Re: Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being
Re: Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being
Well it seems they'll be at the Place des Arts from December 1 - 11, =20 and the first show may be sold out:
= http://www.laplacedesarts.com/pda-famille/1484/saison-5e-salle-hymn-to-the= -universe.en.html#details
Jon
On Sep 18, 2010, at 2:42 PM, dantrem wrote:
Hello, I see in the Arkestra official web page that they are comming =20=
to montreal in late Nov - early Dec. Anybody having the information =20=
on where they will be performing?
Also, I still beleive it to be vital that the Arkestra tour Mexico =20 and spacially Palenque in Dec 2012. The King Pakal would be so very =20=
greatful. :)
I got into this article, maybe of interest for the Sun Ra community.
Sun Ra and the Meaning of Being March 26th, 2008 by David Kronemyer
African-American spirituality has been expressed in a profound =20 musical tradition dating back to the first days of slavery in the =20 United States. One of the genre=92s consistent lyrical themes is the =20=
temporality of life, its transience and impermanence, the problem of =20=
evil, and the promise of a better world to come. Jimi Hendrix =20 explored these topics when he sang of =93Castles made of sand, that =20=
melt into the sea, eventually=94 and =93I=92ll meet you in the next = world, =20 don=92t be late.=94 Its primary exponent in recent years, however, = was =20 the great Sun Ra. He understood this dynamic better than anyone. =20 Not only that, he expressed it in beautiful poetry and music infused =20=
with a mystical Egyptians-in-space cosmology. Sun Ra=92s concerns go beyond a possible after-life or a world that is = =20 an alternative to this one. More fundamentally, he was concerned =20 with the meaning of being in this world. Although he may have =20 aspired to it, Sun Ra did not believe he actually came from another =20=
planet. Rather, this aspect of his metaphysics is a proxy for the =20 sense of estrangement he experienced in this one. As an =20 intergalactic wanderer, he had no home; he was unheimlichkeit =20 (homeless, or living outside of one=92s own country). Space is not =20=
some other =93place=94 but a metaphor for the milieu in which he found = =20 himself and the differentiation and alienation he encountered as he =20=
navigated its contours. Sun Ra had experienced all there was to experience and seen all =20 there was to see. As an itinerant black musician in the 1950s =96 =20 1980s, playing odd music with a large entourage, he experienced =20 blatant racial discrimination as well as crushing financial =20 impoverishment. Notwithstanding, Sun Ra extended his hand to the =20 listener as a guide, like Dante=92s through the Inferno. He was =20 indifferent to the constraints of this world and his temporal =20 embodiment in it, even as he reveled in them as the fundamental =20 premise of being. Illustrative is an untitled Declamation that appears at 8:25 on Live =20=
at the Horseshoe Tavern (recorded March 13, 1978, disc III), an =20 amazing CD available through Transparency Records, which has =20 undertaken to release many archival Sun Ra recordings. Other =20 partial versions appear elsewhere, but this the most complete, and =20 the most compelling. I exercised some modest editorial license, =20 particularly towards the end. I combined various versions and =20 rearranged the order of the lines. I also eliminated some =20 repetition, which is wholly appropriate in the context of the work =20 as performed, but seemed redundant in a transcription. Without =20 question the best part is Sun Ra=92s knowing, ironic laugh after he =20=
says, =93This is not life!=94
I have many names =96 Names of mystery, names of splendor, and names of shame. You sleep in the deep dark Babylonian night, Dreaming, thinking this illusion that you call life is real. It=92s just an illusion, an infinite conclusion. This is not life! They think this is life, they think this is real. How could you dare to say this world of misery is the ultimate of =20 being? How can you dare to call this thing of existence, life? This is not life =96 this is death disguised as life. It is not real. This misery, this world of pain and distraction, 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, if there is truth? No, this is not life. You are only asleep and dreaming. Just dreaming of sleep, in the deep dark Babylonian night. You are dreaming that you are doing all the things you did, before =20 you die. You will die dreaming. Cry, cry for the people of earth, cry to heaven. Maybe heaven will hear, and the people no longer will have to die. Why should you have to die? Is there any reason why? What does it =20=
prove? Look for something else. Bypass dying, and by bypass death. Look for being =96 all that you can be =96 and continue to be, just as = =20 millions of beings. Being =96 immortal, eternal being. It=92s not life, it=92s not death. Let us do it together, across the sea of immortality, beyond the =20 furthest stars. Let us journey together across the sea of immortality. Let us go somewhere there, many light years in space, Where human beings have never been, That human eyes have never seen, And human feet have never trod. I know that I=92m a member of an angel race, My home is somewhere there out in outer space. I could have enjoyed myself on this planet, if the people had been =20 alive, But this world is not my home. The satellites are spinning, the world is just awakening. Where happiness is pending, a better day is breaking. The galaxy=92s awaiting, for planet earth=92s awakening. What do you do when you know that you know, that you know that =20 you=92re wrong? You=92ve got to face the music, you=92ve got to listen to the cosmos = song. We sing this song to a great tomorrow, We sing this song to abolish sorrow. Come on, and take a journey. Take my hand, I=92m a stranger from paradise. In some far place, many light years in space, I=92ll build a world of abstract dreams, I=92ll wait for you, somewhere there, many light years away, Traveling a strange celestial road.
Sun Ra =09