Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sun Ra Documentary


I got given a biography of Sun Ra called 'Space is the Place' years ago ago by my mum, it's a brilliant read, I actually find his mental belief systems and the story of his life more interesting than his music, the guy is something else. He reckons he got abducted by aliens in the late 1930's who took him to Saturn and told him to drop out of college to play cosmic jazz to liberate the mind of the black man. You have to remember that being abducted by aliens, playing cosmic jazz and liberating the mind of the black man may sound like pretty run of the mill pursuits in todays society, but back in the forties they were frowned upon. He was extremely influential, especially on later black musical cult leaders like Afrika Bambaataa and George Clinton.

Anyway, I found this 60 minute documentary called Sun Ra:a joyful noise (1980) on this brilliant blog I found, http://thesoundofeye.blogspot.com/ which is well worth checking out, lots of avant guard short films and weird musical performances including some crazy experimental Zappa and shit.



"Yeah, Sun Ra's out to lunch... same place I eat at!"
George Clinton



Posted by Dave Fireball at 9:08 PM

4 comments:

  1. dscoJuly 19, 2010 at 5:22 AM

    Nice one Tulley, Sun Ra's great eh? Though likewise I've always preferred the concept to the actual music - and I like crazy cosmic jazz.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SteelDawggyDawgJuly 21, 2010 at 4:52 PM

    I fuckin love Sun Ra Tulley. A visionary if there ever was one. The guy GENUINELY believed in his otherworldlyness and all the better for it. The guy was on warp-speed into the cosmos and didnae give a fuck who thought what about him. I've saw the documentary and its amazing. The guy lived it no doubt, how he created a " live-in " studio- tape always rolling type setup. magic stuff. A talented composer and a fuckin wildman to boot. One of my favourite tracks ever is one of his called " nuclear war " check it out. its amazing.

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  3. SteelDawggyDawgJuly 21, 2010 at 4:57 PM

    sorry, i've just jumped right in here without introduction, I got so excited .

    It's Dave Shields - steely to you and me.

    good post Tulley

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dave FireballJuly 21, 2010 at 7:53 PM

    Alright Steely mate!

    Don't have 'Nuclear War' but I'll get on the hunt for it, been diggin 'lanquidity' lately, it's quite listenable and groovy as well as mind blowing. If you've no got it get it here

    http://www.mediafire.com/?tinzq2m3hnr

    Here Steely do you fancy contributing to this blog? Send us your email.

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