ArtSpeaks for Stolen
Lives
By
Michael Slate
The
club was packed, people pressed into every inch of space--flat
up against the stage, standing on top of tables in the far back
corners and up against the railing on the upstairs balcony. Anti-police
brutality videos, murals and paintings flashed on a large screen
to the left of the stage.
Portraits
from the Stolen Lives book--of people killed by police--looked
down on the crowd from high on the walls. A banner demanding "Freedom
for Mumia" was draped across the DJ stand on the stage. Beats
pounding in the night laid a path through poetry, hip-hop, rock,
and salsa.
Hundreds
of bobbing heads and waving hands, people danced in sea of resistance
art, their minds and hearts soared. This was ArtSpeaks! 2001.
Over two nights, January 28 and 29, 1600 people filled the El
Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
They
came for music, art, film and dance by more than two hundred musicians,
DJ's, poets and other artists. The artists came together around
the theme of Stolen Lives--the lives lost to police brutality--and
around political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, "whose life we will
not let them steal."
This
was the fourth ArtSpeaks!, a music and art festival hosted by
the Artists' Network of Refuse & Resist! This year's concert took
on a special meaning in the wake of the Ramparts scandal, the
police state created around the DNC, and the police attack on
the October 22nd march in Los Angeles.
Everyone
was psyched. Artists came to create and perform art inspired by
the fight against police brutality and the battle to stop the
execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. It was a festival of amazing collaborations
and powerful new works. The people came to show their support
and celebrate the struggle--to sing and dance to music and art
that came from and fed their hearts. No one was disappointed.
Consciousness
and artistic quality were outstanding. For six hours each night
there was a powerful connect created between the artists and the
audience that is all too rare these days.
In
a review of the first night of ArtSpeaks! the Los Angeles Times
critic said, "music and radical politics are not always an easy
mix--one ingredient often tends to eclipse the other. But Sunday's
concert at the El Rey Theater protesting police brutality was
a mostly memorable night of hip-hop, pop and jazz."
The
Sunday night concert was an amazing mix of musical styles and
people.
The
East L.A. Sabor Factory, a ten-piece band made up of Chicano youth
who grew up in the barrios of East L.A. and first met each other
in a high school marching band, set the tone for the night with
their high energy set of salsa, funk and hip-hop.
Aztlan
Underground took it higher when they hit the stage dressed like
indigenous warriors and surrounded by police crime scene tape.
Their hard driven rap-rock pounded away at the police and all
of Amerikkkan society and at the same time professed deep love
for the people.
Jazz
vocalist Dwight Trible brought a startling contrast to the stage--pulling
the audience into his unique vocal stylings and taking this hip
hop audience for an unexpected and much appreciated ride.
Video
and visual art was a powerful component of ArtSpeaks this year.
A number of filmmakers contributed short films or five-minute
clips to air between sets. Other visual artists contributed slides
of their work to be shown during the concert. The Stolen Lives
PSA's, produced by the Artists' Network--featuring many musicians
and other artists as well as family members of those killed by
the police--were played periodically throughout the night.
Midway
through the Sunday night concert a hush fell over the room as
Greg Jordan took the stage with a picture of his son John, murdered
by Long Beach police in 1999.
"This
is a picture of my son," Jordan said, "He's dead...his eyes are
closed, but I look out at you and your eyes are wide open, and
I get so much hope and energy from that."
Representing
for the Stolen Lives project, Jordan told the audience how this
project has changed his life and the lives of other families by
connecting them to the struggle against police brutality and the
October 22 marches.
Poet
Jerry Quickley, collaborating with DJ Dusk, followed an energetic
and heartfelt performance by Freestyle Fellowship, and drew the
audience deep into the night.
Rapper
Mos Def made a surprise appearance and dropped some freestyle
rhymes--calling attention to the conviction of 13-year-old Lionel
Tate, convicted of murder and facing a life sentence in Florida
for the accidental death of a young girl.
By
the time Blackalicious took the stage the roof was ready to blow.
And they finished off the night with a set where the beats and
rhymes hit people on a dozen different levels--interweaving joints
from their current CD with freestyle lyrics about police brutality,
justice and Mumia. Their beats became the heartbeat of the crowd
for the next 45 minutes.
After
the concert, Blackalicious MC, The Gift of Gab, talked with me
about why they took part in ArtSpeaks!: "We wanted to be part
of this mission, especially the mission around Mumia. I think
music has always had the ability to help bring about awareness.
I think it can definitely help mold reality. It can't change anything
by itself, it can't stop anybody from doing what they gonna do
or make somebody do something they don't want to do, but I think
it has a definite influence and it's very important because of
that. It does a lot to inspire people."
Sunday night's show was killer and Monday matched it. Leon Mobley,
with his djembe driven funk band, split open the night with a
short wild set.
Boots,
the MC of the Coup, brought the crowd to a complete, stunned silence
when he did an a cappella performance of his piece "Me and Jesus
the Pimp in a '79 Grenada Last Night."
A
collaboration between Mike Ladd and DJ Cut Chemist from Jurassic
5 brought together Ladd's urgent blend of synthesizer and spoken
word with Cut Chemist's amazing beats.
Money
Mark laid out a uniquely beautiful set--including a piece called,
"If You Strip Search Me Now All You Will Find Are the Bruises
from Your Rubber Bullets."
Rakaa-Iriscience
and Babu from Dilated People brought a new burst of energy onto
the stage late into the night, joined later in the set by Evidence.
At
1 a.m., when Ozomatli stormed the stage, it was like someone had
electrified the floor. Everyone started dancing and didn't stop
until the set was over. Ozo turned up the heat of the night with
that special blend of resistance and kick-ass music that is their
trademark. They dropped a couple of slammin' new songs and one
or two old favorites.
But
the high point of the whole night had to be the epic jam that
took over the last portion of Ozo's set.
In
a song dedicated to the new generations of rebels yet to come,
Ozo was joined on stage by guest MC's Boots, Rakaa-Iriscience,
Jerry Quickley, Jonathan from Seattle based Source of Labor, DJ
Dez from Slum Village and DJ Rhettmatic from L.A.-based The Visionaries.
Introducing one of their new songs, one of the members of Ozomatli
talked about the need to stand up against all the cruelty and
oppression in the world today--"We are giving each other the strength
and love to go out to the front of the battle in a war against
those who take from us."
As
people headed into the night, it felt like we were leaving liberated
territory: for two nights, we had celebrated, laughed and cried;
we were angered and enlightened, healed and challenged; attentive
and raucous. And we came out of it, together ...changed..
This
article orginally appeared in
Revolutionary Worker #1091, February 18, 2001, posted at rwor.org
Artspeaks
2001 Card Design by Jameel Jones
