Retrouver l'antithèse du "Minstrel show" à travers le clip "This Is America" Log In. Photo A fierce tide of feeling — rage and despair, love and hope and exaltation — courses through “Can I Get a Witness?
,” an almost indefinable work of music theater created by the performer and musician Meshell Ndegeocello, and inspired by “The Fire Next Time,” James Baldwin’s incisive polemic about race in America, first published in 1963. Produced by Harlem Stage, where it runs through Sunday, the performance is subtitled “The Gospel of James Baldwin,” and indeed it mimics the format of a religious service. Some audience members sit in pews, and we are each given the “order of service.” A few performers wear costumes, inventively designed by Abigail DeVille, that look vaguely ecclesiastical — but with flashes of color and brocade and even gaudy jewels. James Baldwin is illuminated, with dizzying multimedia savvy, in 'I Am Not Your Negro' In the beginning were the words, the eloquent, muscular, electric language of James Baldwin, a writer who had extraordinary insights into America's complex racial crisis.
But what makes "I Am Not Your Negro" a mesmerizing cinematic experience, smart, thoughtful and disturbing, goes well beyond words. As directed by Raoul Peck, "Negro" utilizes the entire spectrum of film language, not only spoken words but also sound, music, editing and all manner of visuals. They're all employed with a formidable cinematic intelligence to create a film essay that's powerfully and painfully relevant today even though its subject died almost 30 years ago.
Sites & articles. Little Rock 9. Freedom Riders. Ferguson. Protest songs Soul/Funk. The Wire / Sur écoute. Pearltrees.