Popular Post DuckToller Posted February 1, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted February 1, 2021 A piece of haunting beauty, part of the Makarrata Project, written by Peter Garrett and the late Bones Hillmen (May 1958 – 7 November 2020), sung by the Wergaia women & singer/songwriter Alice Skye. For getting a better understanding, here's a link to a recent reportage at the Guardian These are the words: You can't think about the future still running from the past Tall tales lie in history and flames burn through the memories There's a country that is aching for a way to call its own You can feel the mansions shaking as the first real seed is sown Now you can't talk about the future if you're running from the past It’s a terror in Australia, jails and guns and failure [Pre-Chorus] Can you see the ships a coming, stately through the heads? And arched out over the white sails is the merchant’s flag of red Now Captain Cook spawns Captain Coke and beer flows over rum In a twinkling of an eye, my friend, they spent your dollars very well [Chorus] And those traditions they can't sell sit silent in the sun Where ignorance and wealth combine to crush the fruit upon the vine It’s a terror in Australia [Verse 2] And those traditions they can't sell sit silent in the sun Where ignorance and wealth combine to crush the fruit upon the vine You can't think about the future still running from the past It’s a terror in Australia, jails and guns and failure [Outro] It’s a terror in Australia It’s a terror in Australia It’s a terror in Australia I plan to include this song in an upcoming review, I have included the song "Melbourne" from Alice Skye already with the A80 review in my blog. semente, christopher3393 and sphinxsix 1 2 Link to comment
Popular Post DuckToller Posted April 13, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2021 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/13/right-wing-take-over-protest-music-bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-american-politics Rockin' in the free world? Inside the rightwing takeover of protest music Bruce Springsteen in 1984, the year of Born in the USA, which was appropriated by the right. Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage It’s easy to laugh at hardcore patriots misunderstanding Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, but such appropriation is increasingly widespread – and dangerously twisting the truth ..... orresearch, christopher3393 and semente 3 Link to comment
Popular Post DuckToller Posted April 13, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2021 Fresh fruit for rotten vegetables, Botrytis! My preference here: Holiday in Cambodia, perhaps as well in a cover version by Sister Double Happiness semente and sphinxsix 2 Link to comment
Popular Post DuckToller Posted December 6, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 6, 2022 1 hour ago, semente said: Meet Linton Kwesi Johnson: Many of Linton Kwesi Johnson’s early poems deal with the conflict between members of the black British community and a police force which, in the 1970s in particular, was guilty of institutionalised racism. ‘Sonny’s Lettah’ draws attention to the Sus, or ‘Suspected Person’, Law, which in effect led to police stopping, searching and arresting a disproportionate number of black youths. Johnson translates a typical written form – the letter – into an oral tale, differentiating the stanzas of the poem through rhythm, timbre and intonation in performance. Sonny’s report to his mother on the attack suffered by his little brother and his own impulsive reaction to the policemen’s violence begins with conventional, affectionate but respectful formality. As the violence is described, however, the beat of the poem becomes more emphatic and the conflict is captured in the rhythm Johnson creates. As the poem progresses we learn that one of the policemen has died and Sonny has been charged with murder. The alternate ‘an’ and ‘mi’ lines describing the fight create a picture of a macabre rhythmical dance with a deeply tragic end when the policeman, ‘an crash/an ded’. The poem concludes with a return to the affectionate formality of the opening. https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/sonny-lettah/ Dear Mama, Good Day. I hope dat wen deze few lines reach yu, they may find yu in di bes af helt. Mama, I really don’t know how fi tell yu dis, cause I did mek a salim pramis fi tek care a likkle Jim an try mi bes fi look out fi him. Mama, I really did try mi bes, but nondiles mi sarry fi tell you seh poor likkle Jim get arres. It woz di miggle a di rush howah wen evrybady jus a hosel an a bosel fi goh home fi dem evenin showah; mi an Jim stand up waitin pan a bus, nat cauzin no fus, wen all af a sudden a police van pull-up. Out jump tree policeman, di hole a dem carryin batan. Dem waak straight up to mi an Jim. One a dem hol awn to Jim seh him tekin him in; Jim tell him fi let goh a him far him noh dhu notn an him naw teef, nat even a butn. Jim start to wriggle di police start to giggle. Mama, mek I tell yu whe dem dhu to Jim Mama, mek I tell yu whe dem dhu to him: dem tump him in him belly an it turn to jelly dem lick him pan him back and him rib get pap dem lick him pan him hed but it tuff like led dem kick him in him seed an it started to bleed Mama, I jus coudn stan-up deh and noh dhu notn: soh me jook one in him eye an him started to cry mi tump one in him mout an him started to shout mi kick one pan him shin an him started to spin mi tump him pan him chin an him drap pan a bin an crash an ded. Mama, more policeman come dung an beat mi to di grung; dem charge Jim fi sus, dem charge me fi murdah. Mama, don fret, dont get depres an doun-hearted. Be af good courage till I hear fram you. I remain your son, Sonny LKJ was my first encounter with spoken word / dub in 1979/1980. It shaped my sensibility on the subjects he sings about, at least it had then ... christopher3393, semente, orresearch and 1 other 2 1 1 Link to comment
Popular Post DuckToller Posted December 6, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 6, 2022 On 7/10/2022 at 8:20 PM, Iving said: Can protest songs really make a difference? A project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, has analysed protest songs from the 1600s to today, creating the first official database of English protest songs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-62086924 [Just refresh if Sign-In pop-up] Here's the missing link https://oursubversivevoice.com/ christopher3393, sphinxsix, orresearch and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment
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