{"product_id":"a-pure-solar-world-sun-ra-and-the-birth-of-afrofuturism-9781477327289","title":"A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSurveying the range of Sun Ra's 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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism\u003c\/i\u003e offers a spirited introduction to the life and work of this legendary but underappreciated musician, composer, and poet. Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ra's wide-ranging creative output--music, public preaching, graphic design, film and stage performance, and poetry--and 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaul Youngquist is professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder. He writes on music, popular literature, and Caribbean history. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eCyberfiction: After the Future\u003c\/i\u003e, among other titles.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50568355217682,"sku":"9781477327289","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_409f74dc-70dd-484d-8de4-f3f7f3c20c8c.jpg?v=1731942426","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-pure-solar-world-sun-ra-and-the-birth-of-afrofuturism-9781477327289","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}