Those of you who have already organically developed a deep love for Sun Ra, you will already understand this, and for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting the Afro-Future mother ship, I hope that this might happen for you very soon.
We are already living the future! Everything about this world far exceeds the wildly amazing technological dreams that were conceived in the fabulous plastic coated science fiction that we grew up on. Our modern queens are revealed to be reptiles, and the most ancient voices rise up with shimmering hands to tear a hole in the manufactured and wildly unjust narrative, so that the searing light of timeless truth might come screaming through.
Sons of Kemet is one of the genre-defying power soca/rock/jazz Afrofuturist hybrid bands playing incendiary live sets. From Sons of Kemet, Your Queen is a Reptile:
“Your queen is not our queen, she does not see us as human… we claim the right to question your obsolete systems, your racist symbols your monuments to genocide…. Our queens walked among us, lead by action, our queens listened, our queens made bright futures out of an unfair path, our queens cried and laughed. Our queens knew they were just like us, from the beginning, not just when it suited them. Our queens are just like us, and we are human, we need new royalty”
In keeping up with the science fiction vision, we have established the fact that our media drenched porcelain modern queens are in fact reptiles. We have envisioned the qualities of the queens that will emerge in the near future modeled on the great, fearless and unwavering leaders of all colors who came before us. We are also on a planet in outer space.
Welcome to a future that elegantly contains the crackling current moment, drenched in sonic magma, where the deepest ancient traditions intertwine into a super badass deep driving newness. We are inexorably connected, gazing toward a clear vertical path forward, galvanized by our humanity and forged together through ecstatic, pounding outraged music!
Please with deepest reverence prepare to welcome this music into the present moment. Here we are together, in the future on a planet in outer space. Behold: a smattering of the future….
Sons of Kemet (with Missy D)
June 26, 9PM
The Imperial | MORE INFO
Alsarah and the Nubatones
June 24, 3:45pm
Georgia Stage | FREE | MORE INFO
Kamasi Washington
June 24, 8PM
Queen Elizabeth Theatre | MORE INFO
Ghost-Note
(featuring MonoNeon)
June 23, 7:30PM
Downtown Jazz, Georgia Stage | FREE | MORE INFO
I leave you with the MonoNeon manifesto, a reminder that being who we REALLY are is an outrageous and revolutionary act, and a form of awakening.
Let us ascend this vertical path together, neon and intrepid, and gather at the feet of our new queens, enlivened, childlike and deeply polychromatic!!!
Rainbow Robert is a Managing Director and the Artistic Programmer at Coastal Jazz and Blues Society.
