DUBDEM: Música • Design • Sound System

Anarchist Africa is a track that was created to put forward another perspective of our African story and to simultaneously challenge the perspective we use to evaluate our African history.

Ras Isaacs, aka The Human Drum Loop, created the drumming pattern you hear hon his djembe and recorded it at the Dub Museum in Uganda.

The Dub Museum is best described as an Afreekan DiY performance space. There are no studio microphones or technician-designed soundproof walls. It is an open-air space built on bare earth.

Because the same space is used during daytime hours as a garage for mechanics and welders, the only time available for recording is at night. In this case, the session was at 4 AM, and both Ras Isaacs’ drum loops and Ras Kilomo’s vocals were recorded on a cellphone, picking up on the musicians as well as the sound of the cold Ugandan night air and the ambience of everyday life outside the Dub Museum that continues on while most of the neighbourhood is asleep.

Physically and virtually, the forces of IR::Sankara Future Dub Resurgence, Dhangsha, the Professor Of Dub and others in the Shadows teamed up to collaboratively create the track.

Ras Isaacs, aka The Human Drum Loop, created this drumming pattern on his djembe and recorded it at the Dub Museum in Uganda.

The Dub Museum is best described as an Afreekan DiY performance space. There are no studio microphones or technician-designed soundproof walls. It is an open-air space built on bare earth.

Lyrics

sometimes its necessary to question.
the paradigms that have been implanted in our minds
so we ask you to be pensive
as opposed to defensive
those who seek to reclaim our African glory
so often put
centralised african kingdoms
like kemet mali kush
at the center of their story
name checking kings and queens
to add to the sheen

but Africa was more than those
anarchist examples more common than we suppose

in fact
these centralised kingdoms were a minority

instead we can look at the igbo
a federation of autonomous communities
without kings queens chiefs
dont shake your head in disbelief

at one point 4 million people
organised into 2000 separate villages

should the presence and existence of a
Kingdom, empire, nation or state
radiating immense material wealth
be the yardstick we use to contemplate
our self worth
for this time we spend on earth

are we not detracting from those who did not choose to chase that
particular vision of glory?

Are we not detracting from African indigenous peoples
who chose instead to humbly respect and flow with the earth
acting as caregivers of this land
on which we stand!

Many will acknowledge on our African continent
we live within imposed colonial boundaries
artificial state constructs
Geographic lines drawn by others
which interfere with people's lives
while simultaneously
being a constant cause of strife

most African peoples were stateless prior to colonialism.
this stateless presence
often referred to as a sign of our so-called underdevelopment
a barometer of lower intelligence
but what if it was a conscious rejection of
Kingdoms, empires, nations, states,
And other political forms of centralized hierarchy

refusing to live a life of subjugation
insisting on African mutual aid
created by those unafraid
of social living,
communal living.

Peoples like
The Shona of Zimbabwe,
the Mano of Ivory Coast,
the Kusaasi of Ghana,
those of the highlands of Madgascar
and other African peoples
with anti-authoritarian philosophies of living together

yes indeed time to reshape the historical algorithm
do your on research
reach your own conclusion
and always be ready to shatter any illusions

as we challenge the framework
we ask you to be pensive
as opposed to being defensive

sometimes its necessary to question
the paradigms that have been implanted in our minds

When Visions Fall From Sky film

Lastly, this EP is incomplete without director Joshua Black Alibet's film visualization of the track “When Visions Fall From Sky.” Filmed on the beautiful Ugandan island of Senene, it uses the natural lighting of the early morning sunrise to create luminous, soft textures. It draws on the subtleties of the colour spectrum in ways that evoke Daughters Of The Dust (1991), a landmark work of African-American cinema in which director Julie Dash handled lighting in ways that caressed its Black protagonists in a beautifully affirming manner.

You can watch Alibet’s film here on vimeo.com/473864476