Born on the planet Saturn, Sun Ra was a jazz composer of interplanetary significance, producing more than 200 albums throughout his illustrious career spanning six decades. As well as being a band leader of his Solar Myth Arkestra, which toured the world, including epic performances at The Pyramids, he also ran his own record label, and even starred in a film about his musical quest.
Sun Ra's unique musical vision paralleled his cosmic beliefs, that his mission on Earth was to liberate human kind through the healing powers of music. He incorporated African elements into his music, and taught black history and Egyptian mythology. His cosmic stage shows incorporated colourful processions of robed musicians chanting and drumming and playing frenzied, mesmeric solos amongst precisely notated orchestrations. Forever a musical pioneer, he was one of the first jazz musicians to experiment with electronic instruments, back in the 1950's long before the first synthesisers were commercially available.
After suffering a stroke, he departed this planet on 30th May 1993, aged eighty Earth years. I just noticed that "Sun T. Ra" is an anagram of "Saturn", if that helps, although I don't know what T would stand for, other than 'The'.
People on
this planet are
always dealing with Number
One. But 'one' represents the
past, as you can plainly see:
"Once upon a time" means something
that was, and not anything
that is. So therefore this
planet would have to stop
dealing with the word 'one'
& deal with the word 'two',
because two is
tomorrow,today.
Even time moves
in seconds, not
in firsts, and
they do say on
this planet:
"Tomorrow never
comes", and I
say again, of
course tomorrow
never comes to
a world in love
with the things
of yesterday.
Everybody's waiting for Number One
to return. I'm Number Two. Number One
is back there in "Once upon a time".
Number One will not be back, ever.
SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN
RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA SUN RA!
[Words of Sun Ra, the legendary jazz composer from Saturn, typeset by Spock for the Good of The Universe]
Space Is The Place*
film showing @ London's ICA 2004-05-03Wow. Went to London's
ICA to see a
very far out
Sun Ra film:
Space Is The
Place *.
This film is so far from the boring contemporary Hollywooden trash that
passes for cinema these days, that it is quite a shock to our 'modern'
thinking. And what a great shock that is.
It begins on Saturn, birthplace of this great jazz master, who is seen walking around a glorious garden of Eden, dressed in flowing silver robes and a gold Egyptian sphinx-like headdress, as strange rotating objects float in the air. He introduces the story of his journey to Earth to awaken its misguided people with music...
Thus ensues a battle between Sun Ra's forces of Good with The Overseer, an evil pimp-Daddy/Mr. Big figure, dressed in sharp white suit and shoes, red socks (yeah!), carrying a long cane and smoking fat cigars, a nasty piece of work indeed. Sun Ra flies his yellow pulsating Moonship to Earth and lands (superbly low-fi special effects from 1975!) causing earthquakes and a wave of mass hysteria and interest in this silver-suited man with magical powers. NASA and the FBI try and thwart his plans and steal his secrets. But Ra is determined to touch the hearts of the young oppressed black people who have been kept down by The Man. He sets up an Outer Space Employment Agency to allow people to come and work on Saturn, but most of the Earthlings are too hung up with their own issues and worldly folly to ever achieve self-realisation. The film is full of hilarious parodies of blaxploitation movies and the characters are larger than life, their behaviour quite scandalous to our 'politically-correct' sensibilities. The sets are magnificent in a low-budget Seventies way and the costumes of Ra's entourage, the Solar Myth Arkestra, are stunning, as are lots of great shots of Ra's cosmic spacecraft interior, complete with Minimoog Model D at the flightdeck controlling the ship (he used a rare Model B and Farfisa Professional organ on stage). I had hoped there would be more footage of his cosmic music, but much of it was just Ra reciting over frantic percussion and brass onslaughts. Instead this film is more about mythology, black oppression and some goddamn freaky clothes.
Are you ready for your Altered Destiny?
© copyright Malcolm Smith 2004-05-04 - last updated 2006-06-25 links verified 2006-06-25