447">Washington</a>’s multiple 2015 award winning debut studio album “The Epic” (also released via Brainfeeder) is one of the most important jazz albums of the last five years. It simultaneously garnered the <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/music/the-epic/kamasi-washington">respect of critics</a> and jazz purists, as well as audiences who wouldn’t otherwise listen to anything as musically complex.</p>
<p>Released as a triple disk on vinyl, “The Epic” is a worthy investment for any vinyl enthusiast and music lover.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Kamasi Washington and his band with ‘Clair de Lune’ from ‘The Epic’.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This phenomenal album, along with Washington’s work as a notable collaborator on a significant number of the most prominent Afrofuturistic, jazz, hip-hop and funk albums of the last five years, makes him an artist of great stature. One finds his name <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/324293-Kamasi-Washington?filter_anv=0&subtype=Writing-Arrangement&type=Credits">printed in the liner notes</a> of recent, groundbreaking albums by Kendrick Lamar, Josef Leimberg, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Miles Mosely and Run the Jewels.</p>
<p>Washington definitely is an important part of the machinery that’s shaping the future sound of jazz, hip-hop and funk, in their individual forms and as a futuristic, experimental fusion projects.</p>
<p>The festival is an exceptional opportunity to engage with artists, who are relevant and progressive, especially in the Motherland. I sincerely hope that South Africa inspires their art and that we can absorb something from whatever they project.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Shakib Bhatch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Something really magical is happening at the intersection between jazz and hip-hop at the moment. Many of the artists involved will be playing at Africa’s foremost jazz festival.Michael Shakib Bhatch, Lecturer of English. PhD Candidate in Afrofuturism and African Studies, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/734732017-03-02T10:51:39Z2017-03-02T10:51:39ZThe story of the funky drummer: the most exploited man in modern music<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158774/original/image-20170228-13104-6vw9xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield playing in 2005.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pavdw/5580394474/in/photolist-9v7YRQ-8Ub1MB-8Ue6ud-8Ub1mi-8YgFJk-Kz7qj-716jCM-71ae3b-716oCa-4JeKPi-8Ue6zh-71agGf-716avX-71aaEm-716o2V-716m6v-71amrA-71abY3-716omx-716cnp-8xgYzy-696M6J-vpmahQ-usSYnd-71am2A">Paul VanDerWerf/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Give the drummer some”, said the voice of funk soul pioneer James Brown as it rang out above his band on the 1967 recording of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bztE5IbQOo">Cold Sweat</a>. The drummer in question was Clyde Stubblefield who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/arts/music/clyde-stubblefield-a-drummer-aims-for-royalties.html">was said to be one of the most sampled and exploited musicians of all time</a>. </p>
<p>His playing on Cold Sweat established the rhythmic template for funk and is rightly regarded as being pivotal in the history of popular music. But it was his work on Brown’s Funky Drummer that would echo through the ages. A 20-second drum loop that would go on to be sampled <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/clyde-stubblefield-james-browns-funky-drummer-dead-at-73-w467805">on over 1,300 songs</a>, from <a href="http://www.whosampled.com/James-Brown/Funky-Drummer/sampled/?cp=11">Public Enemy and Beastie Boys to George Michael, Britney Spears and Ed Sheeran</a>. </p>
<p>So why did a musician who created one of the most memorable pieces of music of all time end up dying in relative poverty?</p>
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<p>Stubblefield’s position in music history is assured. But the fact remains that he was never properly compensated financially for his talent and innovation. He died on February 18 but before the end of his life had unpaid medical bills of $90,000. Before he died, Stubblefield revealed that his bills were settled by the late great Prince in an act of charity. He was one of the drummer’s greatest fans. So questions are now being asked as to what it was that Stubblefield was actually “given” by his employers and by the generation of musicians that seemingly so often took his labour for granted.</p>
<p>Stubblefield worked with James Brown from 1965-1971 having previously been the sticksman for soul legend Otis Redding. He was no newcomer to the music business and it was normal practice for musicians like Stubblefield to be paid a one-off fee for the recording. Despite making a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_55a_Sje0lY">critical contribution</a> to the record, he would not have retained any of the rights to his performance or his compositional contribution. Stubblefield spoke about Brown in the <a href="https://vimeo.com/9958864">PBS documentary Copyright Criminals (2009)</a>, saying: “He didn’t tell me what to play … I played what I felt but he owned it.” </p>
<p>His story may have gone unnoticed by the wider world were it not for the recording of Funky Drummer on November 20, 1969. It was a minor hit for for The Godfather of Soul. But five minutes and 34 seconds into the song, Stubblefield embarks upon a solo drum feature that launches both him and his drumming into the future, becoming a primary source in hip-hop’s development. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Funky Drummer drum loop.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This 20 seconds of music is propelled by a very straight and repetitive semiquaver/16th note hi-hat pattern with the bass drum emphasising the first two quavers/eighth notes of the bar. However, it is in the snare drum part where Stubblefield makes the magic happen. Its roots come from the New Orleans marching band tradition and it blends syncopations, ghost notes and rimshots into a compulsive rhythmic mix. The snare bounces off and against the straighter parts creating an addictively danceable beat that would prove irresistible to legions of hip-hop producers, DJs, rappers and pop artists. </p>
<p>“Breakbeats” (looped two-bar audio snapshots known as samples) from the solo became one of the rhythmic foundations of hip-hop and were used hundreds of times on tracks by artists including Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Ice Cube and Run DMC. The affordable new sampling technology such as the E-mu SP-1200 percussion sampler that emerged in the mid 1980s made this possible, building on the vinyl mixing innovations of hip-hop innovator DJ Kool Herc.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8PaoLy7PHwk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Public Enemy - Fight The Power.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, in the excitement surrounding the new hip-hop culture and associated technologies, few stopped to think about paying or crediting the artists who were being sampled. Stubblefield said:<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/arts/music/clyde-stubblefield-a-drummer-aims-for-royalties.html">“People use my drum patterns on a lot of these songs … They never gave me credit, never paid me. It didn’t bug me or disturb me, but I think it’s disrespectful not to pay people for what they use.”</a> It wasn’t long before the sample was being picked up by pop and rock producers – and so Stubblefield’s uncredited influence grew and grew.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5HswEQWMV24?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ed Sheeran - Shirtsleeves which also samples Funky Drummer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In another <a href="https://vimeo.com/995886">interview</a>, Stubblefield spoke about how the samplers sometimes tweaked his drum part, adding: “They can change the tone … they’ve got so much technology today they can make the speed go up … whatever they want to do with it, and I won’t even know it’s me … I prefer to get my name on the record saying this is Clyde playing … the money is not the important thing, just to get myself out in the world.”</p>
<p>Stubblefield was not alone in having his work sampled and reassembled into someone else’s creative vision. 1960s funk outfit The Winston’s “Amen” break from their track Amen, Brother, performed by drummer GC Coleman, has been used by acts as varied as NWA and Oasis and has been the basis for many hits. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32087287">Coleman also died homeless and broke</a> in 2006 without ever having been paid a cent for his efforts.</p>
<h2>Unsung heroes</h2>
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<p>Stubblefield and Colman were working in an era when it was hard for even big name artists to get the money they were owed – so for mere session musicians it would have been impossible. The music business is built upon the exploitation of copyrights and neither musician had any ownership of their most important work.</p>
<p>In some ways, that is still the accepted lot of the session musician. You sell your creativity and instrumental or vocal skills for a one-off fee. But without these musicians’ extraordinary rhythmic imaginations, the records that we have all been dancing to for the last 30 years would have been lacking that crucial funk factor. We should take our hats off to these unsung heroes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian York does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The recently deceased funk drummer Clyde Stubblefield created arguably the most sampled drum track in the history of popular music – but he rarely got the credit, or the payment, he deserved.Adrian York, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Music Performance, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702232016-12-12T18:05:01Z2016-12-12T18:05:01ZYes, 2016 was crazy. But the future of art is bright and black<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149656/original/image-20161212-26048-1bxvh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cover of Childish Gambino's album 'Awaken my love'.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Review 2016: This has been a year most of humanity would like to forget with war, disasters, racism, sexism and, especially in arts and culture, the deaths of revered icons. But it is also in the arts and culture where people look for and find hope. The Conversation Africa has asked a number of our contributors to give us five books, records, buildings, works of art and so on, in their field that made a difference to them in 2016. Here is Michael Shakib Bhatch’s year in review.</em></p>
<p>In our haste to conclude 2016 (for various obviously bad reasons) we shouldn’t forget to reflect on all the wonderful works of art that inspired and distracted us from the craziness of this period. Below I share some of the grand works that made this year memorable for the right reasons. I limit myself through the lens of Afrofuturism and African studies specifically because this article has a word limit …</p>
<p>To recap quickly: the <a href="http://www.fabrikzeitung.ch/afrofuturism-reloaded-15-theses-in-15-minutes/">still relevant</a> term Afrofuturism was first coined by American cultural critic, <a href="http://markdery.com/">Mark Dery</a>, in his seminal 1994 essay <a href="https://thenewblack5324.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/mark-dery-black-to-the-future.pdf">“Black to the future”</a>.</p>
<p>Dery <a href="https://futuristicallyancient.com/tag/mark-dery/">defined</a> Afrofuturism as a: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th century technoculture – and more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced – might, for want of a better term, be called “Afro-futurism.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>1. Josef Leimberg – "Astral Progressions”</h2>
<p>In late November I was taken on a sonic journey through <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/west-coast-rap-ma0000002932">West Coast rap</a>, <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2016/09/the-history-of-spiritual-jazz.html">cosmic spiritual jazz</a> and P-funk by California-based trumpeter and hip hop producer Josef Leimberg. His debut solo album: <a href="https://worldgalaxyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/astral-progressions">“Astral Progressions”</a> has been a staple in the car, home and office ever since. The album explores West Coast <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/g-funk-ma0000011824">G-funk</a> and two major historical components of Afrofuturistic sound art: spiritual cosmic jazz in the vein of artists like <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pharoah-sanders-mn0000330601">Pharoah Sanders</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/alice-coltrane-mn0000006143">Alice Coltrane</a>, and cosmic funk as created by <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/funkadelic-mn0000187581">Parliament-Funkadelic</a>.</p>
<p>Anyone who is a scholar of Afrofuturism will agree that the album really connects the dots (both sonically and stylistically) between then, now and the future. For me the album is part of a movement of deliberately conscious black music that is using ancient soundscapes to explore the future sound of black music. This conscious black music movement is to avant garde jazz musician, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sun-ra-mn0000924232">Sun Ra</a>, and funk master, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-clinton-mn0000533117">George Clinton</a>, what the genre <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/neo-soul-ma0000004426">Neo-Soul</a> is to <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/roy-ayers-mn0000345168/biography">Roy Ayers</a> (who successfully straddled bridged jazz, funk and disco in the mid 1970s and early ‘80s), with hip hop sandwiched right in the middle.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149657/original/image-20161212-26074-1mfw3cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Josef Leimberg’s debut album Astral Progressions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Childish Gambino - “Awaken, my love”</h2>
<p>Roughly 29 days before the closing of this year actor <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22671-awaken-my-love/">Donald Glover</a> under the guise of his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino, made waves when he released <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/12/09/504969213/childish-gambinos-new-album-is-a-funky-left-turn">“Awaken, my love”</a>, an album that draws heavily on the works of Funkadelic, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimi-hendrix-mn0000354105">Jimi Hendrix</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sylvester-sly-stone-stewart-mn0000751663">Sly Stone</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/prince-mn0000361393">Prince</a>. While many reviews of the album didn’t find it particularly Afrofuturistic in nature, I did. I feel that while it draws on the same influences as Neo-Soul artist <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dangelo-mn0000134600">D'Angelo</a>, its sonic aesthetic leans more toward rapper <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kendrick-lamar-mn0002709646">Kendrick Lamar</a>’s Afrofuturistic album <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/to-pimp-a-butterfly-mw0002835159">“To pimp a butterfly”</a>.</p>
<p>In my humble opinion Gambino (along with like-minded artists such as <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sa-ra-mn0000955123">Sa-Ra</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bilal-mn0000057280">Bilal</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/adrian-younge-mn0001646944">Adrian Younge</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/terrace-martin-mn0002366358">Terrace Martin</a>) is ushering in the stylistic progression of neo-soul to neo-psychedelic space funk (if you could call it that). The crazy thing about this is that the said “progression” is taking place during a sociopolitical period that is often likened to the late 60’s/ early 70’s: when George Clinton and Sly Stone altered soul and funk, and Hendrix altered the blues. I am very chuffed that I can bear witness to the development of this sound, especially within the context of the <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/">#BlackLivesMatter</a> movement and the looming Donald Trump administration.</p>
<h2>3. “Birth of a Nation” - Nate Parker</h2>
<p>Finally, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196450/">a film</a> about one of the most important heroes of black resistance in the USA and beyond, <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner">Nat Turner</a>. The movie, which is co-produced and directed by Nate Parker who also plays the leading role is significant in many ways. It is a prime example of the very necessary process of reclaiming and reframing of black history in order to change the trajectory of the future of black people worldwide.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149659/original/image-20161212-26051-1o2gwqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nate Parker, director of ‘Birth of a nation’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The film was shrouded in <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/timeline-of-the-nate-parker-rape-scandal.html">controversy</a> and was received with mixed feelings. Seventeen years ago Parker and a wrestling teammate were accused of raping a female student, while attending Penn State university. Parker was found not guilty. Four years ago the woman who accused him committed suicide.</p>
<p>With the release of “Birth of a Nation” in October and Parker’s raised profile the spotlight turned back on the case.</p>
<p>Despite one’s personal judgements of his character, the project might inspire other young black artists to boldly rewrite and reimagine the often skewed whitewashed historical accounts of black revolutionary action.</p>
<p>Hopefully soon someone might present the world with say, the story of the <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/gah/haitian-revolution-1791-1804">Haitian Revolution</a> (1791-1804) or of revolutionary hero, the late Burkinabe president <a href="http://qz.com/415257/why-burkina-fasos-late-revolutionary-leader-thomas-sankara-still-inspires-young-africans/">Thomas Sankara</a>, who was revered as the “African Che Guevara”. Who knows. Either way, Parker has sown the seed. </p>
<h2>4. “Luke Cage” TV series</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149660/original/image-20161212-26036-dgoa9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poster for ‘Luke Cage’.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I never was a fan of comics and superheroes but the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322314/">“Luke Cage”</a> series might have changed my mind. The television series caught my attention for the same reasons as “Birth of a Nation” and “Awaken, my love”. Essentially it is an Afrofuturistic blaxploitation series with a brilliant retrospective, and futuristic score created by the great <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/adrian-younge-mn0001646944">Adrian Younge</a> and <a href="http://www.npr.org/people/390269464/ali-shaheed-muhammad">Ali Shaheed Muhammad</a>. What is not to love about this? </p>
<p>The series brings Afrofuturism and neo-psychedelic space funk to the living rooms of the masses and it is likely to be a strong point of reference for many years to come. I definitely will be watching more of the series in my spare time – you should too.</p>
<h2>5. “Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro – How far we slaves have come”</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.kwela.com/Books/19606">book</a> contains the speeches of two icons, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, who are equally loved, and hated by many. It offers us insight (via the speeches exchanged by these icons upon their first meeting in Cuba in 1991) into Cuba’s role in catalysing the end of apartheid. </p>
<p>It also sheds some light on how these two giants related to each other as revolutionaries. This is essential reading material, especially in the wake of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/26/fidel-castro-cuba-revolutionary-icon-dies">Castro’s death</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-crisis-could-become-a-monster-if-zuma-is-left-unchecked-68350">current state</a> of the ruling ANC in South Africa. Ironically the book was republished by Kwela Books a few months prior to the passing of Castro who is often referred to as the world’s last revolutionary, this reaffirms my belief that revolutionary ideas do not die when revolutionaries do.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149661/original/image-20161212-26039-no5dqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cover of Shabaka & the Ancestors’ debut album.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In closing I would also like to make special mention of the album <a href="https://shabakaandtheancestors.bandcamp.com/">“Wisdom of the Elders”</a> by Shabaka Hutchings and the Ancestors as a key Afrofuturistic spiritual jazz release to come from South Africa this year (British saxophonist <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/shabaka-hutchings-mn0001092571/biography">Hutchings</a> recorded “Wisdom of the Elders” in Johannesburg in 2015 with some of South Africa’s finest young jazz musicians).
I’m waiting for the album which I ordered in vinyl format for further exploration. Don’t delay the purchase like I did.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Shakib Bhatch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a gloomy year filled, a number of artists with an Afrofuturist perspective gave hope with inspired works of art.Michael Shakib Bhatch, Lecturer of English, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/620842016-07-06T14:52:42Z2016-07-06T14:52:42ZUnder the influence of … Miles Davis’ electric masterpieces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129547/original/image-20160706-12743-g57sc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cover art of 'Bitches Brew' by Mati Klarwein</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artist's website</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the second in a new weekly series called “Under the influence”, in which we ask experts to share what they believe are the most influential works of art in their field. Here, Zen Marie introduces two of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis’ albums, “Bitches Brew” (1970) and “Live-Evil” (1971).</em></p>
<p>Miles Davis’ “<a href="http://www.furious.com/perfect/miles.html">electric period</a>” was book-ended by his records “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-a-silent-way-mw0000188020">In a Silent Way</a>” (1969) and “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/agharta-mw0000187879">Agharta</a>” (1976). Dubbed “<a href="http://www.furious.com/perfect/miles.html">Electric Miles</a>”, it was unpredictable, challenging, groundbreaking – funk’s <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-brown-mn0000128099">James Brown</a> meeting art music’s <a href="http://www.karlheinzstockhausen.org/">Karlheinz Stockhausen</a>, with psychedelic rocker <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimi-hendrix-mn0000354105">Jimi Hendrix</a> gatecrashing. </p>
<p>Like the respectable free jazz, his music was experimental and out there during this phase, but unlike the former, it was “electric, beat-heavy, and marketed to kids”, as music doyen <a href="http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/davis-97.php">Robert Christgau</a> put it. And it was not loved by all, especially jazz critics – “thus obviously worthy of suspicion if not contempt”. Another reason these jazz ideologues dismissed “70s Miles is that the bands aren’t stellar”, according to Christgau.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129561/original/image-20160706-12743-1i841d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The inside sleeve of the ‘Bitches Brew’ gatefold album.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I beg to differ. </p>
<p>“Bitches Brew” and “Live-Evil”, released in sequential years and part of the “Electric Miles” period, saw Davis gather a truly legendary cast of musicians to produce two of the most challenging collections of music – ever. In fact, what they offer goes beyond music – the albums are challenges that go beyond the ordinary and are an invitation to enter the sublime.</p>
<p>First, it’s worth mentioning the musicians, some of whom are featured across both albums: <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/airto-moreira-mn0000609992">Airto Moreira</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-cobham-mn0000767741">Billy Cobham</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bennie-maupin-mn0000790496">Bennie Maupin</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chick-corea-mn0000110541">Chick Corea</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-holland-mn0000585092">Dave Holland</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-alias-mn0000794633">Don Alias</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gary-bartz-mn0000737969">Gary Bartz</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/harvey-brooks-mn0000951651">Harvey Brooks</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/herbie-hancock-mn0000957296">Herbie Hancock</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hermeto-pascoal-mn0000572263">Hermeto Pascoal </a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jack-dejohnette-mn0000104388">Jack DeJohnette</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-zawinul-mn0000176859">Joe Zawinul</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-mclaughlin-mn0000223701">John McLaughlin </a>; <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/297013-Jumma-Santos">Jumma Santos</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/keith-jarrett-mn0000066570">Keith Jarrett</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/larry-young-mn0000134393">Larry Young</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lenny-white-mn0000246487">Lenny White</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-henderson-mn0000887718">Michael Henderson</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ron-carter-mn0000275832">Ron Carter</a>; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-grossman-mn0000044517">Steve Grossman</a>; and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wayne-shorter-mn0000250435">Wayne Shorter</a>.</p>
<p>For those not into jazz, this is like the <a href="http://www.realmadrid.com/en">Real Madrid</a> (or <a href="https://www.fcbarcelona.com/">Barcelona</a>) of line-ups. For those not into football, its like a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22937970">G8 summit</a>. For those not into politics, its like the <a href="http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Triwizard_Maze">Triwizard Cup</a>. For those not into “<a href="https://www.pottermore.com/explore-the-story/harry-potter">Harry Potter</a>” … well, I think you get the picture.</p>
<p>The talent, mastery and prowess of the personnel on these albums can’t be emphasised enough and it is a credit to Davis that he managed to pull such heavyweights together.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The title track from ‘Bitches Brew’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why is/was it influential?</h2>
<p>The stature and pedigree of the musicians is not why I chose these works for “Under the influence”. When I first heard the music on these albums, I had no idea who they were nor the significance of the gathering. For me the two albums were strange and alien oddities that made absolutely no sense. </p>
<p>They did not sound the way I thought music should, the tracks were too long, the melodies syncopated, discordant, ghostly, disconcerting and at times psychotic. As far from smooth jazz as you can get, the form of this offering was something more like a pack of wild animals hooting, barking, howling and screeching: baying for carnal, bloodthirsty desires to be satiated. This was not a classic <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-quintet-mn0000424302">Miles Davis Quintet</a> type of gig … the music was complex, nuanced, elaborate and ambitious. </p>
<p>Then there was the album art, which was like something out of a fever-inspired hallucination or the guilt-ridden wet dream of a lonely German man (the artist <a href="http://www.matiklarweinart.com/">Mati Klarwein</a> was, of course, born in Germany). The whole package was important to me as it produced a challenge to think beyond aesthetics and form as I knew it and in a way much more complex than the commercial, pop diet that I was accustomed to. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129548/original/image-20160706-12717-1o32bop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The artwork of the ‘Live’ side of the ‘Live-Evil’ double album.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>My relationship with the records</h2>
<p>A small disclaimer is in order: I was six years old when I first heard these albums. Besides hearing them being played, I often took liberties with my parent’s record collection and these were albums that I searched out as they fascinated me – because they confused me. Part of their collection included Alice Coltrane’s “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/journey-in-satchidananda-mw0000204160">Journey in Satchidananda</a>” (1971), an album off which I used a track for a primary school science project (it was something about the solar system – I think I got a B+).</p>
<p>My experience with music at this stage was otherwise restricted to <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-jackson-mn0000467203">Michael Jackson</a>. It was 1986 and I had a (pirated) copy of “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/thriller-mw0000056882">Thriller</a>” on tape, a leather jacket, a hat and one white glove. So, yes, I thought myself an expert on all things Jackson.</p>
<p>The comparison between Jackson and Davis is an unfair one. It’s like comparing a languid beach with the open ocean. One is warm and relaxing, luxurious and lazy with moments of excitement, energy and even eroticism. The other is spectacular, challenging, awe inspiring but unapproachable, inhospitable, terrifying and potentially destructive.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129550/original/image-20160706-12750-1bsh6qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The artwork of the ‘Evil’ side of the ‘Live-Evil’ double album.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My terror as a six-year-old, in the face of Davis or Selim Sivad (as he incarnates back to front in “Live-Evil”) and his gang of conspirators was intense and insatiable … </p>
<p>I needed more … and over the years I sought out these two albums time and time again, re-listening to them as I grew up. I even went through a phase in my first year of university where I would buy a copy of “Bitches Brew” whenever I found one in a record shop – and for some reason in the late 90s I often found one. At one point I had four copies. All were lost over the years through break-ins or moments when I gave a copy away after a conversation that began, “You’ve never heard ‘Bitches Brew’!?”</p>
<h2>Why is it still relevant today?</h2>
<p>“Bitches Brew” and “Live-Evil” are more than albums. They are works: products of a combination of genius, depravity and bravery. While they are important to jazz and for music in general, for me the importance goes further than this musicological significance. “Live-Evil” and “Bitches Brew” are about meaning, interpretation and narrative – and the rupture of all of these categories. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Live-Evil’ consists of live and studio recordings by Miles Davis.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are a challenge to perception and a critical examination of the soul. They ask existential, metaphysical and dangerous questions. They dare you to go beyond the prepackaged/drive-through mode of consumption. They are a call to arms for the imagination and the spirit. </p>
<h2>Birds of a feather</h2>
<p>If you wanted to compare them to something, then “Bitches Brew” and “Live-Evil” would be the bastard children conceived in an orgy between Picasso’s “<a href="http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp">Guernica</a>”, James Joyce’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/04/100-best-novels-ulysses-james-joyce-robert-mccrum">Ulysses</a>” and Hunter S Thompson’s “<a href="http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/free-the-original-text-of-hunter-s-thompsons-fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas.html">Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</a>”, while <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/aldous-huxley-9348198">Aldous Huxley</a> watched on and took notes. But that’s if you really had to compare them to something. </p>
<p>For me, the grooved wax discs and gatefold artwork that are “Bitches Brew” and “Live-Evil” are incomparable, as they are deeply rooted in the recesses of my subconscious. As such they are tightly bound to most things I do. I still routinely go back to them, and always find new marvels and wonders in the profane back-to-front mastery of Selim Sivad Evil.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zen Marie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘Live-Evil’, two albums from Miles Davis’ electric period, have more than musicological significance. They challenge the listener to think beyond aesthetics and form.Zen Marie, Artist and Lecturer in Fine Arts, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/583082016-04-22T13:26:54Z2016-04-22T13:26:54ZPrince’s gift was that he stepped right out of racism’s symbolic logic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119851/original/image-20160422-17405-1p11ztc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prince performing during his 'Diamonds and Pearls Tour' in London in 1992.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Dylan Martine</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>One of the most influential modern artists, Prince, died on Thursday April 21 2016 at the age of 57. The genre-busting pop-funk-R&B-rock singer/songwriter sold more than 100 million records in his extraordinary music career, which spanned nearly 40 years. But his influence stretched way beyond just music. Dr Vashna Jagarnath of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, explains to The Conversation Africa’s arts and culture editor Charles Leonard why she teaches her history students about Prince.</em></p>
<p><strong>Why does Prince matter?</strong></p>
<p>This is a difficult question for me to answer because there are so many reasons why <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/21/prince-was-someone-you-just-couldnt-understand">Prince</a> matters. Prince not only matters for all the apparent reasons – his musical genius, his ability to fuse a range of sounds and create something magical – but also for the cultural work, the political work, he did for so many of us. </p>
<p>At the heart of imperialism and colonialism has been the project of dehumanisation – of what philosopher <a href="http://www.lewisrgordon.com/biography/">Lewis Gordon</a>, drawing on Latin-American historian and theorist <a href="http://enriquedussel.com/Home_en.html">Enrique Dussel</a>, argues pushes most of humanity to the underside of modernity. Colonial subjects were produced as “natives” and locked out of the modern. Vital to this process of <a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/vburris/reification.pdf">reification</a> and exclusion was the right of the powerful to continuously define and determine the humanity of the powerless. </p>
<p>As a result, black people globally have always been defined, and their identity limited and read, through a variety of discriminatory lenses. But Prince as the body, the spirit and the artist, like his music, has always been indefinable. This inability to define him, to box him up, meant that it was impossible to limit him and his full humanity. Prince took a position at the cutting edge of the contemporary, of the modern.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prince performing one of his major hits, ‘Purple Rain’, which was first released in 1984.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Prince is often compared with another genius, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-bowie-mn0000531986/biography">David Bowie</a>. There are some similarities, but at the same time there is a key difference: Prince was not, like Bowie, a chameleon. While Bowie adopted and discarded different personas, Prince was always one persona that sat comfortably with his myriad of conflicting and complementary selves. </p>
<p>By embracing his full humanity in all its complexity Prince allowed so many of us to see the possibility of living life on our own terms, without being defined from the outside or, as philosopher <a href="http://blog.oup.com/2011/12/fanon/">Frantz Fanon</a> put it, “encased”. Prince did this work for us, so that we could have a vision of what this all-embracing self could look like. After Prince, we knew very well, as black people, that we should not ever limit ourselves, no matter how much we are being externally defined. </p>
<p>And of course part of this is that Prince was a black man in America who owned his sexuality without collapsing into the hyper-masculinity that white racism has often imposed on black men.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prince’s apocalyptic hit ‘Sign O’ the Times’, which also showcases his guitar-playing prowess.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How do you involve Prince and his music in your lectures?</strong></p>
<p>I always use music to teach. I think music is a fundamental pedagogical tool. It has the ability to convey so much and complements other sources, such a texts, film etc. It has the ability to capture the spirit of a moment or concept. </p>
<p>For example, when I used to teach <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/karl-marx-9401219#london">Karl Marx</a>’s concept of alienation to first-year students I would start the class by playing singer <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bruce-springsteen-mn0000530745/biography">Bruce Springsteen</a>’s <em>Factory</em>. I also teach a course on the history of modern South Africa and every lecture begins with a song. For example, I play <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hugh-masekela-mn0000830319/biography">Hugh Masekela</a>’s <em>Stimela</em> when teaching the section on migrant labour. </p>
<p>I use Prince when I teach about the decimation of the <a href="http://gradestack.com/CBSE-Class-10th-Course/The-Age-of/The-Decline-of-the/15065-3002-4399-study-wtw">cotton industry</a> in India. I play <em>Paisley Park</em>. I use this song as a hook. It allows me to tell the history of the paisley design (which Prince so loved) and its etymology, as well as the destruction of the cotton industry in India. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.paisleypower.com/#!history-of-paisley/c9ar">paisley design</a> is ancient and, by many accounts, originated as a representation of the Zoroastrian tree of life. In different parts of India it came to represent different types of leaves. In the south of India it represents the mango leaf. </p>
<p>In India this design has a variety of different names, including “buta”. But during colonialism the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/independence1947_01.shtml">British Raj</a> destroyed the cotton industry in India and moved most material production to Britain.</p>
<p>One of the key towns where the material manufacturing was moved was Paisley, in Scotland. One of the products this town became famous for producing was the <a href="http://www.victoriana.com/Shawls/paisley-shawl.html">Kashmiri shawl</a>, which had the paisley design. Since then the term paisley has been used to describe this design.</p>
<p><strong>How does he resonate with your students?</strong></p>
<p>They like the story and the song, but many of them don’t really think about Prince or understand his significance, which is sad. I then obviously go on a rant explaining the significance of Prince.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prince composed several songs for other artists – here’s his version of Sinead O'Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>What kind of legacy does he leave behind?</strong></p>
<p>In terms of his work he leaves behind an exceptionally rich legacy. There is a huge catalogue of unreleased material that will hopefully make its way to us over the years. As a cultural icon his legacy is immense.</p>
<p>Especially now, when there are serious challenges to what are understood as normative identities, Prince’s significance will grow. Hopefully the younger generation will engage with him around issues of race, gender and art. Prince was free – a free black man in America. He stepped right out of the symbolic logic of racism. That matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vashna Jagarnath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Superstar Prince’s impact went far beyond the realm of music. His relevance stretched beyond the concert hall into many lecture rooms.Vashna Jagarnath, Senior Lecturer, History Department, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.