Sun Ra Arkestra / Moor Mother

Moor Mother

Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother is a poet, artist, musician and activist operating out of Philadelphia. Her music is an atmospheric patchwork of spoken word, electronics and instrumentation, which Sun Ra enjoys in the afro-futuristic afterlife. Her lyrics are activist and philosophical commentaries on history, consciousness, identity and politics. 

Moor Mother has been active since 2012 and is has recently released her ninth full-length album, 'The Great Bailout'. A record on which she sketches some uncomfortable historical scenes. The title refers to the astronomical amount Britain paid to slave owners in 1835 is compensation of slavery being abolished. A sum that punched such a hole in the British treasury that it wasn't fully paid back until 2015. With tax money, of course.

Sun Ra Arkestra

He was one of the key figures in the avant-garde jazz of the 1960s, along with artists such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. From the mid-1950s, Sun Ra led The Arkestra (an intentional re-spelling of ‘orchestra’), an ensemble with an ever-changing line-up and name. His music touched on almost the entire history of jazz, from ragtime to swing music, from bebop to free jazz. He also pioneered electronic music, space music and free improvisation, and was one of the first musicians, regardless of genre, to make extensive use of electronic keyboards.

After his death, the Akrestra was led by tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and then alto saxophonist Marshall Allen and saxophonist Knoel Scott.