How does one celebrate life amidst impending doom? Or for this, how does one review a movie that she had high expectations for, but was a bit of a letdown? Appreciate the specks of wonder in it. Lessons learned from the film, Beasts of the Southern Wild. An adaptation Lucy Alibar‘s play, “Juicy and Delicious,” […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Beasts of the Southern WildAre you 17 years-old or do you remember when you were? What would you do if your genetics gave you special powers? If suddenly your mother was taken away by a corrupt governmental agency? If your family expects you to join “the revolution?” And all you want to do is live a normal life and […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Alicia McCalla’s Breaking FreeLast Saturday, I packed my day with watching both the Marley film about reggae singer Bob Marley and Something Positive‘s annual show Ancestral Chants at Long Island University in Brooklyn. Thus, I am doing a combined kind of review of the two since they both were about Afro-Caribbean cultures. First, the Marley film. As we […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Marley/Ancestral Chants“Night is where my story unfolds,” Tunde Olaniran sings leaving behind a heartbroken loved one in his latest single in collaboration with techno DJ and producer Phon.O. “Leave A Light On” is from Phon.O’s recently released Black Boulder album, which features mostly instrumentals with the exception of two songs. This particular song is striking because […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Tunde Olaniran and Phon.O’s Sleepless Nights…Imani Uzuri’s The Gypsy Diaries We all are torn between home and the desire to wander. Home is where we feel we belong, where we feel safe, and where our family and friends reside. However, wandering takes us to new places where we learn wisdom follow our dreams and find out more about ourselves. It […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: On Imani Uzuri’s Journey…Recorded by Brooklyn Independent TV, Val Jeanty, aka Val Inc., explains in this video how her Haitian background influences her career as a percussionist, turntablist, producer and recording engineer. She describes her music as “Afro-Electronica.” Listen below to her work, “Life After Dark” with trombonist and cellist Dana Leong:
Read More Modern Griots: Val Inc.MTV Iggy recently released a new article about THEESatisfaction, “Space is the Sound: Investigating Afrofuturism With THEESatisfaction:” THEESatisfaction is the musical project of Stasia Irons (Stas) and Catherine Harris-White (Cat). Together the couple forms a two-woman, self-produced R&B/hip hop/psychedelic soul operation with strong cosmic overtones. Stas does a bit more rhyming while Cat is known […]
Read More Modern Griots: THEESatisfactionB. Slade‘s Deep Purple His description: Imagineer that has released 30 albums in less than 12 years. A Prophetic Visionary with no boundaries musically spiritually or vocally. The future is now. Come aboard.
Read More Modern Griots Spotlight: B. SladeOnyx Ashanti created a new style called Beat Jazz,” which is all produced on two handheld controllers, iphone and a mouthpiece. This is how he describes his work and himself: I am what can only be described as a cyborg musician. in other words, the music I create live, can not be replicated without technology. […]
Read More Modern Griots: Onyx AshantiJohn Jennings, who describes himself as a “a professional bender of time,” and is an associate professor in visual studies at University at Buffalo, blends together the worlds of comics, hip-hop and racial discourse. Here is some of his article from Buffalo’s website: John Jennings centers his life on provocative questions: How can we show the […]
Read More Modern Griots: John Jennings
Sherese Francis 