Why You Need To Read Afriqua’s Principles of Black Music

Perusing through my inbox, I noticed the latest Ableton Newsletter introducing a news series of essays. ‘Afriqua Presents Principles of Black Music’ is a five part series and I look forward to the remaining parts. The first part is available now and you can read it here and watch the trailer video below.

The essay is insightful and challenging told from the perspective of a Black musician growing up in Europe. Take this snippet as an example

perhaps instead of agonizing over which floor is more house or techno – the narcissism of small differences – on any given night, the hippest clubs in Berlin could just be done with it and call their clubs what they are; Black Music venues. The implications of understanding modern music’s Black origins are endless.

Afriqua concludes by stating:

Understanding the numerous genres of music which have been brought forth by Black people as Black music doesn’t preclude anyone from enjoying or creating it. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s a way to use the music one already enjoys as a jump off point into a thousands year old tradition whose evolution continues to define the musical landscape as much as it ever has.

We highly recommend you read the whole article. Once again, the link to read it is here.