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Afrofuturism

I do not know what exactly I had expected for this session but it was certainly different from what I had expected. Maybe something along the lines of African-American or African musicians and composers, and their take on Avant-garde music. An African-American John Cage or a Kenyan Meredith Monk maybe.

The clue for this session is in the title, of course, and I should have paid attention to this.
What I got was a most interesting session on African-American interpretation of futuristic music. And I liked it much more than the rhythm-less “white” take on it. I do  like Blade Runner's music but I did not realise that the futuristic music could sound entirely different. I do not think that I thought much about it, to be honest, but yes, during the session what struck me was that “white” futuristic music does sound like organ music on synthesizers while African-American music envisioning the future has rhythm and beat, and sounds much more life affirming than its “white” counterpart.
I enjoyed the pieces we listened to immensely. I forgot the name of the first piece that was played (actually, come to think of it, I cannot remember any of their titles, as I did not write them down). It was the one with the Jazz of the 1920s influence at its start. I found it quite interesting, and immediately thought of the Jazz Age because I am currently taking a class on the Jazz Age with Prof. Dr. Wendt, so I have been exposed to that music, and recognised it for it. I could not stop myself from moving with the beat, something that had not happened in the previous sessions, I think. The same happened with the other songs. My favourite was the one with the Mothership/Chariot song. I can well imagine the atmosphere during that concert, and I would agree with the visiting lecturer that it would have been great to travel back i time to attend this concert as the music was superb. Of the songs played in this session, the least I liked was the futuristic version of Future Shock (1983): I though the original sounded more authentic than the copy The latter sounded cleaned up and prepared for the future, so to speak. Still, it was good.
Anyway, this session was one of the more enjoyable, not just because of the music but also because the visiting lecturer's enthusiasm for his field of expertise showed, and because his take on music is one I had never considered before: not listening to the lyrics but only the sound. What he said rings true with me. I, too, tend to listen to German song lyrics but can easily not pay any attention to English song lyrics.
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