The sound of revolt. A political history of black American music / Christophe Ylla-Somers / The word and the rest / 462 pages / 30 euros
On March 6, 1971, the American group Staple Singers sang in Independence Square in Accra, Ghana. Bringing together thousands of spectators, the event is doubly political. First, it marks the anniversary of the independence of the country, the first to have freed itself from colonial yoke in 1957. Secondly, it gives the floor to pan-African artists. At the heart of the concert, the title “When Will We Be Paid” is a pro-reparations rant. “When will we be paid for the work we have doneasks the group, we, who built our country? »
The Staple Singers, Miles Davis and Nina Simone are among the many characters in the Sound of revolta rich synthesis that Christophe Ylla-Somers devotes to the political making of African-American music. Following the chronology, the author returns to different currents, which he links to their development context. His story addresses the black church, a place of spirituals, where the pastor became a political leader and musician. Then he evokes the blues, of which he forcefully shows the subversive power of the lyrics, all in double meaning.
Jazz is then explored – the jazz age of big cities, bebop looking towards the civil rights movement, hard bop and free jazz imbued with Black Power –, soul and its black entrepreneurs, and funk, where reigns , among others, George Clinton, Afro-futurist guide who dreams of an African-American nation « under a groove »autonomous and self-sufficient.
Appropriations
Finally, the book looks at the beginnings of hip-hop, analyzes the influence of the Black Lives Matter movements and offers a detailed analysis of Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, an effort to reverse the dynamics of cultural appropriations, which we have already mentioned in these pages.
On the same subject: Cowboy Beyoncé
Along the way, the route proposed by Christophe Ylla-Somers poses a fascinating question and provocative. “In the United States, explains the author, quoting the African-American intellectual Nelson George, black people create and then move on. White people document and recycle. » So what happens when protest music finds itself overtaken by the logic of commercialization and globalization of art? What happens when these are museumified by those against whom they were created?
At a time when the monster of capitalism continues to devour everything in its path, the work invites us to reflect on the destins complexes of these rebellious sounds, between insubordination and mainstream.
Receive Politis at your home every week!
