A freestyle mix inspired by a photograph of Eartha Kitt in a yoga position. The mix was recorded for my bi-monthly on @1BTN radio in Brighton, UK. Tune in every 2nd and 4th Sunday for Sonic Sunday School, Soulful Music of the Black Atlantic. Photo of Eartha by Jeff Good for the Toronto Star.

A Black Yogi Funk and Jazz Mix (November 2021)

This week’s show features my favorite house music from South Africa between 2012-now. Of course, there is much more to South African house than Black Coffee and Amapiano. I’ve traveled to SA (Joburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, etc.) for the last two decades with a mission—to exchange music and listen. To witness.

Some might say house music began in the 90s with kwaito music, some might reference Hugh Masakela’s Techno Bush album, and others might cite The work Miriam Makeba does with her voice as a technology of South African folk-jazz. All of it matters to what is known as South African house today.

The show also features music from Osunlade, Marc Mac (4Hero), Atjazz, Da Capo, Vincemo/Patricia Edwards, and more. This week I was thinking about the importance of honoring house music with all its sub-genres and what Black folk have done with it across diaspora.

Finally, I share a special song. In 1997, Robin S dared to cover Phyllis Hyman’s “You Know How to Love Me,” and covered she did, she and @kingbritt created a version masterpiece. Find the song now. We miss you, Phyllis.

Cheers to @1btnradio for hosting my research.

The Black Atlantic/Black Fantastic

twenty years ago, I traveled to the continent for the first time and landed in Durban, South Africa. I heard kwaito in taxi vans with full-on sound systems and learned more about Winnie and the 1980s decade of resistance. From that point forward, I kept my eye and ear on the pulse of the music—the social context of the rhythms.

In 2019, I heard amapiano for the first time and listened closely throughout the initial stages of lockdown and the pandemic. Part of why it's held me is because you could hear a kind of yearning to be out and in the community—a sort of wailing. Now with amapiano in the diasporic spotlight, I can hear how the music has changed. Music changes.

I don't speak any of the many languages in South Africa, so the difference I hear is mainly a sonic one. Producers and DJs are making and presenting music with the dance floor, concerts, events, and parties in mind.

On this month's episode of the Black Atlantic/Black Fantastic, I'm spinning kwaito from the early 90s and 2000s, before making my way to the earlier days of  amapiano. I love how the music is marked by this global shift (though it’s a heavy one) and look forward to seeing more emerge from Southern Africa (Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, etc.), in general. The whole region is funky as hell. I’ve traveled up and down the those parts chasing the sound 🇿🇦 🇿🇼 🇲🇿

Roberta Cleopatra Flack is an Aquarius from the Black South. North Carolina to be exact. Last month she announced her retirement from a 50 plus year career in music making, having been diagnosed with a rare (ALS) disease.

I refuse to let that announcement slip away into internet ether. That said, today I’m sharing the first of a two part series and tribute to her incomparable body of work. This is a thank you for the love, labor and legendary musicianship Roberta Flack offers..

For this episode I selected songs that speak to her range and that move me most, along with excerpts from interviews where she talks about her process in the 1970s. Link to the show in my bio.

Next month I’ll be joined by three Black women music scholars (@zfelice, @fredara @ebmoorhead ) who will further contextualize her legacy and talk about the songs that move them. That show will air on the Black Atlantic/Black Fantastic Sunday, January 8 @1btnradio fm! 11am (nyc) and 4pm (UK)…tune in.

Also! Please keep an eye out for the documentary on Roberta’s life and the children’s book she’s co-written!

Happy New Year Roberta Flack! Your hands and voice help us trace our lives through song.

Roberta Flack Tribute Vol. One

Happy birthday Roberta Flack! I’m so glad I could check out the documentary “Roberta” before releasing this second and final installment of my tribute. The documentary inspired so many thoughts and feelings—some of which were Roberta’s time at Howard University, her work as an educator, and her relationship with Donny Hathaway. The one thing that struck me, and by struck, I mean hurt my feelings, was the absence of Black women music scholars to help contextualize her work. That said, I was fortunate to have been in conversation with @fredara @zfelice and @ebmoorhead discussing all things Roberta. In this way, we re-framed the narrative and inserted our voices into the chorus of praise when the official record forgot to remember. It was great to see Angela Davis and Valerie Simpson talk about Roberta Flack, but I’m curious about other voices from other places and other listening practices. Tune in now at @1btnradio!

Roberta Flack Tribute Vol. Two

I wrote this during layovers between Toronto and London, on my way to Amsterdam for the summer, but before I start my next voyage, South Africa. Three days ago (April 27, 2014), South Africa's democracy turned 20 years old. A short time before then I spent much of December and January in South Africa, thanks to the support of my community of listeners, family and friends and a generous grant from The Astraea Foundation Global Arts Fund. This was my third time in South Africa; the first trip happened in 2001 and the second in 2011. The purpose of the trip was to complete the SoundTracking Our Lives Tour, a project that simulated the migration pattern of house music from the U.S. to South Africa, launching in New York, traveling to Chicago and Detroit, and finally, concluding in Johannesburg. The purpose of the tour was to document the work of women who have played a role in the evolution of house and its transmigration, and are currently active in its development.  

Afro Digital Migration: House Music in Post Apartheid South Africa Vol II

I've been living with Meshell’s new album, The Omnichord Real Book, for the last month and decided to create a speculative conversation between Meshell Ndegeocello and Alice Smith. Both of whom travel the spaceways of genre as multi-vocalists.

Signals heard.

What might we learn if one were to make a duet out of each body of work? Trying to answer that question created a gathering.

Alice Smith and Meshell Ndegeocello: A Speculative Musical Conversation

Afro Digital Migration:House Music in Post Apartheid

Sun Ra would have been 100 years old today and I'm in London preparing to present the soundtrack of my own brand of AfroFuturism. Please enjoy the second and final installment of the "Hibernation Series." Detroit's winter cracked my creative spirit wide open. This mix features the electronic music from Africa and space themed Black American jazz. Fix your mind for this.

01 African Rhythm Fiction

This mix is for Black women who love Björk Guðmundsdóttir. For some of us Björk is one of the guiding forces in the most secret parts of our emotional lives. And there is something to be said about the fact that my deepest, most intimate romantic relationships have been with Black women who speak Björk. She is one of the most brilliant artists of our time, with relevance far beyond the boringly sensational Academy Award swan dress debacle, which on the low, I believe was a challenge to American popular cultural values. Like on some fashion resistance shit. “I thought I could organize freedom, how Scandinavian of me?”

During my New York years, I had the opportunity to witness Björk live at the Apollo with three other Black women. Björk at The Apollo? What a combination and what an honorable way to honor the Black folks that get down with her like that. Aside from the sheer weight of the decision to perform in Harlem, we, like thousands of her students, made sure to have loot in hand ready to buy tickets the moment they went on sale. We managed to get tickets, but please understand, in less than five minutes the show was sold out. And to be honest, it wasn’t Harlem or Brooklyn who showed up to see her, which I understand; Björk is ‘strange fiction.’ It was the usual crew at the Apollo concert; former club kids, angsty white women and entitled hipsters. And of course some of us were in the house. My crew and I represented for all the Black women inspired by her audaciousness, by her work ethic, and by her willingness to make whatever screw face necessary to offer ‘love scholarship’ through song. We cheered from the balcony squinting to experience what looked like an Icelandic ball of glitter performing unapologetically to self-composed electro folk music. I will never forget her relationship with the microphone, dancing around it, stepping away from it, looking into it and making it sing her songs. She’s a beast of a live performer. 

Visit my website to download this mix and to read the full liner notes for a small donation! www.djlynneedenise.com

Bjork Mix Final

Sounds of A Black Global Analysis: The Berlin Sessions II

In 1985 Loose Ends performed on Soul Train and just like all other performers who graced the stage, Don Cornelius strolled up with a mic and a series of music journalistic questions. When guitarist Carl McIntosh opened his mouth to discuss how the band met, I experienced my first ever encounter with Black Britain. With a precious amount of naiveté my nine-year old mind asked, “So Black people exist outside of America and outside of Africa?” As far as I knew we were between those two places and those two places only.  

Prior to discovering their British voices my family had Loose Ends “Hanging on a String (Contemplating)” on repeat. It was a new soul classic,  #1 on the US R&B charts, and I couldn't get enough. After their Soul Train appearance, I went through my sister's tapes to conduct a proper review of their discography, which at the time consisted of two albums (1984’s A Little Spice and 1985’s So Where are You?). I did everything I could to find out what their experiences were with love, joy, soul and pain. I read liner notes in search of clues and discovered that a few members of the band were responsible for arranging and producing material for the group Five Star, who I had no idea was Black and British as well. 

Amused by my obsession, my mom said with little fanfare, 'yeah, Sade is from over there too.' What? Now you playing! Pretty ass, heartbroken ass, emotionally brilliant ass Sade is Black British too? I'm sold and possibly down for life. And now that I think about it, I’ve been digging in the crates for three decades strong. 
My digging is what led me to 'Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul and shortly following that single the group hit us with the monstrous 'Back to Life' track in 1989. They, too, appeared on Soul Train and at the end of the performance I heard the same British accent falling from their lips of African descent. 
Read more at www.djlynneedenise.com

Final Global Analysis

Dear Science_Performed_MellyRotterdam_

A soundtrack for the amazing cultural work curated at the Ashara Ekundayo Gallery. This is the soundtrack for the latest exhibition "Adjust Yo Eyes for this Darkness." The exhibition features the work of Opening Friday, November 1, 2019 in Oakland. 
@shanequagay @danakingart60 @tiff_massey @creolemaroon @muholizanele @jasminemurrell @lavathomas @waheedpix

dj lynnee denise

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