Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The (1st) Swirled Beat- Gil Scott-Heron


The “Swirled Beat” by Sunny Sun-Downer (as it appears in the March 18th issue of the Desert Valley Star- also viewable at www.desertvalleystar.com
(I’ve chosen to name this new DVS/AFJ music column after a show I did on community-sponsored radio back in the 80’s, that mainly featured “world beat” music such as Reggae, African, Jazz-Rock and the Roots of “Conchus” Hip-Hop/Rap. It therefore seems quite appropriate to start it out featuring the “Father of Spoken Word-Neo Soul,” Gil Scott-Heron)

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (and Neither Will the Coachella Festival!)

Gil Scott-Heron is one of my heroes for speaking out in his unique musical style, against the oppression of “the establishment” ever since my “formative years” in high school in the early 70’s.
He was born on April 1 (no fooling!), 1949 to Bobbie Scott-Heron, who sang with the New York Oratorical Society. His father, Giles “Gil” Heron was of Jamaican descent and was nick-named “The Black Arrow”- famous in the soccer world as the first black athlete to play for Scotland’s Glasgow Celtic Football Club.
Gil is an American Poet, musician and author who formed his first music group, “Black and Blues” with Brooklyn-based musician Brian Jackson. He ploughed the way for future artists of the “spoken word soul performance” genre with his early recordings such as 1971’s “Pieces of a Man” and 1974’s “Winter in America.” This new musical style that they pioneered was a combination of jazz, blues and soul music with lyrics that addressed the social and political issues of the time, conveyed in a “rapping” and “melismatic” or “melodic embellishment” style. An All Music Guide (now Allmusic) critic recently wrote of his influence, “Scott-Heron’s unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists.”
In his younger years, he admired the spoken-word-blues-poet Langston Hughes and followed in his footsteps by enrolling in Lincoln University in PA. At age 20 he finished his first novel, “The Vulture,” which was an auspicious beginning, as it was called “a strong start for a writer with important things to say.” At the same time he’d written his first book of poetry, “Small Talk at 125th and Lenox,” which later became the name of his first record album. As he was emerging in the early 70’s there was a profound shift occurring, as the struggle for civil rights was giving way to the demand for “Black Power.” The civil rights movement had lost its focus, as it was ripped apart by internal competing factions, while its leaders were silenced by bullets and jail. Black popular music of the time reflected what was going on politically, and it started to focus less on the civil rights theme of “brotherhood” as it got more aggressive. Leading the attack was this young, articulate, and enraged “soul brother,” Gil Scott-Heron, who was said to have started fusing the free form jazz of John Coltrane with the revolution-stoking speeches of Malcolm X.
His music is often associated with “Black Militant” activism and he’s received much critical acclaim for his hallmark song attacking oppression and media-domination of Americans, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” It caught my attention from the first listen with such lyrics as: “Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane on (the soap opera) Search for Tomorrow, because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day… The revolution will not be televised.”
From a highly-recommended series of videos available for free on Youtube called, “Originals: Gil Scott-Heron” comes this quote from Gil regarding black people: “Watching television was not going to accomplish anything. The change that was going to take place was going to take place in their minds.”
He then went on to record 12 albums for Arista Records in the 80’s, followed by a 12 year break from recording, though he still toured. He then signed to TVT Records in 1993 and released his album called, “Spirits,” with the first track, “Message to the Messengers” being a criticism of rap music artists of the day direct from the “Godfather of Rap,” that urged them to take responsibility for their art and in their communities; To speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more artistic and articulate. He later said in an interview about rap artists:
“They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There’s a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There’s not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don’t really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing.”
Like too many artists, he too had a battle with drug addiction, and has spent time in prison for the “crime” of cocaine possession, which personally makes me sick. It’s indicative of another social ill in our dysfunctional society, because drug addiction needs to be treated as a disease and a health issue, not a criminal issue. This all-the-more shows the need to speak out with the words from the poet, against a system of separate-ness and non-equality.
Since then, he’s returned to play to sell-out crowds all over the world, performing at major festivals in England and the United States, including New York’s Central Park. Just as occurred with Leonard Cohen, another “Father” of the Spoken Word genre, playing to thousands at last year’s Coachella Music Festival, we have a chance to see this Living Legend in the flesh, this April 18 at the same venue, a couple of weeks after he turns 71 years young! (…and it won’t be televised- at least not live!)
His influence is seen popping up all over, and by chance I just happened upon a mention of the “Revolution being televised” at the beginning of a video on Youtube called “Beautiful,” by Bob Marley’s youngest son, Grammy Award-Winner Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley. Now, speaking of these artists following in Gil’s footsteps, I met a wonderful spoken word artist who performed at the recent celebration of the Legend Bob Marley, the “Raggamuffins Festival” in Long Beach (and if you missed it, do not fail to put it on your calendar for next February!) Sufia Giza’s newest CD called “Sankofa Times,” not only honors Mr. Scott-Heron in her song, “Armchair Revolutionaries” but also the afore-mentioned poet Hughes in “Langston’s Blues” where she intones “Hughes sang the blues, So that We wouldn’t have to…” Her call to “remember the past, but move into the future” via her inspirationally-positive poetry is laid down over some hard-driving roots reggae background music with seasoned professionals such as my old friends Carlton “Santa” Davis, the drummer from the Peter Tosh Band, among others, and Lesterfari, from the early days of L.A. reggae with bands like the Third I Band and Matuzelum. Please check out her dance-able “conchus lyrics” at www.unityworksmusic.com and www.myspace.com/sufiagiza
-Sunny Sun-Downer can be reached at conchustimes@yahoo.com and his articles for the DVS/AFJ are archived at www.conchustimes.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Dread-I said...

Gil is one of my greatest musical inspirations! It's crazy and cool that I was born the year that "Pieces of A Man" came out! This my put some of the pieces back together for me?

OneLove. . .Dread-I->->->