This week Art Radio reflects on Africa. We are creating the space to reflect on what Africa means today? using a compilation of work by some of our favourite African musicians.
Art Radio is a platform for sharing music and sound art. Listen and be inspired to create.
Art Radio is a platform for sharing music and sound art. The station is managed by dj afifa. This is a general call for content from artist. musicians, producers and interested persons.
This is the first “album project” by dj afifa. It is a compilation of 5 nu-music tracks which
are presented as “short stories”. The title of the compilation is
inspired by a conversation with a “construction worker” about his
birthday. “Pandemic News” and “Watching people die” are the stories of the last two
years as told by dj afifa. “Enter the Time Machine” is a work in progress sketch a soundscape about the history of Jamaica. “Where is the mouth of the Rio Cobre?” is a sound sample which sends you on a search for an answer to the question in the title.
Listen to a Leap Year and other stories here
On March 10,2021 a joint police-military team embarked on an intelligence-driven and targeted operation with the aim of apprehending members of the Bedward Gardens-based ‘Berry Gang’.
5 men were killed. Colin Mignoes (24yrs old), Jehlani Palmer (22 yrs old), Oniel Dixon,(24 yrs old) Tafari Dell,(22 yrs old) and Akeem McClean (20yrs old).
On the night of the operation, the Jamaica Gleaner received a call from Akeem Thomas. Akeem told the Gleaner that he feared for his life because everyone was calling him to say “the police is looking for him to kill him”. He asked to Gleaner to come to Bedward Gardens so he could come out and surrender
to the police.
This audio documentary by dj afifa features a CVM TV news clip from Akeem McClean’s partner explaining what she saw happen to him, the recording of Akeem Thomas’s conversation with the Gleaner and a Television Jamaica News report where the police explained what happened.
The documentary features music from Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari (Run OneMile) and Augustus Pablo ( Up a Warieka Hill).
Bedward Gardens was founded by African Spiritual Leader Alexander Bedward. It is located in August Town, St.Andrew Jamaica.
The Taste of Hibiscus is a chapbook by Trinidad and Tobago born writer Soyini Ayana Forde.
This project by dj afifa features a conversation with Soyini Forde at the SO((U))L HQ in the summer of 2019. The recording features readings of 2 poems from the collection; a Hole in the Sack of Desire and Taste of Hibiscus.
Listen to the Taste of Hibiscus
Compared to the male singers, not a lot of women inhabit the land of Reggae and its various “enclaves” ( enclaves here meaning sub-genres). During Reggae’s golden era, women were not dominant acts within Reggae’s main scene. For many who love Reggae music and its sub-genres, dominant male figures such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Alton Ellis etc were the names associated with the varying evolutionary stages of Jamaican music from Ska, to Rocksteady, to Reggae.
Reggae, however, has managed to give birth to sub genres that have facilitated the growth of not only Jamaican music, but also (by a larger extent) Caribbean music. Sub genres, Dub & Lovers Rock, have played immense roles in their musical arena, facilitating sonic experiments in music (dub) as well as creating a stage dominated by the female voice & vocals (lovers rock).
During the golden years of Reggae (between 1969 to the late 1980s), Lovers Rock emerged as a sub-genre with its own style, feeling, community and audience.
Lovers Rock originated in the 1970’s, being born out of a well established and fervid London Reggae scene.
The musical content of Lovers Rock centered on the romantic, with stories being brought to life through lyrics that detailed experiences about love, heartbreak, friendship, infidelity, happiness and all the ups & downs that accompany relationships between men and women.
In Britain, the female voice became the dominant sound of the Lovers Rock genre. Many female artistes were able to score hit songs within the subgenre, a severe contrast to the general Reggae scene throughout the 1970s & 80s worldwide. Not only was the subgenre dominated by women artists in Britain, but also managed to attract a large cohort of listeners who were primarily women.
As a main feature of London-based sound systems, Lover’s Rock grew to become a favourite among the females, having a strong core audience of women due to the ease with which the leading female artistes of the time could communicate their stories. Major acts such as Caroll Thompson, Janet Kay, Louisa Mark and many others were able to use relaxed, mellow rhythms highly drenched with emotionally stricken vocals & lyrics to connect with their female centered
audience who could relate directly to the music and its content.
The influence of Lovers Rock is extensive. Its relaxed rhythms, cool mellow musical style, content and overall composition, have been borrowed, remixed or recreated by RnB & Soul musicians and producers worldwide. One example of this extensive influence is “Lovers Rock”, a triple platinum album by Nigerian
born British singer Sade. According to Sade, this highly successful album, released in the year 2000, was named after the genre she listened to the most as a child growing up and her decision to name her album “Lovers Rock” was due to her love for the genre.
Listen to the mix here
Sittings in both Houses begin with prayers. These follow the Christian faith and there is currently no multi-faith element. Attendance is voluntary.
The practice of prayers is believed to have started in about 1558, and was common practice by 1567. The present form of prayers probably dates from the reign of Charles II. Members of the public are not allowed into the public galleries during prayers.
MPs and Peers stand for prayers facing the wall behind them. It is thought this practice developed due to the difficulty Members would historically have faced of kneeling to pray while wearing a sword.
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| People change. Artwork design dj afifa 2019. |
“ I was sitting at my doorway one day and there was a lot of flies, flies were attacking me and there was no water because of a water lock off. I was thinking about politicians in Jamaica and how we shouldn't live on an island surrounded by water and be without water...it was just a poem that came to me….” Dj Zanj RraccFor this production dj afifa added ambiance or atmospheric quality to the track using a sample from the beginning of the sitting of the house of parliament in Jamaica.
“i listened to the vocals and imagined the sound of the flies, then I started to think about how that sound was similar to the hum of voices then I heard the hum m of voices at the beginning at the beginning” Dj Afifadownload flies here
These excerpts are produced from a sound recording experiment at the 9th Annual Dis Poem Wordz and Agro festival.
My first recording of the Dis Poem Wordz and Agro festival was in 2017, I was hired to be the selecta at the event. Outdoor music events such as these in Jamaica provide a rich sonic experience. Capturing the dynamics of an event in audio can be an interesting challenge for sound artist. These excerpts are the result of my experiments at the festival.
Typically audio recordings of live events are made by capturing a direct audio signal, this is how I got my recording of the event in 2017. I was connected to the mixing board 36.and got a direct audio signal. The disadvantage of recording like this is that it misses ambiance. At the 2019 edition of Dis Poem I tried to collect some of the ambiance of the event by recording from the audience using a digital mp3 recorder (a Panasonic RR-US511 I used for recording interviews). The recording came out much different than I had expected. Previously I had recorded another poetry event using my Huawei NS L53 and the audio was much clearer.
The audience sat in pavilion style seating facing the stage that was on an open field with the sea behind it. There was a hugh tree hanging over the pavilion. I got to the event at about 2:30pm and started recording immediately. I recorded at least one performance for each poet. I changed location twice during my recording.
I attempted to edit the recordings in Audacity to improve the clarity of the audio, this was not successful.
Factors which affected the clarity of the recording. The first factor was the recording device (Panasonic RR-US511) which records in mono, performances that included music where more muffled than performances with no accompanying music. Recordings which were done earlier in the evening when there was a smaller audience were clearer. Recordings where I was sitting directly at the back of the pavilion as opposed to closer to the stage or to the far left were much clearer.
Because of the recording device used and the recording condition it is best to listen to the Excerpts using headphones; the audio will be clearer.
