– by Antonia
We’ve got one more full month of our Best. Summer. Ever. Time flies too fast but we still have enough time to make sun-filled memories and create adventures that only feel right during this time of the year—adventures and memories that, when we look back on them, stir up very specific warm sentiments and seem to play back in our minds with their very own musical score.
The playlists of summers pasts got me thinking about the music I’m listening to now—what melodies are underscoring picnics in the 16th arrondissement, road trips to the North and South of France, morning runs around Montmartre? This morning as I jogged passed The Basilica a song called “The Nigerian Police Force Band” by Asiko Mi Ni came on my iPod and got me wandering if this song, by a Black man that sounds so different from the songs sang in America by Black people, has anything that connects it to its brethren in the Diaspora? Our exploration of the Many Shades of Black begs me to ask: is there really such thing as Black music? And if there is what defines it? Is it the soulful crooning of Motown, the drums and guitars of Nigeria or the cacophony of British Grime. We’ve learned that Blackness transcends color, so what really is the sound that plays in the background of our collective experience as Black people? Can it even be named?
We’re dedicating August to music and will be exploring “Black” sound, the perfect hair styles to wear to summer concerts and much much more.
