Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being
Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being
Hello=2C I see in the Arkestra official web page that they are comming to m= ontreal in late Nov - early Dec. Anybody having the information on where th= ey will be performing?
Also=2C I still beleive it to be vital that the Arkestra tour Mexico and sp= acially Palenque in Dec 2012. The King Pakal would be so very greatful. :)
I got into this article=2C maybe of interest for the Sun Ra community.
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Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being March 26th=2C 2008 by David Kronemyer =20
African-American spirituality has been expressed in a profound musical trad= ition dating back to the first days of slavery in the United States. One o= f the genre=92s consistent lyrical themes is the temporality of life=2C its= transience and impermanence=2C the problem of evil=2C and the promise of a= better world to come. Jimi Hendrix explored these topics when he sang of = =93Castles made of sand=2C that melt into the sea=2C eventually=94 and =93I= =92ll meet you in the next world=2C don=92t be late.=94 Its primary expone= nt in recent years=2C however=2C was the great Sun Ra. He understood this = dynamic better than anyone. Not only that=2C he expressed it in beautiful = poetry and music infused with a mystical Egyptians-in-space cosmology. =20 Sun Ra=92s concerns go beyond a possible after-life or a world that is an a= lternative to this one. More fundamentally=2C he was concerned with the me= aning of being in this world. Although he may have aspired to it=2C Sun Ra= did not believe he actually came from another planet. Rather=2C this aspe= ct of his metaphysics is a proxy for the sense of estrangement he experienc= ed in this one. As an intergalactic wanderer=2C he had no home=3B he was u= nheimlichkeit (homeless=2C or living outside of one=92s own country). Spac= e is not some other =93place=94 but a metaphor for the milieu in which he f= ound himself and the differentiation and alienation he encountered as he na= vigated its contours. =20 Sun Ra had experienced all there was to experience and seen all there was t= o see. As an itinerant black musician in the 1950s =96 1980s=2C playing od= d music with a large entourage=2C he experienced blatant racial discriminat= ion as well as crushing financial impoverishment. Notwithstanding=2C Sun R= a extended his hand to the listener as a guide=2C like Dante=92s through th= e Inferno. He was indifferent to the constraints of this world and his tem= poral embodiment in it=2C even as he reveled in them as the fundamental pre= mise of being. =20 Illustrative is an untitled Declamation that appears at 8:25 on Live at the= Horseshoe Tavern (recorded March 13=2C 1978=2C disc III)=2C an amazing CD = available through Transparency Records=2C which has undertaken to release m= any archival Sun Ra recordings. Other partial versions appear elsewhere=2C= but this the most complete=2C and the most compelling. I exercised some m= odest editorial license=2C particularly towards the end. I combined variou= s versions and rearranged the order of the lines. I also eliminated some r= epetition=2C which is wholly appropriate in the context of the work as perf= ormed=2C but seemed redundant in a transcription. Without question the bes= t part is Sun Ra=92s knowing=2C ironic laugh after he says=2C =93This is no= t life!=94 =20 =20
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I have many names =96 Names of mystery=2C names of splendor=2C and names of shame. You sleep in the deep dark Babylonian night=2C Dreaming=2C thinking this illusion that you call life is real. It=92s just an illusion=2C an infinite conclusion. This is not life! They think this is life=2C they think this is real. How could you dare to say this world of misery is the ultimate of being? How can you dare to call this thing of existence=2C life? This is not life =96 this is death disguised as life. It is not real. This misery=2C this world of pain and distraction=2C is not life. I know what life is =96 life is not full of tears =96 Life knows no death. How can it be life=2C if there is truth? No=2C this is not life. You are only asleep and dreaming. Just dreaming of sleep=2C in the deep dark Babylonian night. You are dreaming that you are doing all the things you did=2C before you di= e. You will die dreaming. Cry=2C cry for the people of earth=2C cry to heaven. Maybe heaven will hear=2C and the people no longer will have to die. Why should you have to die? Is there any reason why? What does it prove? Look for something else. Bypass dying=2C and by bypass death. Look for being =96 all that you can be =96 and continue to be=2C just as mi= llions of beings. Being =96 immortal=2C eternal being. It=92s not life=2C it=92s not death. Let us do it together=2C across the sea of immortality=2C beyond the furthe= st stars. Let us journey together across the sea of immortality. Let us go somewhere there=2C many light years in space=2C Where human beings have never been=2C That human eyes have never seen=2C And human feet have never trod. I know that I=92m a member of an angel race=2C My home is somewhere there out in outer space. I could have enjoyed myself on this planet=2C if the people had been alive= =2C But this world is not my home. The satellites are spinning=2C the world is just awakening. Where happiness is pending=2C a better day is breaking. The galaxy=92s awaiting=2C for planet earth=92s awakening. What do you do when you know that you know=2C that you know that you=92re w= rong? You=92ve got to face the music=2C you=92ve got to listen to the cosmos song= . We sing this song to a great tomorrow=2C We sing this song to abolish sorrow. Come on=2C and take a journey. Take my hand=2C I=92m a stranger from paradise. In some far place=2C many light years in space=2C I=92ll build a world of abstract dreams=2C I=92ll wait for you=2C somewhere there=2C many light years away=2C Traveling a strange celestial road.
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Sun Ra =