Art Radio reflects on Africa

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.

 

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Art Radio Call for Content

 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. 

A tale of two Akeems

  

 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.

LISTEN TO A TALE OF TWO AKEEMS here 

Mosiah: A Red Tape in Future Time

Mosiah: A Red Tape in Future Time "RED TAPE” (for short) is a sound project by DJ Zanj Rracc in commemoration of Marcus Garvey’s earth day for August 17 2020. It is a haunting hollow of electronic static that briefly redesigns the history of the future. It passes through the insignificance of past realities that have become severe experiences today. 

“RED TAPE” is a lost voice reverberating with nuisance, a loss of the last feelings of clarity as to what really is; and what really is, has now become just another theory about the world.

Listen to RED TAPE here

Winston Mcanuff and friends live in Jamaica

Dj afifa continues to experiment with the recording of live sound events and recording equipment. Winston Mcanuff and friends live in Jamaica was recorded using a TASCAM DR-40x Linear PCM recorder.

This excerpt features

Worm Bass, Kiddus I, Linval Thompson, Oko Onuro, Jawara Ellis and Winston Mcanuff.

Listen to audio here and enjoy some photos from the event.

Music for Highways

Music for Highways is a project by dj afifa Here is a description of the project by dj afifa.

 

In Jamaica, road expansion and the creation of highways dominate the urban landscape. At least one person dies everyday in a road accident. Starting in 2015, new roadways have been created in the Barbican area, Constant Spring Road, Hagley Park Road and the Mandela Highway under the Major Infrastructure Development Project, (MIDP).

Whenever I use these roads I am constantly thinking about ways to improve the safety of the journey.

The new Mandela Highway for example "features construction of a 3.5-kilometre six-lane corridor with a two-lane overpass bridge, two new three-lane bridges, and a two-lane service road adjacent to the main roadway".

The design of the new roads has negatively affected my driving experience. On the Mandela Highway for example, I notice how exhausted I feel from the intense concentration it takes to drive along this 6 lane Highway. I usually use music to help me focus and enjoy driving. Once, I decided to listen to a talk programme instead of music and was surprised at how sleepy I began to feel. I immediately started to think about the importance of music for driving and wondered whether there was a “music for highways?”

I made a short video with Orandi Harris driving across a section of the Mandela Highway to find out about his driving experience and what he listens to while driving?

Here are some additional questions to think about

1. Do you listen to music while driving?
2. What music do you prefer to listen to while driving on Highways?
3. What songs would you recommend for driving on highways?

Additional Resources

Loop Jamaica- Jamaica's deadliest roads

Voice Notes and Sound Clips

Voice notes and sound clips is a soundscape produced by dj afifa. The is a 5:55 length composition of voice notes and sound clips collected by dj afifa featuring music by Sheibo Sekito


Voice notes and sound clips is the first in a series for the music and memory project by dj afifa. 

Listen to Voice notes and sound clips here 

Download voice notes and soundclips here 

The History of ganja in Jamaica

This is a project by dj afifa. It was created for the Whitenoise mixtape in 2018. It was also featured on the Umbalembe project curated by Zanj Rracc in 2018.

Ganja (Marijuana, Cannabis) was decriminalized in Jamaica in 2015. Individuals are now been allowed to possess and grow limited amounts of the plant. The decriminalization has made way for the development of a medicinal Cannabis industry with a licensing authority, licensed growers, export arrangements and dispensaries called herb houses. There is now an even stronger demarcation between the legal and illegal trade in ganja. Ganja continues to be classified as a drug, which is regularly seized and destroyed by the Jamaican police.

Download the History of Ganja in Jamaica here

Listen to the History of Ganja in Jamaica here

New Release: Excerpts of Dis Poem Wordz and Agro Festival 2019

Excerpts of the Dis Poem Wordz and Agro Festival 2019 is a recording for Sounds of Life by dj afifa using a Panasonic RR-US511.

Listen to the Excerpts here:

or download it directly here it

Here are the recording notes from dj afifa

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.

New Release: Soundscapes

Soundscapes is a project by dj afifa for  Sounds of Life. Each soundscape features material from her favourite netlabels, original nu-music tracks and field recordings. The most recent release features tracks from bump foot, a netlabel bases in Japan.


Download soundscapes here

Track list
dj afifa - sons and daughters of Marcus Garvey compose an unfinished melody
Shin Wada - Dignity, Always Dignity-
dj afifa - the body of a 9 yr old girl
Sciuza - Leaving The Cities
dj afifa - building nations on small islands
Ishii Fuwa - Orbital Eccentricity
ish10 yow1r0 - experimental android work 01
dj afifa - the body of a 9 yr old girl
beatsgo - Da Future
Chico Correa & Electronic Band - Bossinha (Aquilez Remix)
Lavoura - MM Moods
Non m'importa della luna - Uchu (Orquesta Pandroginia Remix)

Dj Zanj Racc presents Church Wars

CHURCH WARS, is a soundscape documentary produced and curated by DJ Zanj Rracc.  Church Wars feature details about behaviours and ideas that find themselves in one of the world’s most influencing spaces, a church, despite being contradictory to its ideals.

The soundscape documentary takes its listeners/audience on a journey that explores the mob mentality of congregations and their leaders in the houses of the lord.

Listen to Church Wars 

"If i had the wings of a dove" - a Tribe film Project

"if i had the wings of a dove" is a soundscape created by dj afifa for Simone Harris and her Tribe film project. The video was shot and edited by Isabel Dennis and the video concept and performance is by Simone Harris.Here is a preview of the film project.

Nothing Matters nu-music by dj afifa

Nothing matters is the latest nu-music release from dj afifa. Nothing matters is the name of a poem and a collection of haikus, poems and writings published by dj afifa earlier this year.

Nothing matters expresses the frustration with injustice in Jamaica and the coming to terms with the nature of life as a result of it. The nu-music track was produced by dj afifa and features her performance of the poem.

Nu-music is how she refers to experimental audio productions which gives insight into the daily realities of the artist. Nothing matters reflects a basic production style using Audacity for recording mixing and mastering the track. The track was produced in the Zanj Radio studios at the SO((U))L HQ in St.Andrew Jamaica.

The track is free to download and is released under the creative commons license; other artist are free to share, redistribute and remix the track.
There will be a limited number of physical copies released early in 2019 available for sale at the SO(U))L HQ and Di Institute for Social Leadership in Jamaica.

Zanj Radio premiers Umbalembe

Umbalembe is a soundscape documentary about the island of Jamaica curated by Zanj Racc. The project is based on the work of Zanj Racc and DJ Afifa, sound artist who live and work in Jamaica. The artwork for the project was designed by Isabel Dennis. 

In August 2018 a preview of the project was presented at the Umbalembe event at Mazola’s “playground” in Gordon Town, St. Andrew Jamaica. The event was an attempt to introduce sound art.

Zanj Racc explained that the key to curating Umbalemebe was to organize the material into themes and then present a macro and micro perspective on life in Jamaica.

Umbalembe premiered on Saturday Nov 10 on Zanj Radio during World Music Fusion with Dj Zanj Racc.

Listen to Umbalembe by downloading the Zanj Radio app for Android or Apple devices or via soundcloud.

Zanj Racc presents The NIDS

NIDS is a controversial identification scheme that will be implemented in Jamaica in the coming years. Every Jamaican citizen must be a part of NIDS. As the years go by and NIDS becomes more infused into the daily experience of the ordinary Jamaica citizen, it will evolve into a component which Jamaicans will need for just about anything. This recording gives an example of Jerome, trying to use his NIDS to get to work on a hot morning in Kingston on Wednesday March 8th 2034.

DJ afifa presents: the Dub Poetry mixtape vol.1

Here is the most recent release of the Dub Poetry mixtape by dj afifa. The mixtape was created in 2017 for Ras Takura's "Dis Poem Wordz and Agro Fest" at the Neville Antonio Park in Port Antonio, Portland.

The mix was first aired during the Electromagnetic Radiation with dj afifa on Zanj Radio.The artwork for this mixtape are from pictures taken by Sokari Ekine at the Studio Be art gallery in New Orleans.

"I will be doing more mixtapes like this. Dub poetry is an art form that has influenced my life significantly.I am actively looking for new dub poets all over the world, i enjoying compiling interesting work and interesting ideas in the "dub style"- dj afifa

Physical copies of the mixtape can be purchased at the Sounds of Life store at the So((u))l hq, or Di Institute for Social Leadership.

Special preview of the Power of the Pussy

Last Friday, the Electro Magnetic Radiation with dj afifa on Zanj Radio featured a guest set by Dj Zanj Racc and a preview of his latest work the "The Power of the Pussy".

Dj Zanj Racc is a selecta, music curator and founder of Zanj Radio. He presents the World Music Fusion on Zanj Radio Saturdays 5-7pm -5utc.

Listen to the latest episode here

Sound Culture University returns

Sounds of Life will relaunch the Sound Culture University at the Music Depot store in Half Way Tree, Kingston on Thursday October 4.

Sounds of Life has partnered with the Music Department at Music Depot to offer a 2 week Introduction to World music course.


Sound Culture University started as a series of public discussions and presentations in Emancipation Park. The first Sound Culture University was held on Friday May 6, 2011 at the Emancipation Park in New Kingston Jamaica.

The University focuses on understanding the relationship between music, society and culture. The gathering provides an alternative space for music lovers, artist, producers, and musicians, to engage in music, share ideas, and gain new perspective.

Previous sessions of the Sound Culture University have included:

• The Musician as Artist 
• Hip Hop Culture in Jamaica
• Afrofuturism 
• Feeling Music hearing Dance
• I love house music 

5 Questions with DJ Afifa

1. Many people find what you do  interesting but weird and sometimes confusing. Do you do this deliberately and why do you think this might be the case?

*Laughs* I can imagine....I think I understand why it might appear that way. It gets confusing because I didn’t go to art school and I have a PhD but I don’t present papers or work in a university.  I believe art is life and I bring my life, that consists of a range of different backgrounds and experiences, mix it up and present it as my art. I think maybe it would be easier to understand if it was okay to mix things up, but people tend to compartmentalize everything so it’s not really the case. I guess, then, you could say I am doing it deliberately but I don’t feel there is much of a choice for me to do it any other way. I just prefer to use what I really love to explore myself and the world, so I play around with ideas and concepts and try to create new things. Laughs. I take everything I learn personally so whatever I think about I try to practice. I don’t know if I’ve confused you even more, but that’s kinda how I think about it. I would like to find out more about how other people would explain my art because maybe it has nothing to do with what I think.

 

  

2. Where are you now in your art?

Hmmmm… I have been working through and thinking through a lot of things. It has been tough and fulfilling at the same time. At times I have had doubts and fears about how everything will all work out and had to dig deep to remind myself about how I got here and where I really see myself going. I use my show on Zanj Radio to practice and work through what it really means for me to be a dj and a sound artist. I use it to help me figure out who is dj Afifa essentially. This has been my main focus over the last 2 years, and today I  have a much better idea about what I want to do as a dj and sound artist. I am working on a project that I feel confident in developing.  I am excited about it actually. I am creating a distinctive area for my work where I bring together  discussions, sound and space. I think I am at the stage where I can see how they can all fit other and I am recommitting to continue making it work. 

 

3. So who is dj Afifa now? 

Well she is a selecta who works on sound projects and she makes spaces inspired by music.... yea that's where dj Afifa is.focused right now.

 

 4. Tell us about something that you have been working on that you would like people to listen to? 

Well.... The body of a nine year old girl is a sound art project that I would like people to listen to and talk about. It is a very basic track that I created recently. One day I was listening to the local news on youtube. And I heard a story about a nine year old girl who was found dead in bushes. I heard the story first on TVJnews then again on CVM TV. Both stories started the same way and after looking it up in the newspaper and reading twice, the reality sank in. Why was something like this happening in Jamaica? What is going to happen to the children? I heard some parts of the story play back in my mind. The body... of a nine year old girl. I decided to put the two tracks together and recreate the feeling of being in a room listening to it. I want to know what people think about it. What Jamaican people think and what other people think.

I am really interested in what we listen to and how we are and perceive reality? Like when you hear the first sentence in the newscast does it make you listen more or walk away? I think it’s interesting because this is the news every day in Jamaica. Graphic descriptions of homicides are common place. You can hear it a lot and you can see it. If you want you can listen to the track ‘The body of a nine year old girl’ on my soundcloud. So yea...check it out.

5. Where do you see yourself in 2030?

Yea...2030. I see myself making more spaces inspired by music all over the place....building my catalogue of tracks, developing my soundscaping techniques, and just working on this dj Afifa thing. 

Well, all the best and we look forward to talking to you some more in the future.