- Diasporic Music on January 22, 2017
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| Show | Diasporic Music |
|---|---|
| Broadcast Title | Diasporic Music on January 22, 2017 |
| Broadcast Date | 2017-01-22 |
| Record Date | 2017-01-22 |
| Summary | Ameth Lo of THE GROUP FOR RESEARCH AND INITIATIVE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFRICA (GRILA) on the current situation in the Gambia Ayuko Babu Executive Director - The Pan African Film Festival Ayuko Babu is an international cultural, political and legal consultant specializing in Pan African affairs. He has been the Executive Director of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) since 1992. In addition to PAFF, Mr. Babu currently serves as a permanent member of the jury of the annual Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. AMAA is the world’s largest Pan African film awards event, covering the continent of Africa and its worldwide Diaspora. Tribute to Archie Shepp Early Life Saxophone player, composer, pianist, singer, politically committed poet, playwright, Archie Shepp is a legend. Archie Shepp was born in 1937 in Fort Lauderdale in Florida. He grew up in Philadelphia, studied piano and saxophone and attended high school in Germantown; he went to college, became involved with theatre, met writers and poets, among them, Leroy Jones and wrote: «The Communist», an allegorical play about the situation of black Americans. In the late fifties, Archie Shepp also met the most radical musicians of the time: Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Jimmy Garrison, Ted Curson, Beaver Harris ... his political consciousness found an expression in plays and theatrical productions which barely allowed him to make a living. In the beginning sixties he met Cecil Taylor and did two recordings with him which were determining. The Sixties In 1962 he signed his first record with Bill Dixon as co-leader. During the following year, he created the New York Contemporary Five with John Tchichai, made four records for Fontana, Storyville and Savoy and travelled to Europe with this group. Starting in August 1964, he worked with Impulse and made 17 records among which, Four For Trane, Fire Music, and Mama Too Tight, some of the classics of Free Music. His collaboration with John Coltrane materialized further with Ascension in 1965, a real turning point in Avant-Garde music. His militancy was evidenced by his participation in the creation of the Composers Guild with Paul and Carla Bley, Sun RA, Roswell Rudd and Cecil Taylor. A first rate Artist and Intellectual In July 1969 he went for the first time to Africa for the Pan African Festival in Algiers where many black American militants were living. On this occasion he recorded Live for Byg the first of six albums in the Actual series. In 1969 he began teaching Ethnomusicology at the University of Amherst, Massachusetts; at the same time he continued to travel around the world while continuing to express his identity as an African American musician. The dictionary of Jazz (Robert Laffont, Bouquins) defines him in the following way: «A first rate artist and intellectual, Archie Shepp has been at the head of the Avant- Garde Free Jazz movement and has been able to join the mainstream of Jazz, while remaining true to his esthetic. He has developed a true poli-instrumentality: an alto player, he also plays soprano since 1969, piano since 1975 and more recently occasionally sings blues and standards.» More Music from the Temptations, Doug and Jean Carn, Seun Kuti and Mighty Joe from The Gambia |