Andre Cymone came from a musical Minnesota household, where he and Prince began playing together as teenagers. Cymone joined Prince's band for a few years from the late 1970s to the early 1980s before breaking away to release three solo albums where he merged his funk and rock influences. For 27 years, Cymone moved away from the microphone, working as a songwriter and a producer for acts like Adam Ant and, most notably, Jody Watley. Early this decade, he returned with a few political songs and 2013's The Stone. The death of his father led him to a period of reflection on pop history and the similarities between today's sociopolitical and those of the 1960s, an era whose music particularly inspired him. These thoughts led to his new album, 1969, in which Cymone draws from the title period. While there are clear sonic references, the album's no simple rehashing of an earlier period of protest. Cymone decades of work pull together for a record that's both personal and political, as grounded in the urgent issues of today as it is in a consideration of the past.
1. Snatch & The Poontangs
I used to sneak and listen to this album on a regular basis. It was one of the first albums that I heard where they combined raw profanity and serious blues guitar playing. My mother had a pretty raunchy collection of Moms Mabley, Millie Jackson and Rudy Ray Moore.
2. Hofesh Shecter — Political Mother
I saw his company perform this piece a few years back at UCLA and, yes, it blew my mind. It's the ultimate Rock and Roll extravaganza. The multi stage set ups and combination of music and dancing is a visual dream. The lighting and the mood and tone it sets are insane. This is what I would love for my live show to look and feel like one day.
3. Charles Atlas and Antony and The Johnsons — Turning
In 2003, I moved to Harlem and got lost and ultimately fell in love with a city I used to hate. New York is a complicated place. You gotta dig your way deep down to get to the underground of the metropolis. It's the only way I found that you can really appreciate it. My wife, Katherine Copeland Anderson was working with visual artist Charles Atlas and they invited me to a show they were doing in Dumbo with Antony and The Johnsons. The combination of Antony's (Anohni’s) haunting voice made me feel the heart and soul, the pain and the triumphs of the women in this piece.
4. Nine Horses with David Sylvian — Wonderful World
This song just takes me away. The voice of David Sylvian is a treasure. When I listen to him sing I imagine they put the microphone straight down his throat so you could feel the deep resonance. It's beautiful. I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know David and I consider him a friend. We shared a laugh that I think to this day, I have not laughed as hard.
5. Curtis Mayfield — Superfly
This was part of the soundtrack to my youth. I had the movie poster on my wall and our band covered a couple tracks from the soundtrack. In fact I think I saw the movie at the Capri theater in North Minneapolis, the same place I performed with Prince for his very first concert as a solo artist.
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6. Sanford Biggers -- Moon Medicin
I came across Sanford Biggers maybe 15 or 20 years ago. He was recording some super eclectic music in a studio I owned a while back. Fast forward 2004, I see an incredible art exhibit in New York, turns out, it's Sanford and it was amazing. I kept following him and watched as his art evolved. It blew my mind cause it went beyond what I saw with my eyes and went straight to my heart. You watch his Moon Medicin piece and it goes above and beneath the surface and it’s just cool how he presents his collaborative performance art collective. With it’s massive video as a backdrop, DJ and four piece band In the forefront, playing music that seamlessly and directly connects his art, with video clips and images that you see on screen, it’s just cool.
7. Jimi Hendrix — Axis Bold as Love
When I first heard Jimi I thought he was awful. Thought he sang out of key, guitar was out of tune, just didn't understand why my band mates were trying to get me to like this guy. Then our drummer brought the Axes Bold as Love LP over to rehearsal and dropped the needle and that was it, I absolutely got it. I went back and fell in love with almost everything he had done.
8. Joni Mitchell — Hejira
First of all I think I may have every album this woman has ever put out. Her music was almost all I was listening to when I was in San Francisco when Don Juan's Reckless Daughter came out. To this day when I hear it, it makes me think of Sausalito and the Haight-Ashbury scene in the late 1970s when I was there working with a friend recording his first album. I think for me, Joni Mitchell epitomizes and represents what it means to be a non-conforming musical artist. And she's a beautiful painter as well.
9. Stevie Wonder — Innervisions “Living for the City”
As a young musician Stevie was my guiding light. I would race downtown the day I heard any of his new albums would come out. It became a religious act for me. I'd beg borrow or steal enough money to buy his album, take the bus downtown and back, turn down all the lights, light some candles in my attic bedroom, lock my bedroom door, get comfortable, drop the needle and go on Stevie's musical trip. And it was always a beautiful trip.
10. Public Enemy — Fight the Power
When hip hop started really getting popular people would come to me and basically talk about how it wasn't artistic or creative and had no imagination. I think they were trying to say it wasn't real music. I said "if you think that, you haven't heard ‘Fight the Power’ by Public Enemy" because before I heard that track I may have thought the same thing but for me there was before “Fight the Power”” and after. Just listen to that track, there's probably anywhere from 30 to 40 little snippets, loops, samples from films etc. Puttin’ all that together and making it not just musical but funky and drop a serious message on top of all that, that's art..
Danse Danse presents Hofesh Shecter's Grand Finale: an absolute must see
Danse Danse presents Hofesh Shecter’s Grand Finale: an absolute must see
Many years ago I met a young man from Tel Aviv. I asked him what it was like to live in a place where bombs regularly go off in night clubs, pizza parlors, and crowded markets. With a twinkle in his eye, he responded: “We just keep dancing between the bombs.”
This sentence has stuck with me for two decades: the uncanny juxtaposition of giddiness and tragedy, lightness and weight, life and death.…
One more year with Belgrade Dance Festival is over. Tired, but proud, to be working with such great companies and wonderful team. At the end of March and beginning of April the Festival starts -and with it comes the Spring!
Check out website of the Festival for the archive and new programs:
