If the project of history is marked by catastrophe, of systematic thingification, the rendering of everything considered peripheral to the optic fantasy of civilisation (read whiteness) as objects to be manipulated in service of that fantasy. How then might the Black Sonic help fire a radical imagination that “flips that script” and begin a process of “smaddyisation”; becoming not a thing but a “smaddy” (Jamaican word for somebody). In this section we consider how people use sound, dress, and movement to both create and claim spaces to declare and display these newly imagined and reimagined somebodies.
Through the work of Rhea Storr we explore Carnival and Junkanoo practice(s) as a way to create these spaces. Through the work of DJ Lynnee Denise we explore the relationship between movement and sound as a kind of technology for accessing new types of being. With Zara Julius we listen to and experience sound as something tangible and visceral and Ashon Crawley takes us through his art practice(s) as a way to reconcile the past with the present.
CARNIVAL AND THE IMAGINATION OF THE BLACK RADICAL
In this visual essay produced specially for the project, Heresy as Heritage Rhea Storr, reflects on the Black Sonic, and the interview with Prof Bogues, her previous works Junkanoo Talks and A Protest, A Celebration a Mixed Message, her practices as a filmmaker and her relationship with carnival and junkanoo.
Taken together we begin to see Carnival and Junkanoo as sites of knowledge, as archives of skills and knowledge techniques; as heritage from which heresy is inherited. Storr positions junkanoo not only as a space in which to assert national and personal pride but also a conjunction point where the past is remembered, the present celebrated and possible futures imagined. Through junkanoo practices of costume making, dance and singing, ideas and knowledge about the world are shared with participants and told to the viewer through pageantry. This pageantry forms a new kind of commentary that articulates and asserts new, understandings of what it means to be human.
ELECTRIC RING SHOUT
Using archive footage DJ Lynnee Denise explores the symbiotic relationship between sound and movement. A relationship that provides a platform for people to transcend into new states of being and from within the safety of the Electric Ring Shout to assert and express these new identities.
DJ Lynnee Denise graciously sat down with us for a discursive conversation based on Electric Ring Shout. Here we discussed not only the relationship between sound and movement but also rhythm as heartbeat and how different modes of dance seek out different relationships with that beat and in so doing continuously find new ways to express being smaddy.
IN CONVERSATION WITH ZARA JULIUS
Zara Julius a social practice artist, cultural researcher and vinyl selector based in Johannesburg, shared with us their Black Sonic Playlist. This sometimes personal but always fascinating journey around Africa and the Diaspora used sound to both transport and locate us in specific geographies but also lift us to rapturous new heights and spaces.
Watch Zara Julius discuss her Black Sonic Playlist with the team. Run time 92mins
