Saturday, December 07, 2019

Dreaming of the Masters


A recently released recording of Sun Ra's first-ever performance in what was then known as The Polish People's Republic (now, simply "Poland"). The core Arkestra is here - John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, Danny Thompson, James Jacson, etc.) but apparently June Tyson, the Queen of Outer Space, wasn't able to make the trip.  

A fascinating aspect of this 1986 performance is how slyly Sun Ra offers revolutionary (or as the ruling Communist Party leadership would have called it, "counter-revolutionary") lyrics into the song Children of the Sun. Between the language barrier and the outlandishness of the Arkestra's Afro-futurist appearance, he was able to tell the audience that the political repression wasn't going to last much longer and freedom was just over the horizon without incurring the wrath of the police state.

Alert listeners will recognize the intro section of Discipline 27-11 before the song morphs into Children of the Sun.

No comments: