April 23, 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Northern Arizona University is teaming up with the Interference Series and musicians in the community for the second annual Sun Ra Birthday Bash\u2014<\/em>a concert celebrating innovative music at 7 p.m. April 27 at Kickstand Kafe at 719 N. Humphreys St. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sun Ra was a prolific and history-altering\nAmerican composer, band leader, keyboard player and poet known for his groundbreaking\n\u201ccosmic\u201d music, philosophy, recordings and theatrical performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NAU faculty and students from\nthe Honors College<\/a>, jazz studies program and the College of Arts and\nLetters<\/a> are partnering with the\nFlagstaff Interference Series, community members and special guests to perform\nan evening of Sun Ra’s music and poetry, along with visuals, dance and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNAU is proud to partner with the Interference Series to\nengage and nurture the cultural life of Flagstaff,\u201d said Rob Wallace<\/strong>, a lecturer in the Honors College. \u201cLinking an\nAfro-futurist aesthetic with an omnivorous musical approach, Sun Ra and his\ncollaborators performed multimedia spectacles translating Afro-diasporic\ntraditions into the universe of sound.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The concert will include performances from musicians from\nFlagstaff and beyond performing Sun Ra’s music and poetry, including\narrangements of Sun Ra’s compositions by NAU jazz studies major Eric Nakamoto<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For much of his career, Sun Ra led The Arkestra, an\nensemble with an ever-changing name and line-up. Born Herman “Sonny”\nBlount in Birmingham, Alabama, Sun Ra claimed to have come from Saturn. His\nplayful but serious perspective on how to radically shift peoples’\nconsciousness in the face of racism and other oppression has been influential\nto generations of artists, from funkadelic sounds to Janelle Monae. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A donation of $5 is requested at the door. For questions,\ncontact Wallace at Robert.Wallace@nau.edu<\/a>\nor at (928) 523-8249.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"