Well, obviously I was paying tribute to Bob Marley with that subject line.
OK, so not exactly acid jazz, but definitely an inspiration to countless
musicians of the genre. So, please excuse the ex nihilo posting.
On Haile Selassie:
Ad hominem attacks aside, it's a phenomenal speech and is extremely relevant
given the misdirected unilateralist course of the current US administration.
Judge it for its own merits. As for Marcus Garvey's critique of Selassie,
here are some more detailed references if anyone's curious:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/sfeature/sf_forum_4.html
http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/cardillo.html
http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/RASTAFARI/GARVEY/rupert.html
On politics and acid jazz:
The reason that I love this music is that it IS so political. I'm not here
to trade emails aboout soothing apolitical elevator cheeze jazz. If that's
what this list is about then I will GLADLY exit. I'd far rather feel the
articulation of our common world presence then listen to placid
instrumentals, stupifying house beats or the banal lyrics of serial pop
commodities. Would you prefer it, Steve, if Jill Scott didn't mention
reparations? If Marvin Gaye didn't speak on the state of the ecology? If
Gil Scot-Heron didn't talk about the CIA? If Cypress Hill kept
decriminalization on the downlow? If Roy Ayers didn't see red, black and
green? If Bob Marley didn't sing on burnin and lootin tonight? If Sarah
Jones had nothing to say to the FCC? If Sun-Ra didn't chant down nuclear
war? If Mos Def didn't appear in Bamboozled? If Digable Planets shutup
about the fascists? If Michael Frente didn't touch a mic? If Ursula Rucker
hushed up about misogyny? If DJ shadow didn't have an MC on the Midnight
track? If Fela Kuti was never born?
Do you believe that these artists and their ideas should be enjoyed but not
taken seriously?
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Catanzaro [mailto:stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 1:28 AM
To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: everywhere is war
Is this the same Haile Selassie who drove around Addis Ababa in a Rolls
Royce throwing out breadcrumbs to the masses?
The same Haile Selassie who was unceremoniously deposed by his own people
after a half-century reign that left Ethiopia empoverished, this despite his
own palatial lifestyle?
Other than the fact that some great musicians worshipped the myth of Ras
Tafari, (yet Marcus Garvey himself scoffed at the notion of Selassie as an
object of worship), what does the complex issues surrounding the UN,
Zionism, or the declarations of the despotic Haile Selassie have to do with
acid jazz? Aren't there other forums more appropriate for the expression of
these kinds of sentiments?
Can't we have a politics free zone?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Sep 06 2001 - 18:17:07 CEST