Diasporic Music

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Jalali pays tribute to Odetta on Freedom Now on KPFK-FM Los Angeles and on Diasporic Music on Uhuru Radio. Odetta, who grew up in Los Angeles is unsung. Odetta Speaks About Her Life as an Activist. Interviews with Dr. Rupert Lewis on late historian and author Dr. Anthony "Tony" Martin, and community organizer and host of KPFK-FM Los Angeles' Freedom Now, Dedon Kamathi. Freedom Now is aired at 5pm Eastern this Sat. Diasporic Music is aired at 2pm Eastern on Sun. Reggae music created outside Jamaica from Nigeria, South Africa, Belize, and Nicaragua.

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Jalali will interview Ayuko Babu, executive director and founder of the Pan African Film and Arts Festival. Information on the festival is available at paff.org. Discussion on the film Django Unchained continues with human rights attorney Ezili Danto. Danto is also a writer, performance poet, and founder and President of Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network. Visit Ezili Danto's website.

Visit Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali on Facebook.

Jalali interviewed Mississippi native Charles Burnett, a film producer and director, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1977), My Brother's Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). Burnett has been involved in other types of motion pictures including shorts, documentaries, a TV series and made-for-television movies, including Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding (1998).

He will also speak with Billy Woodberry. Born in Dallas, Texas, Billy Woodberry is an independent filmmaker who has taught at the School of Film/Video and the School of Art at the California Institute of the Arts since 1989. His feature film Bless Their Little Hearts (1984) is an essential work of Los Angeles cinema, informed by Woodberry's familiarity with Italian neo-realism and the work of filmmakers in Cuba, Brazil, India and Africa. It won the Interfilm ecumenical jury award at the Berlin Film festival. Woodberry has appeared in Charles Burnett's When It Rains (1995) and provided narration for Thom Andersen's Red Hollywood (1996) and James Benning's Four Corners (1998). Woodberry's two-hour video, The Architect, the Ants, and the Bees, was part of "Facing the Music," a 2004 group exhibition, video and multimedia installation at the REDCAT gallery documenting the building of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the transformation of downtown Los Angeles. His work has screened at the Camera Austria Symposium, Harvard Film Archive, Human Rights Watch Film Festival and Museum of Modern Art. Woodberry also works at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

We will have a musical salute to Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 - June 29, 1964). Dolphy made his contribution to jazz music as a multi-instrumentalist. He played alto saxophone, flute, and bass clarinet. On a few occasions he played the clarinet, piccolo, and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists. He worked closely with John William Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Chico Hamilton and other jazz greats.

Musical salute to the Vibrations, a quintet from Los Angeles. (The Temptations Walk) was adapted from The Vibrations "sloop" dance step. Vibration Ricky Owens replaced Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations for a brief moment.

Dr. Gerald Horne, author of "Fighting in Paradise: Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawaii" and "Negro Comrades of the Crown: African Americans and the British Empire Fight the U.S. before Emancipation" will discuss the change of leadership in China, Japan and the Koreas and its impact on Africa and the Caribbean. Dr. Horne will also deal with Mali, Algeria and Pakistan.

Human rights attorney Ezili Danto of Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network will discuss Haiti three years after the earthquake, the role women played in the Haitian Revolution and the way forward. Visit Ezili Danto's website.

Visit Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali on Facebook.

Abdul Alkalimat will discuss the controversial film Django Unchained. Alkalimat is a professor of African American studies and Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of several books, including Introduction to Afro-American Studies, The African American Experience in Cyberspace, and Malcolm X for Beginners, as well as the curator of two websites relating to African-American history, Malcolm X: A Research Site and eBlack Studies.

Jalali will also discuss Django Unchained with Erin Aubry Kaplan. Aubry Kaplan is a freelance journalist and writer for over 20 years. She is a former staff writer for LA Weekly and is currently a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times op-ed section. Aubrey Kaplan has contributed to many other publications and is a regular blogger for kcet.org and author of "Black Talk, Blue Thoughts and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista", a book of essays and journalism published in 2011 by University Press of New England.

There will be a musical salute to the self-contained, socio-political eclectic band War. War reached its height of popularity in the 1970s with hit songs like "The World Is A Ghetto", "Low Rider", and "Why Can't We Be Friends". The band helped put Long Beach, California on the map and heavily impacted the music world for many years before rapper Snoop Dogg, who also hails from Long Beach, appeared on the music scene.

Visit Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali on Facebook.

We paid tribute to Pamela Maynard, the Canada-based Guyanese singer, who succumbed to a long battle with breast cancer. She was one of Guyanas singing icons who was versatile in Reggae, Gospel, Soul, R&B, Calypso, Jazz and Soca.

The family and friends of Jesse Belvin have big plans after all these years. Belvin was the first African American to be nominated on the first Grammy Show. We talk with Jeanette Baker, great niece of the legendary Josephine Baker, and an accomplished star of stage, screen, radio, and television in her own right. She introduces her new music and talks about her petition to place Jesse Belvin into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We put the musical spotlight on accomplished musician Van Cephus. Cephus was a member of Chapter 8 (Anita Baker and Producer Michael Powell) and appeared on their first album. He also played on Randy Crawfords "Knocking On Heavens Door", featuring The Winans and The Clark Sisters. This recording can be heard on the soundtrack of the film "Lethal Weapon 2". He appears on Oleta Adams' CD "Come Walk With Me" (Including the Duet "Beams of Heaven") and accompanied Anita Baker live in New York in a duet configuration.

• Friday Sept. 28, 6-9pm: Book signing at the Different Booklist
• Sunday Sept. 30th, 5-8pm: Lecture and Mix N Mingle session sponsored by the Caribbean Studies Program of University of Toronto and the Canada-Guyana Forum
• Friday, Oct. 5th, 6-9:30pm: Lecture at University of Toronto

Music made in the West, but not of the West. Diasporic Music shines the musical spotlight on producer/singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield, the gentle genius. Mayfield would have celebrated his 70th birthday on June 3rd. Curtis Mayfield, along with Fred Cash and Sam Gooden sang at a "Free Huey P. Newton" Rally in Oakland and he visited Angela Davis at her request when she was imprisoned.

Malcolm was born 87 years ago on May 19, 1925. While it is unlikely that U.S. president Barack Obama will acknowledge this, people from Cape Town to Nova Scotia and Brazil to Brixton, London definitely will. Archie Shepp linked Malcolm X with John Coltrane. He said: "I equate Coltrane's music very strongly with Malcolm's language, because they were just about contemporaries, to tell you the truth. And I believe essentially what Malcolm said is what John played. If Trane had been a speaker, he might have spoken somewhat like Malcolm. If Malcolm had been a saxophone player, he might have played somewhat like Trane." Malcolm X created the Organiztion of Afro American Unity and the Muslim Mosque, Inc. after he departed from the Nation of Islam. Africans at home and abroad like Archie Shepp, Dennis Brown, Miriam & Mbongi Makeba, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Leon Thomas, Pharoah Sanders and others have dedicated music to Hajj Malik Shabazz.

We also talk with Rupert Charles Lewis, the author of "Walter Rodney's Intellectual and Political Thought". Lewis is an expert on Marcus Garvey who will discuss the Red, Black & Green flag, Garvey's use of the press and his relevance to this period. August 13th is the 90th anniversary of the origin of the Red Black and Green flag.Lewis' others works on Garvey are "Marcus Garvey:Anti - Colonial Champion", "Garvey: His Work and Impact" and "Garvey: Africa, Europe, the Americas".

“My identity is very clear to me now, I am a Black woman.” - Lena Horne

My life’s work as a journalist/broadcaster has made it possible for me to meet many of the towering figures of African and world history. I was fortune enough to have crossed paths with Lena Horne on more than one occasion.

One of our encounters took place at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. I was there to attend a press conference for Ms. Horne. J. Alexander Francis was also there as a photographer. Francis hails from the Caribbean, and I from the wilderness of North America. Other than the two of us, the room was white on white in white.

Ms. Horne suddenly appeared, accompanied by Blues icon Jimmy Witherspoon and the Royal York’s P. R. man Gino Empry. When Ms. Horne entered the room she slid straight to “Chocolate City” and embraced Francis and me, the only other Blacks in the room. While I had grown up a fan of Ms.Horne, this display only cemented my love for her and her work. I have never forgotten Ms. Horne’s demonstration of Black solidaritary.

I was saddened to learn that Ms.Horne has recently joined the ancestors on Mother’s Day, May 9th. She died in a New York City hospital less than two months shy of her 93rd birthday. Her career spanned a remarkable 65 years. She was an enchanting singer, actress and human rights activist.

The span of her life is itself significant. Born June 30, 1917, two months after the United States entry into World War I, and four months before the Bolshevik (Russian) Revolution, Ms.Horne lived through the Depression, the Second World War, the Chinese and Cuban Revolutions, the birth of the Cold War, the eruption of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, the Vietnam War, the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, and the election of the first African president of the United States, Barack Obama.

She was known for her plaintive, signature song “Stormy Weather” and for her triumph over the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them.

She is best known to many for her marvelous roles in the films “Cabin in the Sky” and “Stormy Weather”. “Cabin in the Sky “is a musical that was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released in 1943. The film also starred Ethel Waters and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson of Jack Benny fame. Ms.Horne co-starred as “Georgia Brown” in her first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra have a showcase musical number in the film.

“Stormy Weather” is loosely based upon the life and times of its star, dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Robinson plays “Bill Williamson”, a natural-born dancer who returns home in 1918 after fighting in World War I, and then tries to launch a career as a performer. Along the way, the character Williamson woos a beautiful singer named “Selina Rogers”, played by Ms.Horne.

Unlike many 21st Century Superstars, she was not afraid to be seen in public with leaders who had been deemed “enemies of the state” by the State. “There is no business like show business”, and it is currently a cesspool of opportunism.

Involved in the freedom struggle

Ms.Horne knew both Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. and El- Hajj Malik El- Shabazz (Malcolm X) and spoke fondly about both of them. Her take on King was, “Every color I can think of and nationality, we were all touched by Dr. King because he made us like each other and respect each other.”

She was unapologetic about her support for Malcolm X. Says Ms.Horne, “Malcolm X raised my consciousness about myself and my people and other persons I know. I knew him before he became Malcolm X.” Before there was Martin and Malcolm, Horne had befriended both Dr. W.E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, the weekend before he was assassinated.

Ms.Horne’s stella career had an international impact. The Cubans had produced a hard-hitting short film called “Now”, which was based on a song that Ms.Horne had recorded in the beginning of the 1960s. The song had been banned in 1964 in apartheid South Africa, along with Randy Weston’s album Uhuru Afrika. The prohibition had made international headlines and was covered in a September 1964 issue of Downbeat magazine.

Ms.Horne’s striking beauty often overshadowed her talent, and she was remarkably candid about her feelings on this matter. “I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept,” she once said. “I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance, because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.”

She might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early. Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, and others have benefited from Horne’s pioneering contribution to the arts.

Jalali aka Norman Richmond will pay tribute to Lena Horne on Diasopric Music on Uhuru Radio, Sunday , May 23th. http://uhurunews.com/radio/show?show_id=dm

Segment #1: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) would have celebrated his 85th birthday on May 19th. He was assassinated 45 years ago on Feb. 21, 1965. Ossie Davis referred to Malcolm X as "Our Black Shining Prince". Malcolm's mother and father met at a UNIA convention in Montreal. They were married in Montreal, Quebec, Canada 10 May 1919. His mother Louise Helen Norton was born in 1897 in La Digue, St. Andrew, Grenada and died in 1991 in Woodland, Michigan. She lived 26 years longer than her son. His father Earl Little was born in Reynolds, Georgia in July of 1890, and was assassinated in Lansing, Michigan on Sept. 28, 1931. Wilferd Littte, Malcolm’s oldest brother says, “The story of her life was an epic one. The epic began in Grenada, continued in Canada, and ended here in the states. In all three countries there are parts of her life waiting to be resurrected.” Malcolm visited Toronto before he was assassinated. He spent time at the home of writer Austin Clarke and his wife Betty. Jan Carew’s book, Ghosts in Our Blood (With Malcolm X in Africa,England and the Caribbean) is a great resource on Malcolm’s mother. http://www.brothermalcolm.net/family/eldeath.html

Segment #2: Spotlight on Faith Nolan. Faith Nolan is an artist who is also a community builder. She is presently the director of Sing Elementary Teacher of Toronto and is in the process of founding a music therapy course for women prisoner in an Ontario jail. She has founded three Toronto based choirs, Sistering Singers, Mandela Children¹s Choir, and Voices of Freedom. In the late eighties she founded and directed Kingston Women Prisoners Choir. In 2004 Faith was on the Board of Mayworks, Toronto. She created Joint Effort in 1991. She was a founding member of the Black Women¹s Collective 1984 and Our Lives Newspaper 1986, Sisters Café 1991, MWIC in 1983-present, WRPM record distribution in 1995, Camp SIS 1995- present. She was on the Board with Charlie King, Pete Seeger in 1987 of the PMN. She is a composer and guitarist whose style varies from blues and folk, to jazz, with a taste of funk and reggae, is a seasoned performer who has built a strong and faithful audience.

Segment #3: Tribute to Ron Banks, William "Wee Gee" Howard, Elbert Wilkins, Lenny Mayes and The Dramatics. Ron Banks' silky falsetto helped give the Dramatics one of the most enduring careers in R&B. The Northern High School graduate was the founder of the Detroit vocal group, which made a name in the mid-'60s and went on to play for avid audiences around North America. Aside from a short break in the mid-1980s, the group has worked continuously since. William "Wee Gee" Howard shared leads with Banks on "In The Rain," "Thank You For Your Love," "Fall In Love, Lady Love," and "Hey You! Get Off My Mountain." Actually, Howard dedicated "Hey You! Get Off My Mountain" to the Toronto police department, when his set of Dramatics performed in Toronto. He felt he was unjustly harassed by Toronto's finest. Howard and Elbert Wilkins left the Dramatics and had a second set for a number of years. Howard was replaced by L.J. Reynolds and Wilkins spot was taken by Lenny Mayes. http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=dramatics-founder-ron-banks-at-58