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This 66-minute documentary, explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical “black history month” documentary this film tackles the hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power.
Through the ‘marsh’ pit stomp and head banging beats we follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community.
The style of the documentary inter-cuts interviews from scores of black punk rockers from all over the nation (American) with scenes from our four protagonists’ lives. They come from different regions, generations, genders, and sexual preferences but their stories are amazingly similar.
Afro-Punk features performances by Bad Brains, Tamar Kali, Cipher, and Ten Grand. It also contains exclusive interviews by members of Fishbone, 247- spyz, Dead Kennedys, Candiria, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio….
Tamar-Kali is an authentic artist. A rare soul, her genre defying music runs the gamut of expression; from aggressive melodic rock to alterna-classical. Her haunting melodies and soul stirring vocals are the unifying threads that weave a sonic tapestry.
Her Nina Simone Tribute tour made my year (2009), she moved with an orchestra that and called on Nina from a pause before movement 1st and 4th.
Lyrics to ‘Servitude’ by Fishbone…
What, what will you write?
For whose pleasure, for whose delight?
Will your readers see your light?
Will you say…That the singer can’t blow you away?
That we hate people just ’cause they’re gay
Women and children all stay away
To whom, whom do you pray?
Do dollars wash your sins away?
Does God love cold hard cash?
Do you say…If we all just continue to pay
All our ailments will go away
And our souls will be saved
Chatting to Andy the other day (I chat a lot) I discovered that he too loves music of all genres. I am constantly surprised by the lyrics and experimentation in all forms, just when I think I know where someone is taking a song, they veer off that path.
Punk for me, has answered a lot of questions, it’s made being an alien acceptable- for a while I guess as a teen I had punk rock as a religion- which was a world of a different to jazz and classical music, but so the same.
For this and “White Lies, Black Sheep’ I thank my ‘white brother’ James Spooner.
Always a good job right here. Keep rolling on tohugrh.
Articles like these put the consumer in the drveir seat-very important.