Anthony Joseph

The African Origins of UFOs
George Clinton himself would not have disavowed this Afro-futurist concept that Anthony Joseph first explored in The African Origins Of UFO’s, his novella written nearly twenty years ago.

Since then, the Trinidad-born singer-poet has released several albums, but the idea has never faded. After a long period of reflection and artistic research with musician and producer Dave Okumu, it has even become the central axis of his new album.

The novella, which served as the foundation for the first tracks they created together, became the launchpad for Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back — an adventure so dense that it had to be divided into two parts.

After firmly establishing the musical connection of the entire Caribbean diaspora on his previous albums, Anthony Joseph now embarks on a musical fresco as ambitious as it is fascinating: exploring the many layers that make up the long and tumultuous history of Black music. Creative strata that overlap and enrich each other, each generation feeding on the previous one to unknowingly prepare the arrival of the next.

This immense puzzle, bound together by a strong political consciousness, has darkened the staves with its most intense notes. Sculpted in the wax of timeless works, untouched by decades of attempted alteration. Form, substance, revolutionary scope — everything remains intact. Including the spirit of those musicians who spoke only through their instruments, the power of their groove, and the radical nature of their artistic vision.

Funk, P-Funk, soul, dub, free-jazz, jazz, afrobeat, blues… By confronting and merging their musical visions, Anthony Joseph and Dave Okumu have shaped an ever-evolving, boundless Afro-futurism.

Anchored in the desire to revive all roots, this exploration also extends to the recovery of lost names — those that vanished between Africa and the Americas, dissolved in the waves of the Atlantic and the crack of the whip. Those taken from the uprooted who were forced to bear their masters’ names.

The skins and wood of the drums played by Dan See, Tom Skinner, and Richard Spaven; the brass of the saxophones, tubas, and trumpets of Colin Webster, James Wade Sired, and Byron Wallen — everything that forms the organic vessel carrying the heroes of Black music — reveals, at takeoff, a control panel of sophisticated electronics. Dave Okumu programs its heart, while Nick Ramm and Aviram Barath add layers of synthesizers and electric pianos.

Reinforcing — or even replacing — certain functions may prove essential, for the destination lies light-years away. To reach it, one must connect the present to the past in order to carry it into the future — into the Afro Future.

There, after having rowed upriver, all will have reclaimed their names and a piece of their history.