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| James Brown: Black & Proud To The Last |
12/28/2006 |
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The AuthorWhat terrible news to hear on Christmas Day: James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, is no more.
What? He of the ‘gyrating hips’? Mr ‘Sex Machine’?
Yes; he’s gone: James Brown has departed from this life at the age of 73.
As far as black people are concerned, I don’t think there has ever been another musician as popular as James Brown. He grew up in the television age, so everyone saw his act.
The magic in it lay in the fact that he composed easy, ‘danceable’ tunes, with simple lyrics to match. Who could not make ‘Say it Loud’ his or her own song after just one hearing? Who could not hum ‘Ge’rol’dit’ (‘Get hold of it!’) even if he or she corrupted it to make it sound like, ‘Kironde?’
And as for the dancing, wasn’t he the one who opened the eyes of the might Michael Jackson to what was possible on the stage? Swivelling hips; the split-drop; the legs that were never still; integration of the head, the trunk, the hips and the legs in one smooth movement that made the ladies swoon. Oh, Mr JB!
I once saw him perform live in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. The place was so jammed tight that I nearly regretted having gone. But then, as he played, space began to be created. The crowd, out of their seats, simply edged ever and ever closer to the stage, dancing, dancing, dancing. It went on all night. I didn’t understand too many of his lyrics. But it didn’t matter. The music talked, whether one heard the words or not.
The phenomenal thing about James Brown was his tireless energy. From the first moment he stepped on that stage till the last number was played, he was a pumped-up machine, unwinding in different directions, twisting his body forwards, backwards, sideways and around. His body gleamed like a sweat-producing assembly line, daring you to try the same moves, teasing you to stop moving if you could.
His use of the microphone was stunningly effective. The whole show was absolutely captivating.
I must confess I found him a bit boring, for purely personal reasons. Because he was so full of energy, he never stopped! I resented his egotism, for he had one of the best backing groups ever assembled by any musician, and yet he didn’t give them a chance to play on their own. He kept singing and singing when he could have paused and allowed them to have a go and even do some solos on their instruments.
You see, some of the music was so good that I really longed for him to belt up and allow the musicians to let themselves go and show that they came mainly from a background of good jazz and that they could lift the music past James Brown’s voice to other heights.
I guess I was being idealistic, for, hey! James Brown had brought them together to back him, and that was their only function. I doubt, though, whether many of the best of them stayed with him for too long. He had so much talent that I imagined it would stifle the talents of others. That was only my guess anyway; I have no evidence to prove whether I was right or wrong.
But now that copyright issues may be easier to settle, I hope that purely instrumental versions of his music will be produced and distributed.
Oh, JB! His influence on the black world became quite overwhelming after he’d brought out ‘Say It Loud!’. I mean, can you imagine a 57-year-old Ghanaian politician, as square as you like, forming a political party and adopting a James Brown song title as his party’s slogan? Yes, our own Komla Gbedema, on forming the National Alliance of Liberals (NAL) in 1969, gave it the slogan: ‘Say It Loud! I am black and proud!’ The black was occasionally changed to ‘NAL’! but the kids, especially, only shouted the words ‘Black and proud!’ when NAL’s propaganda vehicles sped past when they stood in their villages, during the 1969 election campaign.
Of course, NAL did not win the 1969 general election, but that’s not the point. If recognition was the only means by which elections are won, NAL would have won the election hands down. For because of James Brown’s words, NAL was the most recognisable party in Ghana in 1969. Even the Progress Party’s two famous words: ''''PP!
— Party papa!'''' could not quite compete.
The amazing thing is that whereas, under normal conditions, one would have expected ‘Say It Loud!’ to be reviled by the Ghanaian populace as a foreign import, they not only embraced it but seemed to actually love it. ‘Black and proud’ resonated within their souls, even when they didn’t understand the words – as many of the illiterate voters didn’t.
Perhaps that’s where ‘Afro-Gbede’ (Gbedema) miscalculated. In 1969, a majority of the Ghanaian electorate was illiterate and wouldn’t have been impressed by the ‘black-and-proud’ slogan, no matter how loudly it was yelled out at NAL rallies.
Anyway, James Brown would have been proud to have noticed that his words had become the motto of the second largest political party of one of the most famous of African countries, Ghana. Many African-American artistes harbour a barely-disguised desire to connect back to their African roots, despite the long years of separation and the resultant cultural alienation that dog our relationship.
Well, what is there left to say? Nothing, except this: I am sure that despite the troubles he has been through in recent years – going to jail out of troubles arising from his domestic life and all that – his death will create such a revival of his music as hasn’t been seen for a long time. I don’t think that when all his music is digitally re-mastered and unleashed on his adoring public, much of the current ‘hits’ will stand much of a chance in competition with his.
For, James Brown had musicality, wit and above all, rhythm. When he was alive, his style also contributed to his popularity. When the music survives without the living style to sell it, then we shall know that Mr JB was indeed one of the finest artistes the 20th century managed to produce.
JB, rest in perfect peace.
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