Africa on the Moon: The Complexities of an Afrofuturist Reading of Dub

Authors

  • John Vaughan Harries Goldsmiths, University of London

Keywords:

Afrofuturism, dub

Abstract

This article attempts a detailed and specific analysis of the music and the mythology of Lee “Scratch” Perry and other key figures and works in dub, in relation to Afrofuturist thought and the music, theory and philosophy of Sun Ra in particular. It discovers at every turn multiple layers of complication, points of disjuncture as well as confluence, but argues that we can identify complicity and hybridity between these forms and their key protagonists without reducing their distinctiveness or specificity. By viewing dub through an Afrofuturist lens, the article aims to illuminate aspects of dub that would otherwise remain hidden, allowing that here, as in the development and diversification of the musics themselves, the revelatory relationship may be reciprocal.

Author Biography

John Vaughan Harries, Goldsmiths, University of London

Lecturer, Department of Music.

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Published

03-Nov-2015

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2015): Echoes from the Dub Diaspora

Section

Feature Articles

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