the liner notes here - Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber

Like
everyone else within reach of global media on the
week January 12, 2010, the members of the Burnt
Sugar collective were horrified and saddened by news of the massive
earthquake which catastrophically struck the island of Haiti. In
its disastrous wake came the loss of 250,000 lives and the ongoing
terror, displacement, hunger and grief for those of Haiti’s people left
to fend for themselves in the continuous aftermath. While many of
us immediately made individual contributions to relief efforts, we
have also now been guided by the conscience and imagination of
our good friend (and graphic design maven) Amy Gail to present
this compilation of music by Burnt Sugar and its members to Haiti’s
survival and rebirth. A pivotal mecca for Black Atlantic culture in
this hemisphere, especially in the realms of mysticism, music and
visual art, Haiti has also, since the 18th century, been an inspiration
for all struggling worldwide for justice and self-determination
against those with anti-democratic imperialistic designs on their
people and land. Those seeking evidence of how much damage a
‘small axe’ can do to a ‘big tree’ need look no further than the San
Domingo revolution which gave Haiti its independence in 1804.
Saxophonist Albert Ayler long recognized music as the ‘healing force
of the universe’. It is our hope that Burnt Sugar’s humble offeringwhose prof­its will be gained solely through dona­tions to the Haitianbased med­ical aid orga­ni­za­tion Zanmi Las­ante (Part­ners in Health)
- will build on Ayler’s idea artistically and spiritually to lend energy,
inspiration and even greater global empathy to the resurrection of
Haiti’s people and their nation’s infrastructure, social institutions and
civil society.
~Greg Tate
Musical Director & Conductor
Burnt Sugar the Arkesra Chamber
www.BurntSugarIndex.com/Mizik
Every
society has their medicine men and women whose
bag of juju is music. The universality of music
in part defines our humanity. “Mizik Pou Dwa Moun” (Music for
Human Rights) covers the gamut of alternative sounds produced
in the global North. The compilation of songs and instrumentals
on this two CD set was designed to repair the spirits of the living
and re-member the 300,000 dead as a result of the greatest single
calamity nature has bestowed on humanity in modern times, the
first epic disaster of the 21st Century: the 7.6 rector scale earthquake
that devastated Central Haiti. Yet in some truly twisted bit of faith,
like some “junk yard jewel, hidden in trash” – the shunned discard
of 19th century imperialism, the would-be poster child of this era’s
Neo-liberal garbage heap, reading the cue cards of an inept Haitian
President Rene Preval and the latest “White King of La Gonave,”
gatekeeper, former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton, we
Haitians in our Homeland and Diaspora are “doing what we got to
do to get what we need to get...” and we are continuing the Haitian
Revolution, Section 1, Part III.
Music always the balm of our souls and its fire, from the Musik
Racine, (roots music) that personifies the second phase of Haitian
Revolution, the Dechoukaj, ministered under the twice disrupted
administrations of President Jean Bertrand Aristide to the sacred devotional music that lead us to slay the dragons of enslavement and
inhumanity between 1764 and 1803, Haitian devotional music, the
sacred rhythms of Vodou, (the dance to the ancestors) always carried
our message of liberation.
This music reminds us of those many paths traversed from joy
to lamentation, popular ballads to jazz enable us to remember...
especially those who loved us, those we lost, those we were forcibly
separated from, those we refuse to forget.
And for the unseen spirits among us, the envisib; mysté; zanj listening to these tunes, now “singing songs never sung” who will not allow
us to be forgotten, you who shaped the Haitian imagination and the
imagination of the world, be you daughters of Kongoland, regents of
Dahomey or a the progeny of the palest flowers among us, keeping
singing those songs into our heads. Nou mem mem mem, you my
people: defecting royal, elite gentry or proud peasant; slum-dweller;
nameless, faceless cacao-skinned, coconut leaf child – however you
got us here in the Americas, whisper those songs of Afrik Ginen, Motherland of all humanity to us.
You, the healing voices inside our heads crossed the Middle Passage
come pouring your hearts inside us. You who spat blood in the crying seas, flung from ships boughs or captive stepping on sad soil
whose pulse is unknown between your toes. We honor you with these
songs. And you wedged in the rubble, praying with the saints, the
lwas, orisa, God and the damned, waiting to be rescued... And finally
you who responded digging in your pockets, your food pantries, closets, hearts, your souls to help us in need, lets us all sing the songs
we know and those songs we had never song before with love, grace,
compassion and Burnt Sugar. Ayibobo!
~Dowoti Désir
Manbo Asogwe
Ogun Taskforce for Haïti
March TwentyTen
Drops Of Rain
Satch Hoyt
Satch Hoyt - Vocals, keyboards, percussion;
Philippe Lenzini - Guitar, programming;
Jason Dimatteo - Accoustic Bass. Produced
by Satch Hoyt & Philippe Lenzini;
Engineered by Philippe Lenzini;
Mixed by Dan Huron; Lyrics - S, Hoyt.
Music - S, Hoyt - P, Lenzini
Hybridica Songs Ascap. Sacem.
Stars
Micah Gaugh
Hayato Nakao - programming; Micah
Gaugh - keyboards and vocals; Danny
Chavis - Guitar; Joe Chris - programming
engineer; Leon Gruenbaum - engineer.
Don’t Forget
To Turn Off The Lights
The Perfect Man feat Secretary
Moist Paula Henderson - bari sax; Dave
‘Smoota’ Smith - all other instruments
Written by: David W. Smith, Paula
Henderson © 2010 SmootzillaMusic(ASCAP)
[email protected]
Can’t Figure Out Crazy
André Lassalle & Sherry Scott
Sherry Scott - vocals; Aaron Whitby
- Keys; Guitars - André Lassalle; Music
- André Lassalle; Lyrics - Roland
Gindler © 2007 ydnalor inc.
In a Hole
Brazz Tree
Mazz Swift - violin and vocals; Brad
Hammonds - 6 & 12-string acoustic
guitars; Alan Camlet - drums, percussion &
sequencing; Pete Thompson - electric guitar
& bass Lyrics - Mazz Swift;
Music - Brad Hammonds & Mazz Swift
Junkyard Jewel
Maya Azucena
Maya Azucena - vocals; Christian Ver
Halen - guitar; Ivan Katz - percussion; Jason DiMatteo - bass; Tarrah Reynolds
- violin; David Gotay - cello; Written:
M. Azucena for Azucena Songs/ASCAP
& C. Ver Halen for Rooftop Earthtone
Music/BMI; Produced by: Great Waters
Music, M. Azucena, C. Ver Halen & Ivan
Katz. Courtesy of Purpose Records.
The Woman On The Radio
The Citizens
Mark Lesseraux - vocals & Keyboards;
Jason DiMatteo - bass; Thom Loubet guitar; John Bollinger - drums; Katherine
Miller - keyboards; Written - The Citizens;
Recorded in Reuben’s basement in Brooklyn
by The Citizens SESAC
From the EP Lightheaded available
at www.CitizensMusic.com for
whatever you want to pay.
My Darling
What a Shame
Moist Paula Henderson
Produced & Performed by Moist Paula
Henderson in her bedroom, Brooklyn, NY
Dig
ISWHAT
NapoleonSolo - vox & beatbox;
Sir Jac Walker - sax & vox; Joe Fonda
- double bass; Chris Walker - electric
bass; Chris Comer - keys; Hamid Drake
- drums; Produced - NapoleonSolo;
written - N. Maddox, J. Fonda &
J.Walker; Mastered by Bob Power.
Takin You Back
Dayton Flic
Justice Dilla-X - vocals; Chris Bowman
- guitar; synth guitar, programming;
Jared Michael Nickerson - bass; written
by: Bowman & Nickerson. Recorded by:
Chris Bowman at CB’s Studio - Dayton,
Ohio & Eric Ronick at Thin Man Studios,
Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York
www.daytonflic.com
God is Black
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Justice Dilla-X - vox; Rene Akan, Greg Tate
- guitars; Jared Michael Nickerson - elec
bass; Jason DiMatteo - acoustic bass; Chris
Eddleton - drums; - Myles Reilly - piano;
Satch Hoyt - flute. Words & Music -Greg
Tate; Conduction & Production -Greg
Tate; Recording - Eric Ronick for Thinman
Studios, DUMBO Brooklyn; Mixing - Tate &
Ronick; Executive Producer - Jared Michael
Nickerson
From the Burnt Sugar release:
“More Than Posthuman; Rise of
the Mojosexual Cotillion”
Hope (The Reason Why)
Jeremiah
Raymond Angry - keys; Lonnie Christian
- drums; SteveStyles - bass; Willie Brown,
Jr. - guitar; String Programming - Vince
Jackson; Background vocals - Jeremiah
& Parker Brown. Written & Produced by
Jeremiah Recorded at East Side Sound;
Engineer: Marc Urselli; Mixing Engineer:
Vince Jackson; Mastering Engineer: Joe
Yannece (Allmiahsmusic ASCAP)
Held in Faith
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber
(feat. Lisala)
Lisala, Justice Dilla-X, Jeremiah - vox;
Jason DiMatteo - acoustic bass; Jared
Michael Nickerson - elec bass; Trevor
Holder, Chris Eddelton - drums;
Rene Akan - guitar; Julia Kent - cello;
Mazz Swift - violin; Matana Roberts - alto
sax; Petre Radu-Scafaru - tenor sax;
Lewis ‘Flip’ Barnes trumpet; Satch Hoyt flute/percussion; Bruce Mack - synth;
Vijay Iyer piano/synth;
Greg Tate - Conduction
Monitors - Phillippe Caillaux; Board
Recording - Tiburce De Lumbé; Stage
Manager - José Branco; Tech Dir - Eric Sez;
Mastering - Peter Karl.
From the Burnt Sugar release:
“Not April in Paris;
Live from Banlieus Bleues”
The Dry Spell
Will Martina
Justice Dilla-X - vocals; Will Martina - cello
produced by: Will Martina
From the album “The Dry Spell”
by Will Martina, featuring Justice
Dilla-X and Nasheet Waits
Bizarre Disambiguation
Bruce Mack
Composed, arranged & performed
by Bruce Mack © 2010
Publishing - Twang Schoomp Music, BMI
Demolition Hunt
Meret Koehler
Composition & drums - Meret Koehler
From CD and DVD “Noise Sanitation
Plant” www.Meretkoehler.com
The Necktie Killer
The Perfect Man
Dave ‘Smoota’ Smith - all instruments;
Written by - David W. Smith
© 2010 Smootzilla Music (ASCAP)
[email protected]
Wretched of
The Earth Page 88
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Rene Akan - composition/guitars; Micah
Gaugh - vocals/lyrics (adapted from a poem
by Aime Cesaire); Jared Michael Nickerson elec bass; Meret Koehler - drums; Napoleon
Maddox - MPC2000 From the Burnt
Sugar release: “More Than Posthuman;
Rise of the Mojosexual Cotillion”
Calling All Spirits,
Calling All Poets
Avram Fefer Trio
AF - saxes, bass clarinet; Eric Revis - Bass;
Igal Foni - drums; AF - composition
Title track from CD “Calling All
Spirits, Calling All Poets”
Vodou for Peace
Ladell Mclin and Swiss Chris
Ladell Mclin - Guitars; Alex Craven - Bass;
Swiss Chris - Drums.
Written & Produced By Ladell Mclin and
Swiss Chris S.W.I.S.S.organization.org
Exhibit A
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Rene Akan - guitar/composition; Chris
Eddleton - drums
From the Burnt Sugar release:
“More Than Posthuman; Rise of
the Mojosexual Cotillion”
Baby 81
Dominata / Seranata
The Destruction of Black Civilization
Greg Tate - laptop; Rene Akan - guitar
Spartacus
Free the Slaves!
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber
(feat: Kirk Douglas)
Greg Tate - conduction and production;
Kirk Douglas -guitar solo; Vijay Iyer piano; Bruce Mack - synth; Jared Michael
Nickerson - elec bass; Jason DiMatteo
- acoustic bass; Qasim Naqvi, Swiss Chris,
Eric Eigner - drums; elec violin - Simi.
From the Burnt Sugar release:
“Blood on the Leaf”
A Song of Hope
BT3
Ben Tyree - Guitar; Theo Harden: Bass;
Lawrence Qualls: Drums
Composition: Ben Tyree
Recorded Live @ Rose Live Music, Brooklyn,
NY. December 17, 2009
© 2009, Sonic Architectures (ASCAP)
Moisturizer
Moist Paula Henderson - bari sax; Moist
Gina Rodriguez - bass; Yoshio Kobayashi
- drums. Produced by Richard Nichols;
Engineered by Jon Smeltz at The Studio,
Philadelphia; Mastered by Victor Van Vugt
Musical Programming Greg Tate
Wrangling & Art Amy Gail