Chale, we give t’anks for the returns.
We shall open this new cycle of programming with a month-long tribute to the almighty Mystic Revelation of Rastafari.
Founded in 1970 in the yard of Count Ossie at 32 Adastra Rd in Kingston, through the union of Ossie’s drummers with Cedric Brooks’ Mystics, the MRR quickly established as a platform for new arkestral possibilities (along the lines of Fela’s Africa 70, Sun Ra’s Arkestra or Jonas Gwangwa’s Amandla Cultural Ensemble), myth-science and ground-up politics (think Walter Rodney’s groundings which soon bring up Rodney Riots; think Kamau Brathwaite’s nation language which soon bring up dub poetry). And a pad for new trans-Atlantic crossings: see our mother here, Miriam Makeba, forever the black ethnographer, in Ossie’s yard in 1975 – flanked by masta-teacher Ossie and chief-orator Sam Clayton, holding a copy of the collective’s eternal sonic-manifesto “Grounation” (1973). Samora Machel himself dropped in to give thanks for the follow-up LP “Tales of Mozambique” (1975).
In celebration of the 50th year of “Grounation” we present a series of live radio broadcasts and concerts through February 2023:
– 09 Feb: A brief history of MRR – via PASS
– 22 Feb: Ancestry in motion, a conversation w Shabaka Hutchings – via PASS
– 24 Feb: Grounation – a tribute to the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, featuring Shabaka and the Ancestors with Teba (the original social worker). Chimurenga Factory – Woodstock, Cape Town. Pre-sold tickets R200 via Quicktet (qkt.io/EvMmff)
Save the dates! And stay up – sense soon come.
