The excitement I felt when I heard the Debbie Deb sample on Kendrick Lamar’s Squabble Up off his new GNX project was overwhelming. It took me right back to being 12 and starting to navigate the treacherous teenage years with the help of music. The first record I remember buying was Fascinated by Company B. I listened to that song over and over and over again. This style of music that was called Freestyle was extremely popular and overlapped with a lot of early hip-hop in those days in California. According to Wikipedia, freestyle music developed in the early 1980s in New York:
I remember my first after school dance in the school gym at Raney Junior High in Corona in 1985. I walked into the school gym and the song “La Dream Team Is In The House” was playing and at that moment the most popular, pretty, and feared girl in school walked in with a level of confidence that I will never forget. She wore thick black eyeliner and a long flowy skirt and tank top. Her bangs were hair sprayed high and the sides of her hair were teased to look like wings, also shellacked with aqua-net. She was walking into the dance while that song was playing and she sang along to the chorus but changed the words to hype herself. “oh yes we’re here, the dream team is here” became “oh yes I’m here, Alice is here.”
Other notable songs that I loved from that genre and time that really exemplified the era include the following, and in certain neighborhood swap meets or backyard parties all across the Southland, these songs still get regular rotation:
I created the main collage art and included it as a free hi-res digital download where you can access it here. (Copyright Sylvia Marina Martinez, 2024. Not for resale, personal use only). If you would like to make a donation to support my work including all my free content on my two main blogs, I very much appreciate it.
As I was recovering from the flu last week I decided to watch the documentary American Symphony on Netflix and it was absolutely heart-wrenching and timely and spoke to the incredible creativity required to survive a history as brutal and violent as American history. The story really reminded me of the healing and survival power of creative expression, especially music. Multi-instrumentalist musician and music therapist Cinamon Blair life story and family legacy is one thread of that historical tapestry that needs to be shared.
Of Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickahominy lineage, her roots are in the Southeast US. Her musical legacy most recently goes back to her paternal grandfather. He was jazz musician Lee Blair, who migrated from Savannah, Georgia to Brooklyn in the 1920s and played and recording with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red-Hot Peppers, Louis Armstrong, Luis Russell, Billy Kato, Thomas Morris’s Seven Hot Babies, and Charlie Skeete. It was from this rich musical legacy that Cinamon was born into. Brooklyn-born, Massachusetts-based Cinamon is currently playing with the bands Rebirth and Brown Bones as well as continuing to work on her own music.
“Music has literally been about health wealth my whole life, as my Mother would stand in front of the speakers while I was in utero; blasting Blue in Green off of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis…to this day, is my go to soul soother…this music is imprinted onto my DNA and actually repairs my genetic code whenever listened to. I have been using Music Therapy applications most of my life without even knowing that’s what I was doing in an academic sense. I use music as a tool to self-sooth as well as to build connections, educate and activate myself and the listener. I am a working musician & a pre-licensed Expressive Therapist with a focus in Music Therapy.”
~ Cinamon Blair
Here is my interview with the effervescent Cinamon Blair.
What styles of music growing up sparked your love of music?
Can you tell me about your interest in music therapy and in what ways do you use musical therapy for yourself and how do you work with it for others or in what ways have you seen music be a healing force in your life?
My interest in Music Therapy was a natural progression from how I was formed in utero to how I was raised and how the public education system failed me and so many other creatives growing up. I would often rely on a Music Therapy modality, lyric replacement to pass exams. Lyric replacement is changing the lyrics to your favorite song with lyrics that are relevant to the situation. One that stands out in my memory is memorizing math equations to Spirits in the Material World by The Police…don’t tell Sting, he might sue me LOL! The act of writing music is a therapeutic practice, meaning every song written should not be shared with the masses but part of one’s own journal. Sometimes, writing a song that mends the soul can be shared with the world because there is a universal message in the music, in fact, I wrote a song called “Return to Paradise” about my Brother, who was murdered by Dade County Police in GA.
What motivated you to learn how to play the bass guitar and how old were you when you started learning music?
My first music lessons came directly from my parents by playing music in the home, all of the time. I was learning how to be an active listener, which informed my speaking and singing voice. I started taking Piano lessons around 5 yrs old and continued through High School but also picked up various other instruments in middle school and landing on upright bass in High School Orchestra. Both my younger Sister and I took music lessons at The Harlem School of the Arts on Saturday mornings. I’ve always been drawn to music that was heavy on Drums & Bass…the heartbeat.
I know you grew up in Brooklyn. What music was in your environment whether inside or outside the home that has influenced you? Are there any artists that you really admire or look to as inspiration?
Are there any non-musical influences that inspire your creativity?
This is a trick question because everything is musical if you’re actively listening but I love being in nature. Swimming, walking, hiking and meditating all influence my creativity.
What advice would you give to emerging artists who are just starting their artistic journeys?
Listen to as much music as possible and learn your favorite tunes by ear and play along. Keep pushing, stay true to yourself, be patient and be an active listener.
Can you describe the role that community and cultural heritage play in your work?
My community, wherever that may be, wherever I am, has played an important role is nurturing & growing me into the creative that I am and supports my/our music and my cultural heritage is my community so my/our music is a product of and supports the community through storytelling, performance and creative practices.
Are there any particular influences or sources of inspiration that have shaped your artistic practice?
My Sister Eyeserene Oasis is my cardinal influence and inspiration in even being a creative, among many other things. Particularly in my health and meditative practices, which I previously stated nurtures my creativity.
Could you share a specific project or artwork that holds significant meaning to you? What was the inspiration behind it?
Rebirth is currently in the process of recording our second studio album, but we will be releasing singles as they’re ready. Funding an album, as independent artists takes time.
How do you see your art contributing to or engaging with broader social or cultural conversations?
My singing and songwriting comes from lived experiences, so they’re mostly love songs. Because love is a spectrum and to be love, be loved and give love, you have to be in the practice of loving and that starts with self. Without self-love, we are forever searching for it, often in all of the wrong places.
Anything else you would like our readers to know about you or your art?
I am the granddaughter of a Jazz Musician that was shut out of the industry because he did not let the White Man talk to him however he wished, which was racist, emasculating and disrespectful. I hope my Grandfather is proud of all of my accomplishments thus far and continues to support me from the spirit realm, to reach my goals as an independent artist.
Thank you to Rebirth’s Conga player I-shea Iréne Shaikly for putting together this playlist. Follow her at @ishea_music.
I first discovered singer/songwriter, roots fiddler Anne Harris, through her work with trance Blues innovator Otis Taylor, who I had seen play at the Doheny Blues festival more than a decade ago. Anne recorded and toured worldwide for nearly a decade with Otis Taylor. Long time readers of this blog know how central the Blues has been to my musical journey.
Earlier this year GoFundMe’s Heroes spotlighted Anne’s crowdfunding of her historic commission of a handcrafted violin by luthier Amanda Ewing, the first and only female African American violin maker on record in the United States, making this the first professional commission on record of a violin by an African American female luthier for an African American female violinist. The story got quite a bit of press coverage and I was excited to talk to Anne about her roots in roots music and her love of the violin and of our conversation explored many offshoots such as AI and being co-creators, electoral politics, empowering storytelling, and representation.
I did a bit of a search and found that throughout history and spanning cultures worldwide, there are many folktales that feature a magical violin. From Elijah’s violin in the Egyptian Jewish folktale, the Scandinavian Fossegrim to Anansi, the fiddle playing trickster spider traced back to Ghana. It’s fascinating how Anne Harris’s journey into the world of the violin has a serendipitous connection to the beloved movie Fiddler on the Roof.
“I started begging for a violin when I was three and my mother took me to go see the movie version of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. She tells me that I stood up out of my seat in the beginning of the film when Isaac Stern is shown in silhouette playing the overture, pointed to the screen, and shouted, “Mommy that’s what I want to do!”
Born in Ohio, Anne grew up in a loving family in a musical household within a vibrant musical community, and it was not a given that she ended up playing American Roots music as she initially was classically trained and wasn’t exposed to the violin in the context of improvisation and blues/roots music. In popular music seeing Black people playing roots and folk music was a rarity until recently.
“I grew up in a house filled with music, within a community filled with music, within a music-filled world. My dad was an avid vinyl collector, and both of my parents loved music of all genres. Those sounds were the sonic backdrop of my childhood. Blues, Gospel, Classical, Opera, Musical Theater, Folk, Pop, Jazz, Soul, Country, Rock, and much more. The radio, my older sister’s collection, my friend’s music… All of it was foundational to my musical development. And being immersed in such a wide variety of music was a gift for which I’m so deeply grateful. The things that really spoke to me came from different parts of who I was exploring as I grew. I loved Issac Stern because he worked impossible magic with his instrument. I loved Stevie Wonder because of his obvious genius- weaving those incredible tapestries of emotion, with sound, with story. Mahalia Jackson because her voice was a direct conduit to Spirit. I loved the Musical ‘Hair’ for its freedom, (I performed in an amazing version of it produced entirely by me and my friends!), and Musical Theater in general. I loved to dance so Prince, Parliament Funkadelic, Rick James…and many many more of course. But honestly, I never thought specifically about becoming a professional violin player, because although I was in love with the instrument, I was trained Classically, and I never saw myself adhering to that structure. I really loved the freedom that improvisational players had, like guitar players, and since I wasn’t really listening to Bluegrass or Old Time music, it simply never occurred to me that I could take my instrument into contemporary genres. If you don’t SEE it, oftentimes it is really hard to imagine it when you are young. Because most young people begin their musical explorations by imitating what they see that excites them. I never saw a Black person playing Blues or American Roots music growing up, and certainly never a woman.”
Prior to her work with Otis Taylor, Anne was playing and writing American Roots music, and listening to a lot of Irish fiddle and Old Time music, as well as a lot of International music. Blues music was a pivotal turn in her musical journey as it changed her entire approach as a player. Anne was a musical theater major at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, and then moved to Chicago after graduating where she picked up her fiddle again, but this time instead of classical music, she became an improvisational player, and started working in various local indie and cover bands. It was that time that she decided to stop reading music and learn strictly by ear. Though Anne has worked hard to create a style and sound of her own, she credits groundbreaking fiddlers Papa John Creach, Sugarcane Harris, and Stuff Smithin influencing her development.
“These groundbreaking artists encapsulated for me what was possible for the instrument beyond the world of Classical music, or really even beyond Jazz as I was starting to play out in American Roots bands and Rock bands in Chicago. But as far as Jazz players, Regina Carter really snapped my neck as well. Her versatility and soul are astounding.”
Playlist of Anne’s Music as well as a few of her inspirations mentioned above.
“Speaking to systemic racism, certainly speaking to patriarchy, speaking to capitalism in its current form- all of these structures… it’s like this invisible highway of root structures underneath the United States, and from the bottom of the Earth comes this earthquake that’s kind of shaking those roots and creating new pathways for things to grow. And we are the embodiment of that growth potential.” ~Anne Harris
Photo by: Laura Carbone
Collage by: Sylvia Marina Martinez
Another theme in folkloric tales regarding the violin are the creation stories of the violin itself. As referenced in the first paragraph of this blog post and story also features a magical violin origin story here is a video of a talking a little bit more about her and Amanda’s collaboration.
I’ve always thought of rap as a form of folk music or street journalism such that it is a localized art form that springs forth from a specific community to define a specific time and place and the lyricist, a poetic scribe, shares their personal truth as well as describing the communities and lived realities of the communities they come from. Those who speak truth from the heart will inevitably resonate beyond the neighborhoods they represent. Hip-hop has given a voice to folks whose stories have often fallen between the cracks of the mainstream narratives in the media landscape. Rapper/producer/sound designer Bazille of the Cheyenne River Lakota and Crow Creek Dakota tribes is a multi-talented artist who has a gift for narrating his experience in illustrative detail, as an songwriter, lyricist and a producer. Bazille takes his listeners on a sonic trip to see through his eyes his current and ancestral homeland which is the area known as the United States. No culture or community is a monolith and thus as with other subcultures in America, there is no one Native American experience or story, but as many stories as there are people, and all of those stories deserve to be heard.
Earlier this year, I made a video edit and blog post about mural graffiti artist and community organizer, Derek “Focus” Smith. In the course of compiling that video, I asked Focus for an artist who he might want to feature in the background music of the video. He recommended Bazille so I reached out to him and let him know what I was working on and he generously sent me files and files of instrumental tracks to choose from. As I started listening to Bazille’s many many tracks and following him on social media, I was overwhelmed by his prolific talent. I highly recommend listening to all his music.
I’ve been streaming his album, WCWW (Wakinyan Cante Waokiya Wicasa) on repeat. He creates a distinct atmosphere and feeling with each track such that each song stands on its own, yet as an album it is a cohesive story. He is steadily and continuously putting out his own music and producing music for other artists as well as creating soundscapes for various plays and art exhibitions. Since I did the interview with him back in July, he’s already released his younger brother’s posthumous album, Akoyeh as well as this Sound Art Album as part of an exhibition honoring Dakota Artist and Cultural Icon Oscar Howe.
Though he had no access to musical education or instruments growing up very poor in a rural town far from any city, he did grow up in the internet era and was able to get free versions of all kinds of musical production software. We spoke about how he got started in music and the artists and albums who inspired him to rap, especially Maniac (the Siouxpernatural) and Derelict.
Maniac lived on the same reservation and gave him his first mic. Bazille still lists Maniac’s album“Nightmerika” as one of his favorite albums.
“Maniac’s (music) sounded like Eagle Butte and a particularly dark time and side of Eagle Butte. There’s always something you hear in the vibe and energy that is specific to that location.”
Music can be so many things to humans because it’s so powerful it can be a mirror to help us give voice to emotions we previously couldn’t put words to or it helps us dream of possibilities beyond our current circumstances. For young teens, but I think for a person of any age, hearing music that resonates with your own experience or speaks to a particular time and place can really help a person feel seen and heard.
Bazille’s music is also a vehicle for community empowerment and education in that he shares a lot of knowledge and experience in his songs but also through his work at the Wonahun Was’te’ Studios, As part of a community arts center, anyone can have access to the studio label’s network, entry-level equipment and software, tutorials, guidance on using software and equipment, and support through the production and release process. Through his assistance, Bazille is able to give kids today access that he didn’t have growing up.
In terms of producing and collaborating with other artists, Bazille said
“My thing is conceptualizing and obsessing over themes and storytelling. So finding a way to naturally [add my contribution] like whatever songs we’re creating out of our time together, whether it’s online or in person. I think that’d be disrespectful to not put forth full energy and effort. I make sure that my 50% is [solid] It’s like, it comes together in a way that, like my input can be okay, here’s how it’s structured. Or here’s a couple of beats from me, or a couple of features from people that I know, that maybe you haven’t worked with yet. And vice versa.”
Regarding him speaking out on topics that he feels strongly about.
“I overheard an interview with a rap artist who was a freestyler. And he was really good at it. And he was saying, if you don’t have anything to say, then rap isn’t for you. And I was like Whoa, taken aback by that, like what does he mean? And so then moving forward, I became obsessed with that. So certain things I would listen to would either be because of that meaning or there’s also a production side of me that really appreciates the storytelling of sound, particularly King Crimson’s first album, the court of the Crimson King. It’s so well composed and put together.”
Bazille has a series of solo singles reflecting on some salient topics both personal and political, but of course the personal is political. Bazille uses his music to show support for people in his community fighting for civil and land right issues as well as to make commentary on social issues both personal, and historical.
One of his songs that really speaks to the nuances of contemporary effects of colonization is the song Land Acknowledgement. Specifically referencing the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which is in earshot of the mountain where local tribes traditionally pray and meditate. Bazille puts it this way:
“Imagine, you’re in church and literally now or there’s people in the basement [being loud and disrespectful]. And you know, and you can see it all. [There is this] systematic thing that allows [kidnapping and drug] crime syndicates to thrive and so even though I’m a kind of anti-government or police type of dude, I would even say, if their job (the police) is to serve and protect, why promote the certain events and exchanges that definitely bring a rise in this activity? And then at the same time, they over-police our expression and our way of being since the moment they got over here.”
We also talked about some future projects he would like to explore in depth.
“One future project I want to do is to look at how different [indigenous] communities express hip hop, particularly in South Dakota. I’ve been in so many of them that I’d like to celebrate the history of it, but also looking at music history and American Indian relations history since the early times.”
Referencing the documentary called Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World, featuring rock icons like Ozzy and Slash talking about Native American contribution to modern American music.
“They basically got a lot of their stuff [archetypes/iconography] from indigenous people and characters in music history. And in many different tribes, I know this is true, but specifically in the one that I can speak for, which is my own, historically, we had people who the way that they describe it is, they would almost perform in a way that was happy and sad, made you laugh and made you cry. But that [character] also was the only thing out there that had the authority to, in a jester-like way, poke fun at leadership, question the everyday things that we just kind of follow and abide by. And I feel like in hip hop and rap, for those who are really like, passionate about the specific craft of it, they are particularly interested in doing just that. Questioning the authority, making fun of the authority, even though there’s a lot of fear in rap and hip hop. And then also making you scared, you know, with the visual, with the energy, with the sound, if you’re not ready for it, but then with that same energy almost making you proud and happy to the point where you would shed a tear. And you’ve got to wonder what it does for people to at least acknowledge the reality, good or bad, that exists there in somebody’s psyche. Because, you know, in these, if you talk to any of these artists, none of these artists is about self harm, or community self harm. I refuse to believe that I think some are oblivious to the effects that some of these things can have. But there are artists out there who kind of dance this dangerous line. And, and I feel like it’s for a really just purpose that people don’t often understand. But I think that’s part of the dance, the ancient dance of the jester, which is to be misunderstood. They say good comedy, right half of the room is laughing. Half of the room is disgusted and horrified. And I feel like in rap, that’s often the case.”
We talked about how the legendary Tupac played that role in mainstream hip hop and the significance of artists who bring their genuine, vulnerable selves to their work. Referencing DMX during Woodstock 99:
“I think of the sacrifice that DMX made as a human being, as a spirit, to bring that kind of genuine prayerful energy to any space he walks into, regardless of who’s there. And I feel like that’s a real reason why something like that is so impactful, too, because, you know, we share these things with intention, and with vulnerability and prayer. But I think what gets lost in the capturing of those moments is oftentimes, those have to be in situations in places where you are under-appreciated for doing so. [But in most of those type instances,] I feel like we as the public won’t see them. Because when they’re done out of that genuineness, you know, they’re not announced. It’s not a big deal. It’s just like, when we go on to a ceremony as Dakotas or Lakotas, a lot of my uncles will say, ‘we’re not here for a spectacle for a show.’ We’re just here to devote ourselves in prayer to say thank you, to hope that we are making ourselves strong for whatever future may come to accept good or to accept bad that comes our way and make the best of it when we can. But when we go into that space of prayer, we aren’t expecting a million light shows and God to come and say everything’s gonna be okay. It’s part of that faith is not knowing.”
We spoke a bit about his late younger brother Taran and how he (Taran) was able to take his adversity and rather than become bitter, he grew in his understanding of the universe, his spirituality and faith.
“When I came back from college I was really worried because I only visited home three times in those four years. When I come back and we’re getting older and he’s getting a job and doing this and that if he ever has any extra, he was helping people. He wasn’t announcing it to the world.”
In terms of his brother Taran’s music,
“He grew up seeing me do it my whole his whole life. So, you know, when he passed, I actually went through his files and I knew that we had recorded maybe two or three things together. .. But when I started searching back in the logs of his folder he had made like three other songs. And I never heard them before until after he passed. So that was a trip. And since then, I’ve been finishing them and and like mixing and mastering them, to put an album out for him (Akoyeh, released in July 2023). ”
Below are links to interview clips Bazille has recently posted on his instagram as well as links to the various exhibits and plays he has done the sound for. Follow Bazille on Instagram and Bandcamp to keep up with his latest creative endeavors.
Collage Art & Illustration by Sylvia Marina Martinez. All collage photos provided by Carla Macal. Gallery photos at end of article are all public domain.
Two weeks ago, I published a blog post on the mural & graffiti art and hip-hop music of Lakota artists Derek Smith and Talon Bazille, respectively. As I was writing that post I was simultaneously working on a collage art piece for my cousin’s dissertation to illustrate the concept of cuerpo territorio amongst Indigenous GuateMayan women as they create embodied public memories. I really see the work of both Focus and Bazille as part of this tapestry of claiming space and healing through expression. From Carla’s abstract: “Cuerpo territorio declares the body as our first territory” and the concept is used among healing circles of Indigenous Latin American women to also map and document the violent extraction and abuse of their homeland and/or sacred land territories. Below is Carla’s dissertation abstract and if you want to reach out to her about her work you can reach her by clicking on this link.
Cuerpo-Territorio: Embodied Transformative Memory and Cartographies of Healing among GuateMaya Feminist Groups:
“My dissertation closely presents the case studies of two GuateMaya feminist groups that are challenging state-dominant narratives of the Guatemalan 36-year- war (1960-1996) and foregrounding counter-narratives with art, Maya cosmovision spirituality, and gendered embodied memory production. The groups are also denouncing contemporary feminicide cases through the cosmo-political praxis of cuerpo-territorio. Cuerpo-territorio declares the body as our first territory and advocates for a communal subject agency. I develop this deeply embodied framework to examine how 8 Tijax and GuateMaya Mujeres enResistencia-Los Angeles (GMR-LA) are challenging the state’s hegemonic memory by actively engaging in embodied transformative memory experiences, or what I describe as healing cartographies. I assert that such healing cartographies at the scale of the intimate contribute to hemispheric decolonial solidarity. These healing cartographies contradict and actively challenge the Guatemalan state’s claims of what can be remembered or erased when the evidence is embodied and reiterated, told through stories, and brought into being by active remembrance. I use a community-based participatory approach and feminist ethnographic methods to both examine and support the transnational affective solidarity connecting GuateMaya women throughout the hemisphere. My dissertation is a political project of unearthing the counter memory, silences, fear, and intergenerational trauma from the oral and embodied testimonios of GuateMaya women survivors of genocide who are currently involved in collective projects to recover Guatemala’s historical memory. While GuateMaya feminist groups are connected across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the focus of my study is on the relational testimonios of GuateMaya feminist groups in Guatemala and Los Angeles.
Carla described her vision of what she was envisioning to illustrate her five years of fieldwork doing workshops in Guatemala and in Los Angeles. She wanted to use the body as a map showcasing the maps of healing as seen through written testimonies of survivors, photos of workshops, the body maps drawn by the survivors in the workshops, the altars and other elements of Mayan spiritual practices, photos of street art and public memorials, and memorial tattoos. I drew the outline of a woman and scanned into photoshop and then combined in layers the photos that Carla provided from her dissertation as well as a map showing the route from Guatemala to Los Angeles. Carla told me that the red carnation symbolized historic memory so I created a flower frame using digital cutouts of photos of carnations. I posted below the video Carla made describing the workshops as well as two Mayan musicians who are singing about the genocide and ancestral memories. It strikes me that the music and poetry also weave collective memories and healing solidarity in space and time to enrich the rich texture of these healing maps. This is all making sure history is told from the perspective of those whose voices would have been attempted to silence for eternity. The myth of Indigenous invisibility should continue to be challenged.
The power and strength of Indigenous folks to resist, survive and thrive from the Northern edge of North America to the Southern tip of South America under the force of extreme oppression cannot be overstated. I feel it my humble duty to use whatever platforms and talents I’ve been given to amplify the stories and voices of those who have been attempted to be silenced for far too long. May we all recognize our interconnectedness and understand that no one is free until we are all free.
Video about Carla’s dissertation.
GuateMayan musician Aurora Nohemi sings about women uniting and culture.
GuateMayan Rebeca Lane – La Cumbia de la Memoria sings about the reality of genocide
Resources and articles below so anyone may educate themselves on the realities of Indigenous Guatemala.
The liner notes are a pleasure to read and music and history lovers will appreciate the detailed stories of traditional folk songs and the accompanying thoughtful and thought-provoking commentary. The following excerpts are from pages 3-13:
"...this album is quite a departure for me because I decided not to present a historical concept record like my previous Smithsonian Folkways album, Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys (2018). Instead, I spent a lot of time combing through my record collection and personal archives to gather inspiration for the 15 songs on the album. Ever since I started performing professionally in 2005, I've mainly focused on presenting the lesser-known songs and stories of tradition-bearers who are at the foundation of American roots music. I've done this while playing an array of musical styles and vintage instruments rooted in tradition. This time around, I wanted to shift gears and bring my original songs into focus by highlighting stories written with my own pen. "
"I wrote the title track, "Traveling Wildfire," right around my birthday on August 30, 2021, while my family and I sat in a hotel room in Nashville being bombarded by Hurricane Ida. As we waited out the storm and watched simultaneous reports of flooding in New Orleans and massive wildfires in California, I began to write about the fragile uncertainty of living through the pandemic and the looming dangers of traveling down the road. With this cinematic audio experience describing the scene in front of me, I implore the listener to let the restless beat of the marching bass drum lead you into the depths of the quiet floating atmosphere of ''Traveling Wildfire.'"
I was able to catch Dom’s performance for the album when he played in Los Angeles. Here he plays Saddle It Around about one minute into the video, described in his liner notes on page 13:
"The second western song is "Saddle It Around," which comes from the repertoire of the legendary gospel songster Reverend Gary Davis. I first heard "Saddle It Around" when a friend contacted me to discuss on his radio program the history of the Black West. Afterwards, he provided me with a curated playlist of western songs that included a recording of "Saddle It Around" from the album, At Home and Church, 1962-1967, released in 2010 by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop. The song first struck me because I found the picking pattern to be very different from any other Rev. Davis song I had ever heard. The fragmentary story also intrigued me: the journey of a Black cowboy traveling down the road only to be arrested for no crime, and for no reason at all for that matter."
This album was a real serendipitous full circle experience for me. In 2005, I started my career journey in the roots music field with a contract to do publicity for Smithsonian Folkways, specifically for the albums Para Todos Ustedes by Los Pleneros de la 21 and Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement. That led to working as the American Roots genre manager at The Grammys from 2007-2015, where I got the opportunity to do a deep dive into the contemporary landscape of roots music. That is why this blog was so focused on exploring history and older music. I left the Grammys in 2015, and started a craft business, then after a serious medical emergency, finding a new path as a collage artist. As fate would have it, here I am in 2023, sharing the collage artwork I was privileged to create in collaboration with and on behalf of Dom Flemons and his wife/creative partner, Vania Kinard.
My good friend DJ Moonbaby was spinning some gems tonight and she inspired me to write a blog post and share some of the musical wealth with you. Some beats, rhymes and life to help push us through as we walk along this sometimes bumpy and unexpected road…Speaking of journeymen, I have to acknowledge the passing of Argentine folk singer and peace activist Facundo Cabral, who was murdered in Guatemala today in an ambush style attack – truly horrific. As a 9 year old child, he once walked 1800 miles to look for work to support his mother and six siblings after his father abandoned them. He literally grew up dirt poor, illiterate, and went to on to teach himself to read, to learn, and his consciousness was raised and he went on to become one of the most beloved folk singers in Latin America. In the year 2011, a killing like this reminds us that oppression and fear still are alive and well and we must continue to rise up together as a human family and do what we can to bring peace and justice to the world. At the end of the post you can see his signature song from a performance, which I believe is from the 1970s.
Back to the music at hand. From the Moonbaby playlist here is Tribe Called Quest with the song “Electric Relaxation” from the album Midnight Marauders from the year 1993. Sheer perfection:
That jogged my memory of this 1995 classic from the LA group, Pharcyde, “Runnin”, featuring sample from Brazilian samba:
Another Moonbaby tune. Talib Kweli featuring Norah Jones with the gorgeous “Soon The New Day”:
This song ties it all together for me, “History” by Mos Def featuring Talib Kweli:
If we don’t understand the past and where we came from we are doomed to repeat….Here is Facundo Cabral with a hauntingly profound performance of “Yo No Soy De Aqui Ni Soy De Alla.” May he continue his journey with our ancestors and find peace on the other side:
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~Martin Luther King Jr.
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