A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism (Discovering America)

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Synopsis
&“Youngquist brings considerable skills to the life and work of the legendary but underappreciated and often misunderstood composer, keyboardist, and poet.&” —PopMatters Sun Ra said he came from Saturn. Known on earth for his inventive music and extravagant stage shows, he pioneered free-form improvisation in an ensemble setting with the devoted band he called the &“Arkestra.&” Sun Ra took jazz from the inner city to outer space, infusing traditional swing with far-out harmonies, rhythms, and sounds. Described as the father of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra created &“space music&” as a means of building a better future for American blacks here on earth. In A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism, Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ra&’s wide-ranging creative output—music, public preaching, graphic design, film and stage performance, and poetry—and connects his diverse undertakings to the culture and politics of his times, including the space race, the rise of technocracy, the civil rights movement, and even space-age bachelor-pad music. By thoroughly examining the astro-black mythology that Sun Ra espoused, Youngquist masterfully demonstrates that he offered both a holistic response to a planet desperately in need of new visions and vibrations and a new kind of political activism that used popular culture to advance social change. In a nation obsessed with space and confused about race, Sun Ra aimed not just at assimilation for the socially disfranchised but even more at a wholesale transformation of American society and a more creative, egalitarian world. &“A welcome invitation to the spaceways.&” —Jazzwise
Copyright:
2016

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
372 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781477311189
Related ISBNs:
9780292726369
Publisher:
University of Texas Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
the University of Texas Press
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Music
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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