FunkJazz Kafé: Diary Of A Decade - (The Story Of A Movement) is a crucial documentary that chronicles the evolution of Atlanta's FunkJazz Kafé Arts & Music Festival, a music and artistic renaissance movement born out of Atlanta’s diverse musical and cultural arts heritage. FunkJazz Kafé was officially established in 1994 and ran until 2004 with a special JFK finale in 2007. The documentary celebrates a 10 year legacy of Atlanta's premier multimedia music and arts festival. The film covers the decade when Atlanta’s underground music scene became established on the world stage and a new generation of soul singers and musicians emerged.
Jason Orr, the creator and founder of FunkJazz Kafé and the producer and director of the documentary has been screening the film across the country since it's screening debut at the Atlanta National Black Arts Festival in 2011. Upcoming 2012 screenings include Detroit July 28 and Philly August 4.
The film is narrated by hip hop icon Chuck D and includes appearances and perspectives from such cultural icons as Cornel West, Dick Gregory, N'Dea Davenport, Kevin Powell, Erykah Badu, Cee Lo Green, Eric Roberson, Sticman of Dead Prez, Larry Mizell, Dallas Austin, Roy Ayers, Talib Kweli and many more.
Visit the FunkJazz Kaféwebsite for screening cities near you.
During the rise of The Black Power Movement in the 60s and 70s, Swedish Television journalists documented the unfolding cultural revolution for their audience back home, having been granted unprecedented access to prominent leaders such as Angela Davis, the SNCC's Stokely Carmichael, and Black Panthers founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Now, after more than 30 years in storage, this never-before-seen footage spanning nearly a decade of Black Power is finally available. Director Goran Hugo Olsson presents this mixtape, highlighting the key figures and events in the movement, as seen in a light completely different than the narrative of the American media at the time. Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Abiodun Oyewole, John Forte, and Robin Kelley are among the many important voices providing narration and commentary, adding modern perspective to this essential time capsule of African-American history.
In the late '60s, after the assassination of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement in America gave way to a more militant breed of activists who were demanding greater self-determination for the African-American community and the right to defend themselves against a system they felt was stacked against them. A number of journalists for Swedish television were fascinated with the rise of the Black Panther Party and the larger Black Power movement, and on several occasions sent film crews to the United State to interview major figures in the African-American militant community. Filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson has used some of this archival footage as the basis for the documentary THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE: 1967-1975, which includes vintage interviews with Angela Davis, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Louis Farrakhan, and other key figures in the Black Power movement. The newsreels are accompanied by recent interviews with artists, activists, and cultural historians who discuss this volatile period in American history, including Harry Belafonte, Abiodun Oyewole, Melvin Van Peebles, and many others. THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE was an official selection at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Erykah Badu will release her sixth studio album, New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh, March 30th on Universal Motown. The 38-year-old Dallas born singer says the set is called "Part II" because, unlike 2008's more conscious-driven "New Amerykah Part I: 4th World War," she is "more free and full of life" this time around. "I called it Part II: The Return of the Ankh' because this album is the sister of the left side of my brain - it is the right side," Badu explained during a listening session at New York City's Chung King Studios.
"Part I was the left side of my thoughts - it was more socially political and my thought process was more analytical. This time there wasn't anything to be concerned with - the album is more emotional and flowy and talks about feelings. It reminds of the days of Baduizm' - this is just about beats and rhymes in a cipher." Tracks like "Window Seat," featuring The Roots' ?uestlove on the drums and James Poyser on piano, finds Badu requesting "a window seat...I don't want nobody next to me," over drums and claps. Meanwhile, she questions "What did I do to make you fall so far from me?" atop keyboard riffs on the 9th Wonder-produced "20 Feet Tall." On the banjo-laden "Don't Be Long," Badu pleads her lover to return soon although she understands "you gotta get your hustle on." She taps into her inner B-girl and pays homage to the Notorious B.I.G. on tracks like "Get Money," which features elements of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. Notorious B.I.G. track of the same title, and "Incense," on which she harmonizes the Biggie lyrics, "there's gonna be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing if my burglar alarm starts ringing," over a beat reminiscent of Alicia Keys' "Unbreakable." Some of the other stand-out tracks include "Fall In Love," the harp-heavy "Out of My Mind Just in Time (Part I) (Undercover Over-Lover)," and " Out of My Mind Just In Time (Part 2)," in which she confesses, "I am a recovering undercover over-lover / recovering from a love I can't get over / and now my lover thinks he wants another," over piano strokes. "Jump In The Air" was slated to appear on the album, but parts of it leaked on the Internet last week, and as a result Badu is unsure whether she will include it on the set. "If anything leaks, I won't put out this album," she said about potential future leaks. "I worked too hard for that to happen." The track is said to feature nine MCs, including her son Seven's father, rapper Andre 3000, and Lil Wayne.
During the past six years, Badu, who has been working on this album since the release of "Worldwide Underground" in 2003, has recorded over 50 songs for "Part II." She hopes to release an already completed album titled Low Down shortly after this release. New Amerykah Part I has sold 359,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
