ListN Up playlists are commissioned by American Composers Forum. Artists are selected by ACF staff (including I CARE IF YOU LISTEN and innova Recordings).
Armond is an artist-researcher, clarinetist-composer, dramaturg, poet, and playwright who synthesizes storytelling with research to inquire “why not be free?” Their creative work builds immersive performance experiences fostering bodily and racial healing using health-promoting sound design merged with poetry on everyday Black life while inviting collective slow-breathing in rituals –cyclical structured improvisations incorporating audience participation. Armond immerses audiences into live performance, installation, and theater settings to experience these dream-like worlds.
Hi everyone, my name is Armond Dorsey and I am a Blaqueer artist-researcher, dramaturg, improviser, performer-composer, poet, and playwright from PG County, Maryland.
I sincerely appreciate having the honor and privilege to present my “ListN Up” Curated Playlist for November 2024! Many thanks to the support of assistant editor Kori Hill, editor-in-chief Amanda Cook, and all the I Care if You Listen staff as well as the intellectual nurturance from Dr. Shamell Bell, Dr. Allie Martin, and Richel Cuyler who have inspired the ideas leading up to this playlist. I have curated nine (9) entries under the theme “‘Nothin’s Impossible’: A Playlist Signifyin’ Hope and Release in Black Women’s Vocal Technique.”
My purpose in curating this playlist is to amplify the virtuosity of Black Women’s vocal performances as well as the deep cultural and musical knowledge these performers draw upon and expand into imagination-stirring soundscapes. The songs and artists featured below drive me to expand my imagination beyond fear or uncertainty and have been inspirational sonic worlds for my upcoming projects: a solo piece titled “Black Baby’s Dreamscape” and a collaborative exhibition and performance piece at University’s of Maryland’s Driskell Center titled “Deity of the Circle” in collaboration with Bonita Oliver and Eli Berman.
Thank you to each of the Black women featured here for serenading life into a world where your breath beckons all of our ears and imaginations. And thank you for caring enuf to listen. God bless and see y’all!
A note from Armond:
One of the key features of Black music lies in its never-ending well of deep allusions: allusions to grief, to hope, to practicing faith in the light of hopelessness, and to core cultural symbols. These allusions appear across song, film, and literary traditions, expanding the meaning of pre-existing cultural symbols through a process called signification.
Signifyin’ (Floyd, 1991) draws on the interjection of new words and phrases, intentional choices in tone of voice, and creative play with or on musical styles and genres (including a song’s own internal material) (Maxile, 2008) in order to form new and different relationships within a pre-existing relationship (Long, 1999). Put simply, to signify is to subvert power structures that label one as other and to amplify one’s knowledge of their own culture without being bound to language that imposes oppressive meanings of what one is or can be.
“Dreamswimma” by Nicole Mitchell, Performed by Black Earth Sway
“I know who I am though seeing me in you…Stretch it out…”
We know to imagine beyond our immediate ordeal – to freedom dream – by seeing our desires already exist in our material world. Alexis Lombre’s cosmic-bending keys and breathy, pitch-bending vocals join Nicole Mitchell’s winding melodic lines complemented with playing-while-singing. The song concludes with a groovy, head-bopping group improvisation across electronic and acoustic instruments signifyin’ the limitless, liberated world revealed by bearing witness to the Dreamswimma.
Jai Ramachandra by Alice Coltrane
“Abhaya Karambhūja Kodaṇḍa Rāma” / “Worshiping your lotus-like feet abates our fear, O bow-wielding Lord Rāma!” (translated by AnantaPurima)
Ashram leader and legendary vocalist-keyboardist-composer Alice Coltrane not only signified her religious journey through the fusion of Hindu bhajans with the jazzy, Black church sound evoked through her Wurlitzer but also generated communal healing through the creation of her ashram. Her vocal flips and aspirato onsets throughout this chant sonify the release of fear narrated in her lyrics, inviting ecstasy.
Mudzimu Dzoka by Tanyaradzwa Tawenga
Tanyaradzwa Tawenga, DMA, is a Zimbabwean gwenyambira, composer, singer, scholar, and healer. Tawenga recites a prayer through her Shona song lyrics. Her warm, crystalline voice dances with trills, vibrato, and extended techniques while she plays two (!!) melodies in the mbira (see 1:40-2:44 and 3:09-3:57).
Twenga uses these performance techniques to signify Zimbabwean ancestral practices; every aspect of her musically and physically demanding performance make palpable the feelings of release and ecstasy she embodies.
“You Brought the Sunshine (Into My Life)” by Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark, Performed by The Clark Sisters
“Nothing’s impossible, nothing’s infallible, nothinnnnggggg too hard…”
Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark of The Clark Sisters sings this rapid sequence of bell tones on swung elongated vowels/consonants before growling in a signification of triumph. As the first gospel song to sample a reggae beat and be performed in disco clubs, its lyrics and popularity reflect our ability to create the circumstances we desire no matter struggle or setting. This song is one of my all-time favorites!
“Deeper Than the Sea” by Tyné Angela
“My faith is greater than my fear. My joy will live beyond my tears.”
Musician, researcher, and instrument technician – Tyné Angela breathes life into these lyrics within a sequence of self-affirmations for self-love, faith, and hope amidst struggle. She casts melodic lines throughout the song afloat in her head voice and falsetto registers while embellishing the bridge with grupetto. Tyne signifies the transcendence and moments of stillness one will find as one continues overcoming obstacles.
“I Can Explain” by Rachelle Ferrell, Performed by Ferrell, Byron Miller, Jef Lee Johnson, Ricardo Jordan
“And no no no no…one has ever loved me, baby…”
The incomparable Rachelle Ferrell performs these lyrics in the outro (5:55-7:19) to her iconic track. She virtuosically combines vocal flips, portamenti, moans, vocal fry, and vibrato over squalled elongated vowels running across her six-octave range. These vocal distortions signify the intense euphoria and grief evoked in heartbreak while hope echoes in the lamentations for something beyond despair. Beneath hopelessness lies a reshaped faith.
“Green Eyes” (from NPR Tiny Desk Concert) by Erykah Badu, James Poyser, and Vikter Duplaix, Performed by Badu, RC Williams, Braylon Lacy, Cleon Edwards, Frank Moka, Kenneth Whalum, Keyon Harrold, Dwayne Kerr
“I can’t stand these growing pains.”
Sometimes, struggles persists while one awaits hope’s promise. In a spellbinding song about the highs and lows of love, Ms. Erykah Badu exclaims squalls, signifies lyrics of fading love with growls and vocal fry, and skillfully adds vibrato to sweeping melismas laden with longing. Wherever hope seems not to return, grief is released through the bright cries of her elongated vowels. And, to release is to recommit to self.
“BLOOM” by Doechii
“Found a place to grow/I feel wonderful/Found a place to bloom/I feel beautiful.”
A powerhouse recording artist, Doechii’s dynamic vocals drive her genre-bending versatility. In “BLOOM,” Doechii signifies the dreaminess of actualizing one’s aspirations with intricately mixed, breathy vocals, swelling with portamenti. The aspirato offsets at the end of the sustained background vocals lull you into hopeful fulfillment before her closing dialogue speaks to the material limits our world places on self-actualization.
“Livin’” by Donald Lawrence and Loren McGee, Performed by The Clark Sisters
“I can speak to dreams, they will come true. I can tell my troubles to get away. God gave me the power to make my day.”
I close this playlist with an ode to what we are charged to do everyday: live. May your troubles fall asunder like Karen Clark Sheard’s descending runs; never forget the serenade of dreams ringing in your ears; and, always expand your imagination beyond fear or any obstacle that appears.
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