Viviane Faver
The United States has celebrated African-American Music Appreciation Month in June since 1979. Aside from June, which is dedicated to appreciating African-American musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters for their contributions to American culture, the month also honors the history and rich African traditions that gave birth to different styles of music. These styles include disco, house music, techno, rap, hip-hop, jazz, rhythm and blues, among many others. African-American Music Appreciation Month is a time to celebrate creative inspiration and acknowledge the impact of African-American music on generations of performers and music lovers. Black music covers a wide range of topics, including tales of slavery and racism, the fight for fundamental human rights, and the expression of heritage and values through lyrics, making it significant for the African-American community.
Although President Jimmy Carter designated June as Black Music Month in 1979, it was not until 2000 that the presidential proclamation for the month was signed. In 2009, President Barack Obama renamed the month from Black Music Month to its current name, African-American Music Appreciation Month. In 1998, Dyana Williams, a renowned journalist and community activist, attempted to submit a petition to hold a Black Music Month event at the White House during President Bill Clinton’s term. However, she was informed that an event would not be possible without a presidential proclamation. Nevertheless, Williams, with the help of Congressman Chaka Fattah, lobbied for legislation, and two years later, June was officially declared as Black Music Month.
The intention behind the designation of African-American Music Appreciation Month is to recognize the significant impact of Black music both domestically and internationally, as elements of it are adopted by people worldwide to express themselves. Additionally, during the 1970s, Black music gained traction in signing to music labels, with many label heads recognizing its commercial value.
African-American music encompasses sacred music, one of the earliest forms of African-American music in the U.S., which highlights gospel themes and Black Christian values. Blues and R&B relay ideas of homeland and racial integration, while hip-hop, rap, and rock and roll have quickly gained popularity worldwide, appealing to the youth across different cultures.
African-American music is not merely music but an integral part of American history. As mentioned earlier, the efforts of African-American musicians have given birth to several newer genres of music such as jazz and rap, which have redefined America’s cultural landscape throughout the last century. These genres have played a vital role in uniting generations during times of national struggle, and they have also become essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, the beats and sounds of these genres have influenced other genres such as rock, soul, gospel, swing, be-bop, and boogie-woogie. Famous rock bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles credit blues and jazz as major influences on their music. In fact, many of Elvis Presley’s songs were originally performed by Black artists. More recently, funk, Motown, and hip-hop have also been influenced by African-American performers who introduced new dancing and singing styles to these genres. Throughout the month of June, music lovers come together to celebrate African-American Music Appreciation Month, embracing diversity, inclusivity, and the impact of the community on shaping cultural conversations in modern America.
I interviewed two great artists for this article, each with different stories about how they became passionate about music and made it their career.
Carolyn, also known as DJ SugarFree BK, started collecting records when her parents first gave her birthday money. She began babysitting and cutting grass for pocket change in Kentucky, where she grew up. “My grandmother, her cousins, and my aunts were also influential, as well as Bo Diddley for being a Southern Renaissance man and collaborating with women in the early days of rock and roll.”
She used to secretly play her brother’s guitar when he was not home but never talked about it. Everyone in her family was musical, so she took it for granted. “When I moved to California, I started singing casually at parties with some friends. We formed an a cappella group and then got asked to sing backup for some thrash funk bands. This made me think about studying voice and eventually playing guitar. Once I started writing songs and performing at open mics, I felt the need to return to New York. I was into shoegaze, Manchester rave music, and drum machines, and the scene there was more folk-oriented unless you had a band, which I did not. I got back to New York and began busking in the subway, where I met many musicians who I am still friends with to this day, such as “ill” Will Fulton (Shiner Massive), Monk Washington (The Banddroidz), Simi Stone, and more. After I modeled in a photo shoot for VIBE magazine, the stylist assistant Karen Levitt came to one of my shows at ABC No Rio. She brought along her friend Gregor (DJ Olive), and he invited me to sing during one of his ambient DJ sets. From that party, “WAVE,” I met Raz Mesinai (Badawi), and later Gregor formed we(tm), with whom I also recorded. So, even though I started with electric guitar and a drum machine (solo), it led me to this underground electronic world. Now I have gone full circle, having been in post-punk bands (Bachslider) and blues punk bands (The 1865) along the way.”
DJ SugarFree’s biggest inspiration was the film “Mahogany.” The Supremes and Diana Ross significantly influenced her, and she remembered crying when her mom told her they had broken up and that Diana went solo. That film made her want to be a fashion designer, which she pursued for a while, and later she joined an electronic rock band in Italy. “Long before we formed our band, The 1865, Sacha Jenkins coined me as The Diana Ross of Shoegaze.”
According to DJ SugarFree, when she started as a musician, writing songs and teaching herself guitar while playing around with an early Dr. Rhythm drum machine, it was very liberating. She learned how to put songs together and make music inspired by artists she was listening to at that time in the early ’90s, such as a lot of 4AD groups like Throwing Muses and The Cocteau Twins. Vocally, she was studying classic jazz singers like Sarah Vaughan. “Something clicked in me when Bjork went solo, and P.J. Harvey was doing these intense interviews. I took a trip from The Bay Area to Seattle and heard so many indie solid women being played on the radio, and I felt a calling to try my hand at pursuing music seriously. I could relate to the writing styles of all these artists, but at the time, I didn’t really see any other contemporary black women making the kind of music I had in my head. Many years later, thanks to my friend Samantha Hollins, I learned about Tina Bell (Bam Bam).”
Matthew Snow, a jazz bassist/composer from New York, performs some of his own compositions with his creative jazz sextet and leaves a significant mark on the jazz world with this debut recording. The instrumentation, which is a hard bop group without a trumpet, tenor sax, or piano, and the melodies offer a fresh spin on the straight-ahead jazz tradition. “My route for getting started as a musician is a little unconventional. I was born and raised in New York and got started pretty late. I joined my first band at around 15 years old. It was a garage band, and I ended up playing bass because it was a necessary function in the band. I had an intense connection with music, especially jazz. Jazz was something that I first heard from my grandfather’s records, and I developed a deep affection for listening to old recordings.”
In college, he had the opportunity to learn upright bass and play with the Queens College Symphony Orchestra. His biggest inspiration for playing jazz music is the challenge of creating a complete sound for people to listen to. “Also, my favorite recordings that are fun to listen to. I try to create that experience within a live performance context.”
