nine's weblog: Brother from Another Planet

"What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth" -- Sun Ra

Today l saw Don Letts' great documentary " Brother from another planet : Sun Ra " (2005). Nothing about this mystic man can be called average. Celebrating his profound creativeness for over 6 decades through music, perfomance, poetry and film, mr. Ra has influenced countless musicians and touched many hearts with his unearthly presence.

Watch " Brother From Another Planet " on YouTube :

• Pt 1 • • Pt 2 •
• Pt 3 • • Pt 4 •

His Sun Ra Arkestra being more of a commune, bringing their eccentric music through their out of this world live shows. Many members (John Gilmore, Marshall Allen) devotedly following Ra's every move. June Tyson, loyal soulmate to Sun Ra and vocalist and dancer in the Arkestra once said that when she was on stage singing Sun Ra's lyrics, she thought of herself as a celestial being.

On his selfmade label 'Saturn' Ra released hundreds of records with all kinds of oddities, handmade artwork, titleless sleeves, wrong credits or no covers at all. The oddity of the label probably being a collectors' ultimate dream... (or worst nightmare)

Even when you get passed the weird costumes, the wild perfomances and the far-out-ness of this mysticus, you must feel the honesty. Sun Ra was the embodiement of a mysterious cosmic spirituality which probably only he understood. It can't be explained and it probably is crazy but it can definitely be heard when you listen to his music.

He once said: "I'm a spirit master. I've been to a zone where there is no air, no light, no sound, no life, no death, nothing. There's five billion people on this planet, all out of tune. I've got to raise their consciousness, tell them about the wonderful potential to bypass death."

We ain't never gonna see another phenomenon like Sun Ra again;
in this world that is...

-Excerpt from "Space is The Place" (1974)-

Sun Ra Links:

• • Official website of the Sun Ra Arkestra under direction of Marshall Allen • •

• • " Space is the Place : The Lives and Times of Sun Ra " • •
>> Review of the biography by J.F. Szwed

• • " Sun Ra : The Immeasurable Equation " • •
>> Prose & Poetry by Sun Ra

• • Sun Ra Arkive • •
>> Magazine dedicated to The Sun Ra Arkestra

• • Astro Black • •
>> Devoted to the music of Sun Ra (with extensive discography)

• • Saturn Web • •