Balearic Breakfast | Episode 199 | Black History Month Celebration (Part 2)

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 199th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on October 29th 2024.

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About this episode. – Following last week's episode and knowing there were a lot of great requests to be included, Colleen proposed a beautiful show today. This 199th episode was one of the Funkiest we ever had. I never heard such a funky groove before in Balearic Breakfast, and I remember a lot of other episodes! Also, after a few months without our beloved ending phrase, Colleen said it once again today: "And remember, just be Balearic!" What's not to love in this episode?!

"This morning’s Balearic Breakfast was part two of our Black History Month celebration and there were so many wonderful requests. Thank you for taking part and you can listen back at https://shorturl.at/3jY2N So, please kick back and enjoy music from... Ashley Beedle Scott Grooves Lil Louis The Soul Survivors and more..."

Listen back to the 199th episode of Balearic Breakfast:

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PLAYLIST

(1969) Richie Havens – It Could Be the First Day

(1989) Kofi – Black Pride

(1996) Dennis Brown – Love & Hate

(1972) Eddie Kendricks – My People...Hold On

(1965) The Impressions – People Get Ready

(2003) Kindred the Family Soul – Stars

(2004) Victor Davies – Morning Sun

(1970) Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto

(1972) Billy Paul – Am I Black Enough for You

(2024) Scott Grooves – Leaves are Falling (808 Callin Mix)

(1988) Prince – I Wish U Heaven

(1984) Change – Change of Heart

(1976) Jackson Sisters – I Believe in Miracles

(1980) Billy Frazier – Billy Who

(1994) The Ballistic Brothers – Blacker

(1975) Black Blood – AIÉ A Mwana

(1998) Moodymann – Mahogany Brown

(2024) Mélange ft Linda Muriel – Simple Melody

(1978) Wilbert Longmire – Black is the Color

(2018) Yta Jourias – Adome Nyueto (Bosq Edit)

(1992) Lil Louis – Club Lonely

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TO BE A BLACK ARTIST...

As for last week's episode, I thought it would be interesting to explore our beloved artist's point of view on racism, segregation, or discrimination.

One of the kindest and most gifted black artists who ever walked the stage in the 20th century, and who touched many who listened to him, Richie Havens never shied away from singing and speaking out about discrimination, racism and government corruption. With the song "Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child", prolonged into the legendary "Freedom", an anthem he kept on singing the rest of his life, his 1969 opening performance at Woodstock stood the test of time and still shines to this very day. Sadly, Havens experienced racism at a young age. Of course, these events influenced his artistry in songs like "What You Going To Do About Me" or “Handsome Johnny” which was political and a direct attack on racism and war. Yet he is also remembered for his deeply touching melodies and songs shining hope on the listeners (see the "Black History Month: The Origins and Rebirth of African-American Folk Music" article here.

Another singer to openly stand tall against racism is Kofi, also known as Carol Simms. The British reggae singer previously part of a group named "Brown Sugar" formed in 1976, pursued her own solo career in 1992. One of Kofi's albums, 62 today and still going strong, "Black... With Sugar" has a song named " Black Pride" which was essentially made to promote as it says in the name black pride. An example of this is when she says " Black is the color of my skin. Black is the life that I live. And I'm so proud to be, The color that God made me."

Eddie Kendricks also beautifully held the 'Hope Torch" with his anthem, "My People…Hold On”, a syncopated chant and a call to action, taken from his first solo 1972 album recorded after he left the Temptations. He always pushed back against the politics of the song, telling Disc, "it’s a spiritual song; it says ‘people hold on, hold on to love, that’s the only lasting thing.’ To me, that’s singing the truth. But I’m not hung up on getting political messages across. I leave that to the politicians”.

Of course, other artists depicted the harsh realities of their time, and no one seemed to do it better than Donny Hathaway with "The Ghetto" which really took you into the flesh of the moment – this song always makes me think of another song with a close title by elvis presley, "In the Ghetto". The word has been associated with impoverished inner-city African American neighbourhoods while depicting, in the first place, the desolate sections of Nazi-occupied cities where Jews were held before being shipped to death camps; Elvis' song depicts the poorest side of the town.

Few words are as ideologically charged as "ghetto." Its early uses centered on two cities: Venice, the site of the first ghetto in Europe, established in 1516; and Rome, where the ghetto endured until 1870, decades after it had been dismantled elsewhere. Over the nineteenth century, as Jews were emancipated and ghettos were dissolved, the word "ghetto" transcended its Italian roots and became a more general term for pre-modern Jewish life. It also came to designate new Jewish spaces—from voluntary immigrant neighborhoods like New York’s Lower East Side to the holding pens of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe—as dissimilar from the pre-emancipation European ghettos as they were from each other. After World War Two, ghetto broke free of its Jewish origins and became more typically associated with African Americans than with Jews. Chronicling this sinuous transatlantic journey, this talk reveals how the history of ghettos is tied up with the struggle and argument over the meaning of a word.

Today's show Funkyness is so well documented in the first hour that I truly believe it has never reached these heights in any other episode of the series, culminating here with the infectious track that is Billy Paul's "Am I Black Enough for You". In an astoundingly beautiful article you can read on Medium, Janet wrote "Just like the title of the song, the meaning of the lyrics are not vague. After asking the listener “Am I Black Enough For You?” , Paul then goes on to say that the community is rising up “one by one until the work is done.” Needless to say the work that needed to be done at the time was easing the tensions between the black and white community. This song was written while the civil rights movement was still fresh and the sense of togetherness was stronger than ever. While the song can be easily seen as a classic especially for the time, I felt that it represents a different time period in African American history. At that time in 1972, it was important to be “unapologetically black” after hundreds of years of facing unequal opportunities."

Yet, Billy didn't think releasing the song after the success he met with "Me and Mrs. Jones" was a good idea, which sadly was to be true regarding his career. Reflecting on racism, he said in an interview: "There are still pockets now. But all those years, marching with Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson means we have a black president now for ALL the people of America. I feel good about it, but Obama would not have been in the Whitehouse had all the young black AND white people voted for him so I think in some small way we all helped."

The Great Prince always fought racism on his terms, his war seeming to be more musical, "quality-wise" if you see what I mean. While saying that black people don't get a second chance, he championed his craft to unbelievable heights, and directly attacked the industry as can be read in this antiracistcumbria.org stunning article.

Blackness and the struggle of Black people were in the notes of so many of the songs he wrote and sang, with race and social justice woven throughout. Songs like Reparation, Baby, The Rainbow Children, Dear Mr Man, Uptown, We March, Walk Don’t Walk, We Are the New Power Generation, Act of God and America to name but a few – look them up, listen to their lyrics. And it almost goes without saying that his musicianship, song writing and the way in which he performed were all steeped in many traditions of black music and rooted in his experiences as a Black man. His activism didn’t just live in his songs and performances though; lesser known facts centre around acts of him donating money to the family of Trayvon Martin and making arrangements for the family of Eric Garner to attend one of his concerts.  Or the fact that he was the inspiration for the initiation of the Yes We Code project which was set up to teach low income Black youths how to write code as he felt civil rights activists needed to do more to open up the tech industry to them and he funded hackathons in Detroit and Philadelphia to bolster the project. He donated money from his Purple Rain concert tour to food banks and inner city programmes for Black youths. His most well-known activist act is undoubtedly the writing of the song Baltimore, after the murder of Freddie Gray there in 2015 and his subsequent Rally 4 Peace as Baltimore erupted in flames. His rally helped calm the city’s unrest and was compared to James Brown’s calming of the unrests in 1968 after Martin Luther King Jr was murdered.

Of course, there are other artists featured in today's show that directly fought against racism, we can't mention all of them but I would like to end this post with a dedication to The Ballistic Brother's Ashley Beedle, a key figure on the Dance scene and someone I deeply admire and who treated me as a friend sharing early versions of some of his tracks with me, who explained how his family faced racism: "My mother experienced racism from other Bajans and from white officials too,” he explains. “Barbados was still a Crown Colony and didn’t gain independence until November 1966. My mother couldn’t accompany my father to social functions; she couldn’t gain access to any white members-only bars and clubs, and as a couple they would be stopped and questioned by the police. As a result, we moved back to the UK after three years and settled in Harrow.” London had its own share of racists at the time, though. “Racism was the norm,” says Ash." Obviously, Ashley and his friends are another proof of artists who stand tall against racism.

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COLLEEN'S NEWS

Colleen will take part in the following events:

• Saturday, 9th November 2024: Subculture NYC (with François K – tickets);

• Sunday, 10th November 2024: Soulful and Jazz mix at Razor-N Tape (free);

• Wednesday, 20th November: Classic Album Sundays presents Penthouse and Pavement’ by Heaven 17;

• Wednesday 27th November: Dance for Ashley at Ministry of Sound (tickets) ;

• Sunday 8th December 2024: London Loft Party (tickets);

• Tuesday 31st December: Fever105's Midnight Funk (tickets);

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ABOUT THE SONGS

(1969) Richie Havens – It Could Be the First Day. – The late soul-folk singer, songwriter, guitarist Richie Havens with It Could Be the First Day from his 1970 LP Stonehenge. Havens' grandfather and great-uncle were of the Native American Blackfoot people and they joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Richie himself was born in Brooklyn where he had street corner doo-wop groups. But then he went to Greenwich Village where he started performing in the different folk houses. He eventually signed with Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, and Havens released albums and he was also the opening act at Woodstock. He had to go on a bit longer because the following artists were delayed because of all the traffic.

(1989) Kofi – Black Pride. – London-born Carol Sims was a member of the Lovers Rock trio Brown Sugar along with Pauline Catlin and Karen Wheeler, who was later featured in Soul to Soul. As Kofi, she embarked upon a solo career and worked extensively with Mad Professor. She later signed to Jazzy B's Funky Dreads record label and she was also featured on Soul to Soul's third album.

(1996) Dennis Brown – Love & Hate. – Dennis Brown started recording in the late 1960s at the age of 11 and recorded more than 75 albums. And he had so many great songs. Money in My Pocket, My Favorite Love Has Come Around. And he was such an icon that even Bob Marley called him the crown prince of reggae.

(1972) Eddie Kendricks – My People...Hold On. – From the former Temptation singer's second solo album, which saw him moving away from soulful pop into a more hard-hitting commentary with a deeper funk groove and coinciding with the Black Power movement. And you may have heard Erykah Badu and J Dilla sample My People Hold On as it's such an important song.

(1965) The Impressions – People Get Ready. – The Impressions with their 1965 single, People Get Ready, penned by Curtis Mayfield and an indicator of his growing sense of social and political awareness. In fact, Dr. Martin Luther King called this song the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement.

(2003) Kindred the Family Soul – Stars. – Philadelphia neo-soul duo Kindred the Family Soul with S.T.A.R.S. from their debut LP, Surrender to Love, which came out on Jill Scott's record label Hidden Beach in 2003. The pair, consisting of Fatine Dantzler and Aja Graydon, were nominated for both a Soul Train Music Award and a BET, or Black Entertainment Television Awards.

(2004) Victor Davies – Morning Sun. – East London singer-songwriter Victor Davies, who was inspired by his parents' record collections, featuring artists like Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, and also watching the guitar playing of his older brother's friend, who was in the British soul group Central Line. Davies started releasing albums after the turn of the century, and his unique brand of Latin, soul, jazz, and house endeared him to the German record label, Compost, who co-released his first album. This next song is a request from Jeff Kite for a song from Davies' second album, Hoxton Popstars, released on his own label, Afro Gigolo, in 2003. Victor Davies with Morning Sun.

(1970) Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto. – Co-written with Donny's friend Leroy Hutson, and taken from Hathaway's 1969 LP Everything Is Everything, his first solo album after a stint as a songwriter, producer, arranger, and composer for Mayfield's Curtome Records record label. And Hathaway's debut album also includes another sociopolitical song co-written with Hutson called Tryin' Times. It's a great album.

(1972) Billy Paul – Am I Black Enough for You. – The Gamblin' Huffens' Am I Black Enough For You from an album they produced for Billy Paul, the 360 Degrees of Billy Paul. And the song was emblematic of the Black consciousness expressed by some of the greatest Black artists in the early 1970s. And for some, it was quite a radical follow-up to his big ballad, his big hit, Me and Mrs. Jones. And sadly, the song, which is supposed to be empowering, wasn't supported by most white-run American radio stations. But in an interview 40 years after the song's release, Billy Paul said Am I Black Enough For You was one of his most requested songs by white people.

(2024) Scott Grooves – Leaves are Falling (808 Callin Mix). – Detroit producer, musician, and DJ Scott Groves is somebody Colleen really admire as he isn't afraid to do something a little bit different. He first came on her radar with his cover of Lonnie Liston Smith's expansions with special guest Roy Ayres that was released on Soma in the late 1990s. And he made a lot of great deep house records, including Oregon Nights and The Journey. And then a few years ago, he really surprised Colleen when he sent me his live version of E2E4, which is just stunning. As the years go by, he reaches further with his music.

(1988) Prince – I Wish U Heaven. – From his 10th album, 1988's Love Sexy. The album was recorded in just seven weeks at Prince's new Paisley Park studios after the release of his Black album was actually canceled.

(1984) Change – Change of Heart. – The title track from Change's fifth album. And this time, the Italian-U.S. studio ensemble enlisted the talents of songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and those two really helped define the sound of the 80s. As they were in the time, and they produced the S.O.S. band, Sherelle, Alexander O'Neill, and of course, Change.

(1976) Jackson Sisters – I Believe in Miracles. – Born in Compton, but raised in Detroit, and the Jackson Sisters released one album in 1976 with that cover of the Mark Capani classic.

(1980) Billy Frazier – Billy Who. – A song Colleen first heard David Mancuso play at The Loft. It's a great groover and one of the only two singles released by Billy Frazier, of whom we know very little. And the song is very appropriately titled, Billy who?

(1994) The Ballistic Brothers – Blacker. – From the Ballistic Brothers' second album, Rude System, released in 1997. And they were a collective that included Darren House and Darren Rock from Express 2, Dave Hill from the record label Newphonic, keyboard player Ushi Klasson, and our friend Ashley Beedle.

(1975) Black Blood – AIÉ A Mwana. – An Afrobeat funk soul outfit formed by African expats in Brussels, Belgium in the 70s. This was their first single, which featured on their self-titled 1975 debut album. And they put out a couple more records before disbanding and feeding into other groups. – The song was famously covered by La Compagnie Créole in 1987 and remixed by Larry Levan, a newly remastered version being reissued on vinyl in 2019.

(1998) Moodymann – Mahogany Brown. – Detroit producer and DJ Moody Mounds, 1998 LP for Peace Frog. The follow-up to his previous year's debut, Silent Introduction on Carl Craig's Planet E label. Nay, Kenneth Dixon, who started by selling beats to local hip-hop producers and DJing at house parties, and in fact he started in hip-hop and was offered a record deal with his production partner Kahil Oden, but two days before they signed Oden was killed in a shooting. So Dixon went on to success as a house techno producer in the 1990s and he's still going strong today.

(2024) Mélange ft Linda Muriel – Simple Melody. – Simple Melody by Melange featuring Linda Muriel is a collaboration between singer-songwriter Muriel, musician Andre Lewis and DJ producer Fitzroy Facey, a lovely fusion of Latin jazz and soul funk and it's out now on 7 inch on Creative Records and you can find that on Bandcamp. It's spelt very interestingly KR number 8 IVE records and Fitzroy is also the main writer and publisher of The Soul Survivors Magazine and it's a great read in fact the latest issue features our friend DJ Marcia Carr.

(1978) Wilbert Longmire – Black is the Color. – Wilbert Longmire with Black Is The Color and I bought a UK pressing so it has the British spelling of color with the letter O Longmire was a jazz guitarist from Ohio who played with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra and he released his own album starting with 1969's Revolution through to 1980's With All My Love and you can certainly track the zeitgeist of the times with those titles Black Is The Color is the opening song to his 1978 jazz funk LP Sunny Side Up.

(2018) Yta Jourias – Adome Nyueto (Bosq Edit). – Originally released on the album Air Afrique, this song has since been given the re-edit treatment by Bosk, or Benjamin Woods, who splits his time between Columbia and Cape Cod and you can find that wonderful edit on French label Hot Casa on Bandcamp.

(1992) Lil Louis – Club Lonely. – 1992 single from the Chicago producer Lil Louis from his album A Journey with the Lonely. Louis had a number one dance hit with French Kiss in 1989. Club Lonely features vocals by Joy Cardwell who went on to put out some great singles of her own on 8Ball. In fact she came up to my radio show in the 90s Club 89 for an interview and so did Lil Louis. I met Louis in the last year that I lived in New York City and we hung out a few times in his amazing studio that he had in Midtown. That's what happens when you have a number one dance record. And I found him very down to earth, pragmatic and future facing. – Ending this post on a funny note, yours truly was dancing on Lil Louis' "French Kiss" without even knowing it at the age of , the french humorist Vincent lagaf doing a humoristic song out of it with a play on words which I won't translate here! But I can assure you all the kids knew the lyrics by heart!