Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet
by Jonathon Blakeley
Friday, May 11th, 2012
I got into Sun-Ra 3-4 years ago and I quickly became fascinated by this Alien Cuckoo from Saturn. When he is good his very very good, When he is bad he is terrible. Well to be fair it’s not terrible, rather ugly sounding. Sun Ra merges beautiful and ugly sounds into a rapturous joyous noise. He has a unique sound and is without doubt, totally orginal. My favourite album is “Lanquidity” and of course “the Nubians of Plutonia”. Be warned this is challenging stuff. ~ Jonathon
Space is the Place
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Sun Ra was born on the planet Saturn some time ago. The best accounts agree that he emerged on Earth as Herman Blount, born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914, although Sun Ra himself always denied that Blount was his surname. He returned to Saturn in 1993 after creating a stunningly variegated and beautiful assemblage of earthly and interplanetary music, most notably with his fervently loyal Arkestra.
Sun Ra and his Arkestra were the subject of a few documentary films, notably Robert Mugge’s ‘A Joyful Noise’ (1980), which interspersed performances and rehearsals with Sun Ra’s commentary on various subjects ranging from today’s youth to his own place in the cosmos.
Today’s documentary, Don Letts’ ‘Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet’ from 2005, reuses some of Mugge’s material and includes some additional interviews.
Posted by Jonathon Blakeley
on May 11, 2012. Filed under Music,Video.
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One Response to Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet
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Ariadna Theokopoulos
May 11, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Listening to him makes you wish you were on Saturn rather than here and grateful that that’s possible at least until the last sound dies down.
Thanks for sharing.