{"product_id":"a-pure-solar-world-sun-ra-and-the-birth-of-afrofuturism-discovering-america-9780292726369","title":"A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism (Discovering America)","description":"\u003cp\u003eSurveying the range of Sun Ras extraordinary creativity  this book explores how the father of Afrofuturism brought space music to a planet in need of transformation  supporting the aspirations of black people in an inhospitable white world.  Sun Ra said he came from Saturn. Known on earth for his inventive music and extravagant stage shows  he pioneered free-form improvisation in an ensemble setting with the devoted band he called the Arkestra. Sun Ra took jazz from the inner city to outer space  infusing traditional swing with far-out harmonies  rhythms  and sounds. Described as the father of Afrofuturism  Sun Ra created space music as a means of building a better future for American blacks here on earth. A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism offers a spirited introduction to the life and work of this legendary but underappreciated musician  composer  and poet. Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ras wide-ranging creative outputmusic  public preaching  graphic design  film and stage performance  and poetryand connects his diverse undertakings to the culture and politics of his times  including the space race  the rise of technocracy  the civil rights movement  and even space-age bachelor-pad music. By thoroughly examining the astro-black mythology that Sun Ra espoused  Youngquist masterfully demonstrates that he offered both a holistic response to a planet desperately in need of new visions and vibrations and a new kind of political activism that used popular culture to advance social change. In a nation obsessed with space and confused about race  Sun Ra aimed not just at assimilation for the socially disfranchised but even more at a wholesale transformation of American society and a more creative  egalitarian world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45665883619381,"sku":"ByrdShop_0292726368","price":104.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-pure-solar-world-sun-ra-and-the-birth-of-afrofuturism-discovering-america-9780292726369","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}