photo credits: willie anku, agatha urbaniak
Black Fighting Formations: Simultaneous Multidimensionality draws on the research of Marshall Trammell and investigates the relationship between narratives of fugitivity of the Underground Railroad, the use of secret quilt codes as tactical media, technologies utilized by oppressed peoples, and research justice strategies embedded in contemporary aural/auditory culture, including Creative Improvised Music.
The investigations go further to identify elements of interdisciplinary ethnography & performance, elements of communicative behavior amongst musicians, and elements of simultaneous multidimensionality located in independent arts, urban, sustainable agriculture and the local business economic landscape.
WHEN: Monday September 19, 8pm
COST: $5 donation requested
NOTE: THIS WORK WILL BE PRESENTED IN TWO PARTS OVER TWO NIGHTS AT RHIZOME DC, SEP 19-20.
Part I: Fieldwork & Documentation - a talk by Marshall Trammell
This presentation is not as academic as it pretends to be. It is inspired by the work of distinguished elder and leader from behind enemy lines, former Black Panther/Black Liberation Army member and current political prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, who analyzed armed Black resistance groups from 1960-1994 in an essay entitled “Black Fighting Formations,” found in Maroon the Implacable. The brief essay analyzes the “strengths, weakness and potentials” of each group.
Bay Area-based percussionist Marshall Trammell (MRS & Black Spirituals) will discuss investigative strategies and social inquiry from his own practices including:
- “Multi-Aesthetic Theory of Improvisation” drum set mapping practicum,
- “Decolonizing the Imagination: Arts Practicum”
- Economimesis: Drummers’ Secret Handshake
- “Black Fighting Formations: Simultaneous Multidimensionality,” an investigation of the UGRR-era tactical media, narratives of fugitivity, and African sensibilities in percussion.
“Black Fighting Formations: Simultaneous Multidimensionality” continues with Part II on September 20th, featuring a performance with musicians Marshall Trammell, Luke Stewart and Jamal Moore.
Marshall Trammell, Chief Investigator at Music Research Strategies
Bay Area-based interdisciplinary artist + percussionist, Marshall Trammell founded Music Research Strategies (MRS) as a platform for ethnographic investigation, culturally situated design, political education and social engagement. Through his varied work an advocate, analyst, researcher, or community organizer, in California, he utilizes research justice tools in his interdisciplinary arts practice.He was an Electronic Arts fellow at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY (2004-2006), studying under Ron Eglash, Pauline Oliveros and Tomie Hahn. Mr. Trammell performs in specific projects and with the electro-acoustic duo Black Spirituals, featuring Zachary James Watkins. His performance and recording resume includes John Tchicai, India Cooke, Roscoe Mitchell, Genny Lim, John Jang, Dohee Lee and Francis Wong. He is the new Music Instructor for Urban Promise Academy in the Fruitvale District of Oakland, CA .
http://mrtrammell.wix.com/researchstrategies