When will the winter of our discontent be made glorious summer? Will there always be those in society who wish to use violence to achieve their ends? Why are we all not motivated by justice and equity? Music sometimes provides either comfort or a vehicle to rail against injustice, and yet even the music itself can end up encouraging violence. This is sometimes seen in hip hop music, particularly Gansta Rap.
Now hip hop music doesn’t feature very often in Slicer’s posts, or in his listening. A lot of it sounds the same to him, the anger in much of it can be wearing (even if it’s justifiable/understandable), and a great deal of it picks words that rhyme and fit the metre of short phrases without any great concern for the true meaning of the words selected. There’s often wanton disregard for the English language and even for continuity/intelligibility.
Whilst Zumbi’s lyrics aren’t immune to the same charge, Bill Ortiz’ release this year (featuring Zumbi and Linda Tillery) did strike a chord. There probably are a few reasons for that:
Ortiz is a former trumpet player with Santana, and remains in great demand. He’s capable of creating striking atmosphere with his instrument. His current work is jazz/hip-hop/RnB fusion. (His last EP "Winter in America" paid tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, a renowned late figure in political music). Tillery’s spoken vocal tone is more than a little appealing, but it’s what is read that sets the song apart. It’s a lyric full of defiant hope, interspersed with the plaintive ambience of Ortiz’ jazz trumpet.
Tillery essentially reads excerpts from the speech MLK delivered as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize. It's not as well known as his "March on Washington/I have a dream" speech but is deserving of attention too. Its relevance hasn’t disappeared in the intervening years. If anything, as our capacity has grown in a digital age to learn quickly of need and injustice, it is even more pertinent. It’s pertinent whether on Slicer’s own doorstep with the appalling news yesterday of the murder of a prison officer because of the job he did, or further away in the aftermath of “Superstorm Sandy,” and not just on relatively affluent New York (which dominated news coverage) but also in Cuba and Haiti where the impact was greater and the infrastructure less able to help those suffering.
Whether we're considering those who try to advance their "cause" by violence, or lack of equity globally in access to basic amenities, Ortiz' song "I Still Believe" is a useful contribution. It seems a suitable follow-on from Slicer’s earlier post covering the Wallflowers’ "Eyes on the Prize." This one’s insistent, it’s deliverer persistent, it’s message resistant (Slicer writes hip-hop!) in its looking and pressing forward to a better world, and in its refusal to be waylaid by cynicism.
“I still believe that we shall overcome
This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future
It will give our tired feet new strength
as we continue our forward strive toward the city of freedom...
...I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality
This is why right, temporarily defeated,
is stronger than evil triumphant
I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere
can have three meals a day for their bodies
education and culture for their minds,
and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.
Civilisation and violence are anti-thetical concepts...
...Non-violence is not sterile passivity
But a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation
I refuse to accept despair
as the final response to the ambiguities of history
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound
to the starless midnight of racism and war
that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood
can never become a reality...
...When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds
And our nights become darker than a thousand midnights
We will know that we are living in the creative turmoil
Of a genuine civilization struggling to be born."
Slicer thinks that kind of turmoil, where the world groans as if it’s in labour whilst it awaits the emergence of a new kind of order, is worth bearing with (although some have to bear more than the rest of us). In some creative way he’d like to be part of speeding up the delivery. He’s impressed by those who are leading the way, whether in Northern Ireland, Cuba, Haiti, East Africa, anywhere in the developing world, or in the USA.
"Yeah this is liberation music so get used to it."
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