XOLISA
The Africa Film Academy
Short Film Script Competition
($5,000 top prize | Africa-wide)
Deadline: 30 November 2012
(Note: There is a submission fee of $20. Please participate with caution.)
The Africa Film Academy is inviting entries for their Short Film Script Competition. Write an effective plot twist, create unbearable suspense, design an exciting action sequence, create a high concept, use diversion & anticipation to make your script unpredictable, and create great heroes and villains of Africa.
The selected scriptwriters will be invited to a script workshop to finally develop the scripts for shooting. Films made from this workshop will be available online at the AMAAPlus website. Winner will receive $5,000 and a trip to the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2013.
- The theme: My Beautiful Africa.
- Entries are invited from all parts of Africa.
- There is a submission fee of $20, but films will be shot at the cost of the Academy.
- Winners will be chosen via online voting.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: info@ama-awards.com or tolani@ama-awards.com
Website: http://www.ama-awards.com/
Benu Press
Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Benu Press is given annually for a book of creative nonfiction. Submit a manuscript of 144 to 350 pages with a $15 entry fee before October 11 and $25 thereafter. The deadline is November 11. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.
Benu Press, Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Nonfiction, P.O. Box 5330, Hopkins, MN 55343. Le Roy Chappell, Contact.
via pw.org
Call for Submissions:
Gallimaufry Journal of Creative Writing
and Art Issue 2 (Morocco/ Africa-wide)
Deadline: 15 December 2012
Launched in Spring 2012, Gallimaufry is a creative writing and art journal by students. It is a platform for students to show their creativity.
Asking yourself what does Gallimaufry mean? It means a motley mixture of things. For us, it is a mixture of creative writings, photos, paintings, colors, and languages.
Gallimaufry is an open outlet for self-expressions, creative imagination, and inked voices within the students’ creative scene. If you are a lover of words, Gallimaufry offers you a variety of creative pieces, prose and poetry that can take your breath or drive you crazy. Going even further to physics and philosophy, you will find it between the lines of our stories.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:Whatever kind of artist or writer you are, Gallimaufry invites you to submit your work for its second issue.
Gallimaufry considers unsolicited submissions of prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and visual art for every issue. We publish mainly in Arabic, English, and French but we accept all other languages, even Chinese! We seek to publish quality writing. Please review website publications for an idea of the caliber of writing we expect to receive. We do not consider previously published work. We encourage writers to read our http://gallimaufryjournal.tumblr.com/vision and to order previous issues to familiarize themselves with what we will publish.
We accept submissions all the year round; however, we have reading periods. Please check the editorial calendar for more information on our reading periods as they change every time.
Please send a submission in an e-mail that provides:
Upon selection, you will be asked to provide a short biography.
- A single .doc or .docx document that follows our guidelines below. Do not send PDFs.
- A single .jpg document that follows our http://gallimaufryjournal.tumblr.com/guidelines. Do not send photographs embedded in .DOC OR .PDF files.
- All files should be named as the following: Piece Name_ Dossier Name. The ‘piece name’ is the name you chose for your creative writing or artistic piece. And the ‘dossier name’ is either Literature or Art.
GUIDELINES:
Submissions of multiple pieces at once will be ignored. All pieces must be submitted in separate documents. All pieces should have a title, date, and a short description.
- Prose: We accept all creative pieces for fiction and nonfiction prose. All pieces must be typed and formatted using the same font and police.
- Fiction: We accept all creative fiction pieces. Please submit one prose piece at a time. Submissions of
- multiple unrelated pieces will be ignored. The length is not important.
- Nonfiction: We accept pieces of personal essays, memoir, profiles, and other nonfictions pieces. However, we don’t accept academic essays or opinion pieces written as for magazines and academic journals. Please submit one prose piece at a time. Submissions of multiple unrelated pieces will be ignored. The length is not important.
- Poetry: We accept all creative pieces for fiction and nonfiction poetry. All pieces must be typed and formatted using the same font and police. Please submit one poetry piece at a time. Submissions of multiple unrelated pieces will be ignored. The length is not important.
- Art: We are open to any form of artwork. Our issues include photography, sketches, paintings, digital media, and images of various installations and sculptures.There is no limit for the number of pieces submitted, however:
Photographs and other pictures of other works should have a resolution of 300 dots per inch (DPI) for printing. We prefer that you submit photographs, ideally from 5 to ten photographs, that have a theme. This could be, for example, urban geography, childhood, food, faces, nature, etc. Color, black and white photographs are accepted.
JOIN THE FRENCH EDITORIAL TEAM:
As we are expanding our editorial team, we invite all students to take a look at our vacancies. Interested persons are highly encouraged to apply. No requirements other than holding the status of ‘student’ (high school,and university). Download the application form here. Deadline for applications is October 15th.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: gallimaufryjournal@gmail.com
Website: http://gallimaufryjournal.tumblr.com
SISTERS IN THE STRUGGLE
By Dionne Brand
& Ginny Stikeman
<p>Sisters in the Struggle by Dionne Brand & by Ginny Stikeman, National Film Board of Canada</p>
This short documentary features Black women active in politics as well as community, labour and feminist organizing. They share their insights and personal testimonies on the double legacy of racism and sexism, linking their personal struggles with the ongoing battle to end systemic discrimination and violence against women and people of colour.
via nfb.ca
Poet Dionne Brand reads the poem "ossuary VIII" from Ossuaries, winner of the 2011 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.
Canadian poet Dionne Brand reads from the poem "thirsty" from the collection thirsty, shortlisted for the 2003 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Learn more about the Griffin Poetry Prize athttp://www.griffinpoetryprize.com.
DIONNE BRAND
Biography / Criticism
Born in Guayguayare, Trinidad in 1953, Dionne Brand moved to Toronto, Canada after graduating from Naparima Girls' High School in 1970. She earned her B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Toronto and M.A. in the Philosophy of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She has taught English Literature and Creative Writing at Guelph, York, and Toronto Universities and poetry writing at West Coast Women and Words Summer School in Vancouver, as well as at the Humber School of Writing in Toronto. She was a Writer in Residence both at the University of Toronto and at the Halifax City Regional Library.
In addition to being a writer, Brand is a social activist who contributes greatly to black and feminist communities. As Carmen Lassotta explains, Brand has been a member of the Communist Party of Canada, and remains committed to Marxist ideas, particularly to the principles of equal distribution of the world's wealth and ending the exploitation of the labor of the majority of the world's peoples.
In addition to teaching, Brand has worked as an editor, writer, and researcher for a number of alternative journals and papers, including Spear, Fuse Magazine, Network, the Harriet Tubman Review, Poetry Canada Review, and Canadian Women's Studies and Resources for Feminist Research. She was the founding member and editor of Our Lives, Canada's first black women's newspaper. Her political and social work includes chairing the Women's Issues Committee of the Ontario Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, helping to organize the Black and Native Women's Caucus of the International Women's Day Coalition, working for Toronto's Black Education Project, and serving on the board of the Shirley Samaroo House, a Toronto shelter for battered immigrant women. She has also been a counselor at the Immigrant Women's Center and an Information Officer for the Caribbean Peoples' Development Agencies.Brand conveys her politics in her poetry, essays, and films, as well as through her community activism. Primitive Offensive and Winter Epigrams and Epigrams to Ernesto Cardenal in Defense of Claudia are her first two books of poetry that deal explicitly with political issues. They especially address colonial oppression and imperialism. Her subsequently published book, Chronicles of the Hostile Sun, is a reaction to the U.S. invasion of Grenada. In her writing, Brand also shares her theories about what it means to identify oneself as "multicultural" and her own experiences as a Canadian immigrant and as a lesbian.
Brand situates her writing internationally, in the context of literature by other racial minority authors. In commenting on her influences, she has said, "What some white reviewers lack is the sense of what literature that is made by Black people and other people of colour is about. If you read my work, you have to read Toni Morrison . . . Derek Walcott, Rosa Guy, Jean Rhys, Edie Brathwaite, and African writers and poets . . . I'm sitting right in the middle of Black Literature, because that's who I read, that's who I respond to" (Books in Canada, October 1990: 14).
Selected Bibliography
Works by the Author
- Thirsty (2002)
- A Map to the Door of No Return (2001)
- At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999)
- Land To Light On (1997)
- In Another Place, Not Here (1997)
- Bread out of Stone: Recollections, Sex, Recognitions, Race, Dreaming, Politics (1994)
- Long Time Comin' (1993)
- No Burden to Carry (1991)
- Sisters in Struggle (1991)
- No Language is Neutral (1990)
- Sans Souci, and Other Stories (1989)
- Rivers Have Sources, Trees Have Roots: Speaking of Racism (1986)
- Chronicles of the Hostile Sun (1984)
- Winter Epigrams and Epigrams to Ernesto Cardenal in Defense of Claudia (1982)
- Primitive Offensive (1982)
- Fore Day Morning (1978)
- Earth Magic (1978)
Works about the Author
- Birbalsingh, Frank. “Dionne Brand: No Language Is Neutral.” Frontiers of Caribbean Literatures in English. Ed. Frank Birbalsingh. New York: St. Martin's, 1996. 120-137.
- Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. “Dionne Brand's Winter Epigrams.” Canadian Literature 105 (1985): 18-30.
- Brydon, Diana. “Reading Dionne Brand's 'Blues Spiritual for Mammy Prater. '” Inside the Poem: Essays and Poems in Honour of Donald Stephens. Ed. W. H. New. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1992. 81-87.
- Carrie, Marie. “L'Errance identitaire dans les textes migrants du Québec et du Canada anglais.” Etudes Canadiennes/Canadian Studies: Revue Interdisciplinaire des Etudes Canadiennes en France 54 (2003): 93-103.
- Casas, Maria. “Codes as Identity: The Bilingual Representation of a Fragmented Literary Subject.” Language and Discourse 2 (1994): 54-61.
- Daurio, Beverley “Writing It: Dionne Brand.” The Power to Bend Spoons: Interviews with Canadian Novelists. Ed. Beverley Daurio. Toronto, ON: Mercury, 1998. 31-41.
- Forster, Sophia. “'Inventory Is Useless Now but Just to Say': The Politics of Ambivalence in Dionne Brand's Land to Light On.” Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en Littérature Canadienne 27.2 (2002): 160-82.
- Freiwald, Bina Toledo. “Cartographies of Be/Longing: Dionne Brand's ‘In Another Place, Not Here. '” Mapping Canadian Cultural Space: Essays on Canadian Literature. Ed. Danielle Schaub. Jerusalem, Israel: Magnes, 1998. 37-53.
- Garvey, Johanna. “'The Place She Miss': Exile, Memory, and Resistance In Dionne Brand's Fiction.” Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters 26.2 (2003): 486-503.
- Georgis, Dina. Mother Nations and the Persistence of 'Not Here'. Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 20.2 (2000): 27-34.
- Gingell, Susan. “Returning to Come Forward: Dionne Brand Confronts Derek Walcott.” Journal of West Indian Literature 6.2 (1994): 43-53.
- Hunter, Lynette. “After Modernism: Alternative Voices in the Writings of Dionne Brand, Claire Brand, Claire Harris, and Marlene Philip.” University of Toronto Quarterly: A Canadian Journal of the Humanities 62:2 (1992-1993): 256-81.
- Luft, Joanna. “Elizete and Verlia Go to Toronto: Caribbean Immigrant Sensibilities at 'Home' and Overseas in Dionne Brand's In Another Place, Not Here.” Essays on Canadian Writing 77 (2002): 26-49.
- McCallum, Pamela and Christian Olbey. “Written in the Scars: History, Genre, and Materiality in Dionne Brand's ‘In Another Place, Not Here. '” Essays on Canadian Writing 68 (1999): 159-82.
- Renk, Kathleen J. 'Her Words Are Like Fire': The Storytelling Magic of Dionne Brand. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature 27.4 (1996): 97-111.
- Sanders, Leslie. “'I Am Stateless Anyway': The Poetry of Dionne Brand.” Zora Neale Hurston Forum 3.2 (1989): 19-29.
- Sarbadhikary, Krishna. “Recovering History: The Poems of Dionne Brand.” Intersexions: Issues of Race and Gender in Canadian Women's Writing. Ed. Coomi S. Vevaina and Barbara Godard. Creative New Literatures Series. 7. New Delhi: Creative, 1996. 116-130.
- Smyth, Heather. Sexual Citizenship and Caribbean-Canadian Fiction: Dionne Brand's 'In Another Place, Not Here' and Shani Mootoo's 'Cereus Blooms at Night'. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature 30.2 (1999): 141-60.
- Sturgess, Charlotte. Dionne Brand: Writing the Margins. Caribbean Women Writers: Fiction in English. Ed. Mary Condé and Thorunn Lonsdale. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 202-216.
- -----. Dionne Brand's Short Stories: Warring Forces and Narrative Poetics. Anglophonia: French Journal of English Studies 1 (1997): 155-60.
- -----. Spirits and Transformation in Dionne Brand's Sans Souci and Other Stories. Etudes Canadiennes/Canadian Studies: Revue Interdisciplinaire des Etudes Canadiennes en France 35 (1993): 223-29.
- Thomas, H. Nigel. A Commentary on the Poetry of Dionne Brand. Kola: A Black Lit. Mag. (Montreal) 1.1 (1987): 51-61.
- Walcott, Rinaldo and Leslie Sanders. At the Full and Change of CanLit: An Interview with Dionne Brand. Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 20.2 (2000): 22-26.
- Wiens, Jason. 'Language Seemed to Split in Two': National Ambivalence(s) and Dionne Brand's 'No Language Is Neutral'. Essays on Canadian Writing 70 (2000): 81-102.
- Zackodnik, Teresa. 'I Am Blackening in My Way': Identity and Place in Dionne Brand's No Language Is Neutral. Essays on Canadian Writing 57 (1995): 194-211.
Related Links
University of Toronto Library: Canadian Poets
This page has a brief biography on Dionne Brand with a promise of more to come.Northwest Passages: Author Profiles
This biography includes a long quote from Brand, pinpointing the origins of her desire to write.Women Make Movies: Film with Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand
Information about Listening for Something: Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand in Conversation, a film by Brand.Report a dead link or suggest a new one by emailing voices@umn.edu.
Contributors
This page was researched and submitted by Eleanor Ty on 12/4/00 and edited and updated by Lauren Curtright on 8/20/04.
Crossing the Atlantic:
An African woman searching
for black heritage on Curaçao
Westpunt beach (photo Sanza) It's usually the other way around. African-Americans and Caribbeans going on a pilgrimage to Africa. But this time it's an African woman from Belgium crossing the Atlantic. This August Congolese-Belgian guest blogger Sanza traveled to Curaçao to find the African heritage. She tasted the food, met interesting people, but also felt the colonialism.
Eventually she found the connection and saw her desitiny written on a wall. Invited by Afro-Europe, she wrote a travel story and connected Africa and the Caribbean."Generally people were friendly, surprised and happy to learn I was from Congo.
Food was great and actually similar to West and Central African food. We also eat beans and rice, cornmeal (what they call fungi), cassava and plantains as well. I tasted Iguana soup in Jonchies restaurant near Westpunt and it was just good. Nothing special about it.
But there is something very colonial in the air. Black people are at the bottom of the society and the key functions are handled by whites. Even the labour unions from what I saw on TV. It's a very colonial society. It feels like they want to make it an island for the well being of the 'makambas' [a pejorative in Papiamentu for Dutch white people] and whites in general. Even the local music is not played in the cafés and pubs in town!!! I don't think i'm paranoid when I say the racism and the attempt to make the local black culture silent or disappear is very subtle. That's what makes me sometimes amazed and so sad at the same time about our people, we can be so proud of our survival and on the other hand we are still not free - even in many parts of Africa.
I had the chance to visit the Tula museum of slave revolt leader Tula and the garden of herbal woman Dinah Veeris. It was also very emotional because those women were literally happy to see someone from the motherland being interested in the survival of African culture. I think I made strong connection with them. By the way, the Tula museum and the Tula statue are mentioned nowhere in the city, or in the tourist books. Unfortunately I missed the unofficial ceremony in memory of Tula on the 18th of August. I got lost when I looked for the place.
Museum Tula (photo Sanza) Fortunately Jeanne Henriquez, the manager of the museum, showed me the place and also made me notice the picture of a black slave on the famous Penha building.
The Penha building in Punda with the symbol meaning that the family got wealthy thanks to slavery (photo Sanza)
I also met the owner of Landhuis Habaai, an art gallery. I learned Tambù time is in December.
Landhuis Habaai
I also met the owner of a Surinamese restaurant (Ruytters cafe I think) in Punda and he treated me like a princess when he found out I was from the motherland!I felt home amongst the people in Curaçao, only the language was a barrier. Everybody assumed I was from there until I started to speak. I'm telling you, we are definitely one in spite of all the differences we may have.
A writing on the wall near Punda over the bonds between Africa and Curaçao. And that writing mentioning Congo!!! I had to go to there, it was part of my destiny indeed (photo Sanza)
8 days were definitely too short because I was just starting to meet afrocentric/ afroconscious people.I personally think that blacks like me who are directely from the motherland should travel and meet the diaspora much more than we are doing now. I think you'll see more Caribbeans or Afro-americans considering going or going to Africa, than the reverse. I can still feel the benefits for me and the people I met."
The Narrative of
Sojourner Truth
Dictated by Sojourner Truth (ca.1797-1883);
edited by Olive Gilbert;
Appendix by Theodore D. Weld.
Boston: The Author, 1850.
NARRATIVE
OF
SOJOURNER TRUTH,
A
NORTHERN SLAVE,
EMANCIPATED FROM BODILY SERVITUDE BY THE STATE OF
NEW YORK, IN 1828.
WITH A PORTRAIT.
| "SWEET is the virgin honey, though the wild bee store it in a reed; |
| And bright the jewelled band that circleth an Ethiop's arm; |
| Pure are the grains of gold in the turbid stream of the Ganges; |
| And fair the living flowers that spring from the dull cold sod. |
| Wherefore, thou gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech, |
| For I also am as thou art; our hearts can commune together: |
| To meanest matters will I stoop, for mean is the lot of mortal; |
| I will rise to noblest themes, for the soul hath a heritage of glory." |
BOSTON:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1850.
J. B. YERRINTON AND SON, PRINTERS,
21 CORNHILL, BOSTON.
CONTENTS
[Table of contents created for the on-line edition.]
>via: http://ht.ly/aSau2#
0.00 / 1.06.17
Osunlade presents A Sheltered Paradise
01 Aki Bergen "City Night Crowd"
02 Andre Lodeman "Together"
03 Nzino & Frank "Gold And Sand"
04 Gentle Aura "Darness Falls" (Suite 2216 Mix)
05 Rocco & C. Robert Walker "I Love The Night" (Atjazz Main Mix)
06 Charles Webster ft Diviniti "Learning To Love" (P's Deep Soul Mix)
07 Barrytone "The Endless Autumn"
08 De Capo "Be Mine"
09 Karizma "Exist Looking At Blue Um"
10 C 9ine "Chasing" (Atjazz Remix)
11 Fiso Da Costa "Ibizwa Ngantoni Lento" ft Slondy
compiled and mixed by Osunlade
recorded in Imerovigli, Santorini
__________________________
Osunlade: Music for the Gods
The producer had his life changed more than a decade ago when he began to work for himself. It will change once again later this year when he releases his first acoustic-based album. We catch up to take stock with perhaps the most spiritual man in deep house.
For fans of soulful house music, Osunlade is something of a legend. But it took many years for the producer to become an accepted force in the scene. Hailing from neither New York nor Chicago, Osunlade spent much of the '90s cutting his teeth in the major label business, crafting tracks for others, his name buried in the credits. All of that changed, however, around the turn of the millennium when he began to practice the African tradition of Ifá and struck out on his own with Yoruba Records.
Since then, Osunlade has become a deep house force, working with labels like Soul Jazz, BBE and Strictly Rhythm, as well as leading an imprint that has taken plenty of influence from sounds—and artists—from around the world. Perhaps the imprint's largest success, in fact, comes from Afefe Iku, an African producer, whose "Mirror Dance" caught the ears of DJs from a variety of genres and was licensed for numerous compilations, including secretsundaze's Volume 2. We caught up with the producer in advance of his first appearance in London for the crew to talk about his two new albums, why he thought Iku's "BodyDrummin" would be much bigger than "Mirror Dance" and how Ifá changed his life.
"Every time I would turn
around, there was something
associated with Ifá,
guiding me toward it."
around, there was something
associated with Ifá,
guiding me toward it."
You're based in Greece nowadays. I know you grew up in the States, and spent some time in Puerto Rico.
Yes. It'll be five years in January that I've been in Greece.
Will you ever come back to the States, do you think?
Never. I will stay in Greece. That's my home.
Why did you love it so much there?
The island of Santorini is peaceful, it's quiet. There's not a lot going on. It's perfect for my life. I have a real personal connection with the place—and the energy of the island. It took three days, but I knew quite quickly that it was the place for me. There are only about 9,000 people on the island. Lots of farmers. Lots of wineries. It's great for me, for peace of mind, for working on music. And it's perfect for balance in my life. I get enough chaos when I'm touring that when I get home, I want to be home.
You've been touring North America over the past few weeks. Were there any gigs that stood out to you?
Las Vegas. I'm not a fan of Vegas, but I was really surprised. The promoters have a really good party at The Palms. It's a pretty well-known hotspot, so I expected it to be very much not my type of place, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed. The party was on the rooftop of the hotel, and we had a nice view of the city. I'd never done a party that was in a place that was so commercial that wasn't a commercial party. If that makes any sense.
You grew up in St. Louis, which is quite close to Chicago. Were you going to the city and to parties and record stores when you were growing up?
Not to parties, no. Every summer, though, I would end up going to Chicago. So I grew up around the movement that was electronic music in Chicago. But back then it was all about the radio. It provided everything you needed for the music.
How has radio changed in America since then?
It's not the same at all. It's non-existent. It's all Clear Channel-owned bullshit. Sponsored, garbage, pop music.
But, of course, you worked with major labels quite a bit over the years. Not so much anymore, though. Are you still doing major label things?
Not as much, no. I don't really find that there are artists, labels or A&R's that really understand the integrity of music. Most of the people running the business these days are kids, most of the artists are kids. It's a younger generation that is catering to a younger generation. I think the music business itself is non-existent.
Do you find that your music is connecting with younger kids?
Yeah, I think so. When you say it's younger, though, I don't think it's the kids listening to the radio or watching MTV. It's the kids that are now turning 25 and looking for a little bit more substance than what they're used to hearing. I even see it in the clubs where a lot of the kids are coming from this hip-hop background and they're just now discovering house. And that's really inspiring, because most of the people that listen to house music are pretty much older—they're in their 30s now—and with a younger generation coming to this music, it will only help and expand what we do.
Are there particular places in the world that seem more receptive than others to what you're doing?
Asian countries and European countries.
What Asian countries?
Indonesia and Singapore. Both have small, but very good, scenes. Recently I've been out there quite a bit. Zouk, of course, is the place in Singapore. And, in Indonesia, it's an open field. They have a few big clubs, but it's mostly around the promoters. They do things at several different places, which is a good thing because they're bringing what I do to lots of different audiences.
What is so special about Zouk? I've never been there, but I've heard such good things.
For me, it's the owner, Lincoln Cheng. He's one of the few people I've met in the world that is a true music lover, and does what they do because of their love of the music. You can see the love and the care that's put into the place because of that. It's the same thing in Indonesia. They're all of these young people doing clubs and venues there that are having the same type of appeal. It's all very passionate, and doesn't have much to do with the money.
Speaking of the music, let's talk about your label. What's up next on Yoruba?
I have two albums coming out. One is for me, my first album. It's a soul, acoustic thing called Rebirth, and it will be released in November. The second is another house album that I'm currently finishing up. It won't be out until spring of next year. There will be a single in March for that I think.
Do you have remixes lined up for the single?
No, not yet. I have a real issue with remixes these days. For me, remixes are so warranted these days, when they actually shouldn't be. I don't really get into it unless it's something that really needs to be done. I like them, but some songs are just better off left alone. So many people do things based on someone's name or sound that you kind of miss the whole point. And that's why I've been trying to release more albums over the past three years than singles. I want to try to get people out of this "buy this track" mentality. Because you don't get very much from an artist via one song. You don't get a vision.
Obviously you have had remixes, though, on the label.
Sure, but it's usually the furthest thing away from what I do. If it's something I can do, I'm not really impressed by it, you know? I can do it. So I'm looking for the type of thing that makes me go, "How the fuck did they dothat?" That's why I go for those people, because I know that no matter what I get from them, it'll be their thing. They're not going to give me me.
I wanted to talk to you briefly about your religion. Because I don't know very much about it.
Well, first: It's not a religion.
OK. What is it, then?
Well, Ifá is a way of life. It's a culture that's based on nature. It's very similar to Buddhism, with the addition of ancestral and indigenous ways, I guess.
How long have you been living in this culture?
Since 1997.
What drew you to it originally? How did you find out about it?
I attribute it to my ancestors. At one point in my life, everything, every person, every time I would turn around, there was someone or something that was associated with it, guiding me toward it, saying that this is something that I should be doing. And, actually, for a long time, I ran away from it. I've always been pretty open with my sixth sense, and realizing that there are things around. But when it was facing me, it was quite the challenge to accept. It was more being younger, and unwilling to accept that responsibility that comes with it.
What was the moment that spurred you to accept it?
It was a culmination of a few things, it wasn't one moment. It was where I was at a certain moment in my life. It was what I needed for balance. I had lost a lot, and just needed balance. And it was a submission that I needed to do to move to the next level for myself.
In my brief research on it, Ifá seems like a very intense thing to get involved with.
It is. It's a life-long endeavor. It's nothing overnight. You're always learning, you're always doing things. It's your connection with the source. Like when you were asking about it being a religion...there's no aggregator. No one can tell you about your connection with God. It's direct with you. But it is a constant work, a constant way of life. For me, personally, I realize every component of nature and things on this Earth as direct energy of whatever source or God there is that allows me to sustain my life. And I give reverence to that in every way every day. And recognizing the balance in harmony in those things has given me balance and harmony in my life.
How do you think your music has changed since you found Ifá?
It's definitely clearer. I don't think, anymore. Whatever comes out of me, comes out of me. Like you said before how I used to work for major labels and artists. All of those fabricated things. Those were parts of me, but they weren't all of me. It was a thing where I would produce something because I liked the artist, I wanted to be famous or I liked the money. Or maybe there was a new sound out, and I thought, "Hey, cool, I can do that." It was all of these other things. And it wasn't about creating what was inside of me. And that's all my music is about now.
"I hate when people say,
'Oh, you're hot right now!'
OK. What happens later?"
Osunlade at Movement Detroit
Is that why you're releasing these two albums now? To get all of those sides out to the world?
In short, yeah. One reason for Rebirth is that it's something that I've been working on forever. Before I started doing house music, I only did the type of music that's coming out on this album. This is a personal thing. When I started the label, I didn't have in mind that I would become an artist. I was always a producer/musician, I was the person that didn't have a name. I was the one that you had to search for on the record credits. That was my mindset for a long time.
And when I started Yoruba, I was still there. I was thinking as a producer, and when I put out the first record, I was like, "Oh, I'm the artist now!" That changed my thing. It's a big responsibility, being an artist. Your life changes, your outlook changes. House has been a very easy transition for me. It's not an easier music, but it's something that's a lesser part of me that I have to explore. And, Rebirth on the other hand, is probably the most vulnerable, the closest to my heart that I've been creatively. So I've held it back because I realize that there is a higher demand of responsibility from it. And I just haven't been ready for that change in my life.
I'm interested that you say that house is a bit easier for you. I remember in an interview that you once said that your approach was to treat tracks as if it were an R&B tune, and then to do a house remix.
Yes, and I still do. But I think what I meant when I said it was simpler was that you're restrained to this beat.
Obviously you've gotten a lot of that beat over the years. [laughs]
Oh, yeah. I have! [laughs] I'm not complaining one bit!
I wanted to ask you about the "Mirror Dance" single. Were you surprised at how big of a hit that it became?
I was. I actually thought "BodyDrummin" would be bigger. I thought the approach to that song was dynamic, so I had my heart set on it becoming quite popular. But I wasn't mad that "Mirror Dance" was popular. I knew that it would do well, and I think it was because it's basically an electronic disco song.
Is there more material coming from Afefe Iku?
I'm hoping so. When I speak to my artists, I'm pretty much like daddy. So when they send me stuff, I can be pretty rough. A lot of times, I want to have the approach of a complete thought. I don't want them to send tracks or things that they're working on. "Give me the whole thing, and then we'll hash it out." All of the music that comes out on the label, I have a hand in. But it's in the sense of allowing the artists to grow and to give them the chance to see their own vision. As opposed to me coming back to them and saying, "I like that kick." My view doesn't make a difference for their growth.
It's really important to let them evolve, to sit with things. Time definitely allows one to see differently and hear differently. Artists these days, especially in the house scene—from what I see—are so influenced by each other. And that sometimes doesn't allow people to be as creative as they can.
How does that stifle creativity?
I think it's led to people doing very similar things. You're only influenced by what you hear. And if you're listening to the same stuff that everyone else is, you're going to do the same stuff. If you don't get out of the realm, if you have the same plug-ins, or think "I like this song, so I'm going to do something that sounds like this song," you end up with things that sound similar to one another. I hate when people say, "Oh, you're hot right now!" OK. What happens later?
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