1 Door Of The Cosmos by Sun Ra
I love Sun Ra: an African American musician who is considered the godfather of Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism as a philosophy is a huge inspiration in my work. It’s an opportunity for African Americans and people from the African diaspora to create new stories that reimagine a future that shines more luminously than our past. In Door Of The Cosmos the sound is very experimental and avant garde, using electronic instruments. There’s something limitless about it, a vibrant quality that connects me to a sense of boundless possibilities, a portal towards peace and creative freedom.
The lyrics go, ‘Love and life/Interested me so/That I dared to knock/At the door of the cosmos’. I use this track in my work Black Hole – it creates a sense of going on this epic journey together through the cosmos, that opens a portal towards new possibilities of how we can experience humanity.
2 Feeling Good by Nina Simone
Nina Simone is one of my heroes. Her voice carries such depth of the African American experience: growing up at the time of Jim Crow and segregation in the States, and deciding to travel out of America to create a sense of space for her creative expression, yet still very responsive as an activist towards the struggles of racism in this country and abroad. The weight of those issues comes out so profoundly in her voice. At the same time, she’s an incredible musician, a classical pianist who went to Juilliard. Feeling Good for me depicts the power of Black joy. I love the sense of rebirth and inspiration that we get from our relationship to nature. The lyrics resonate with a new dawn, a new day, a new life. It’s a reminder that each day is another chance and opportunity at Black joy – Feeling Good also sparks the present possibilities of hope and pleasure as power.
3 A Single Point Of Blinding Light by Ben Frost
Ben Frost is an Australian classical, minimalist, punk rock, black metal musician. I have a huge inspiration in techno, which is an electronic and dance music expression born from Black musicians from Detroit. In techno, there’s a lot of use of industrial tools and instruments to create a visceral soundscape.
I use this track in Touch of RED – it’s a section with a lot of chaotic movements and the sonic offering of A Single Point Of Blinding Light adds to the overwhelming, visceral experience. What resonates for me in A Single Point Of Blinding Light is its intensity, its polyrhythm, its chaos, its kaleidoscopic, underground vibrancy. It’s groovy but dissonant, a huge sonic experience.
4 let it sink in by Klein
Klein is wow! She’s a Nigerian British experimental electronic underground musician. I’m such an admirer of her music, which I use for the ending of my new work Marks of RED. Klein has this distinct sound that layers electronic music, R&B, noise and field recordings. Let it sink in is like a lullaby that resolves with this restful wave that washes over the space. At the end, she disturbs that harmony – because she’s a really good disrupter. She brings in the voice of what I imagine to be a little Black girl with a lullaby-like voice that then goes on an R&B riff that marks the space in a beautiful way. She’s awesome.
5 Godspeed by Frank Ocean
As a queer Black artist, what I really love about Frank Ocean is that his work explores themes of love and identity and heartbreak – he is able to capture personal experiences that jump through different time zones and connections. He has a sense of nostalgia, but also mundane daily activities and sexual explorations and a sense of dreaming towards a brighter future. Godspeed reminds me of the Black church, and like the Sun Ra or Nina Simone tracks, there’s a sense of hope, praise and grace, connecting this human experience to the divine.
