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A pure solar world : Sun Ra and the birth of Afrofuturism / Paul Youngquist.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Discovering America seriesPublisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, 2016Copyright date: ©2016Edition: First editionDescription: viii, 346 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780292726369
  • 0292726368
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prelude to infinity -- Intro : Wonder Inn -- Alien -- Marienville -- Bronzeville -- Thmei -- Egypt -- Washington Park -- Arkestra -- Immeasurable equation -- El Saturn -- Isotope teleportation -- Cry of jazz -- Sputnik -- Rocketry -- Tomorrowland -- Interplanetary exotica -- Space music -- Myth science -- Black man in the cosmos -- Space is the place -- Tokens of happiness -- Continuation -- Outro : extensions out.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Sun Ra Y79 Available 33111008518421
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Surveying the range of Sun Ra's extraordinary creativity, this book explores how the father of Afrofuturism brought "space music" to a planet in need of transformation, supporting the aspirations of black people in an inhospitable white world.

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.

A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism offers a spirited introduction to the life and work of this legendary but underappreciated musician, composer, and poet. 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.

Prelude to infinity -- Intro : Wonder Inn -- Alien -- Marienville -- Bronzeville -- Thmei -- Egypt -- Washington Park -- Arkestra -- Immeasurable equation -- El Saturn -- Isotope teleportation -- Cry of jazz -- Sputnik -- Rocketry -- Tomorrowland -- Interplanetary exotica -- Space music -- Myth science -- Black man in the cosmos -- Space is the place -- Tokens of happiness -- Continuation -- Outro : extensions out.

Includes bibliographical references, discography and index.

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