Down the Ivory Tower: Moving Towards An Aural Afrofuture

1 ECHOES

Chicago

This dance music mix is loosely sectioned into three acts. The first act of the mix simulates the questioning of norms and imagining of alternatives that often precedes political action. The second replicates the act of protest sonically. The third invites the listener to build and create those alternatives. The ~one-hour long mix features original productions from several artists of color, including me, and is tied to physical manifestations of race on the UChicago campus (such as the Linnaeus statue on the Midway and the OI), activated intentionally to transgress traditional notions of space. The final mix is mastered for stereo, so that listeners, using headphones, can engage with race on campus. In centering marginalized artists across genres spanning soul, techno, house, trance, deconstructed + Jersey club, jungle, bass, and reggae, I hope to evoke a response of resilience, imagining, and resistance in listeners, as they imagine and act upon a more collectively liberatory future outside the walls of the university.