Liner Notes for the Revolution Audiobook Libro.fm

Description

Daphne A Brooks explores more than a century of music archives to examine the critics collectors and listeners who have determined perceptions of Black women on stage and in the recording studio How is it possible she asks that iconic artists such as Aretha Franklin and Beyonc exist simultaneously at the center and on the fringe of the culture industry

Liner Notes for the Revolution offers a startling new perspective on these acclaimed figuresa perspective informed by the overlooked contributions of other Black women concerned with the work of their musical peers Zora Neale Hurston appears as a sound archivist and a performer Lorraine Hansberry as a queer Black feminist critic of modern culture and Pauline Hopkins as Americas first Black female cultural commentator Brooks tackles the complicated racial politics of blues music recording song collecting and rock and roll criticism She makes lyrical forays into the blues pioneers Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith as well as fans who became critics like the recordlabel entrepreneur and writer Rosetta Reitz In the twentyfirst century pop superstar Janelle Monaes liner notes are recognized for their innovations while celebrated singers Ccile McLorin Salvant Rhiannon Giddens and Valerie June take their place as cultural historians