Sun Ra’s SPACE IS THE PLACE (1974)

We happened upon this clip yesterday and what a goldmine! Gotta love our people…

The film trailer is from avant-garde jazz musician, Sun Ra‘s 1974 Black sci-fi masterpiece, Space is the Place.

Sun Ra is a prolific figure in understanding Afro-Futurism as a historical set of ideologies and practices. Reflecting the progressive, ever-evolving nature of music, Sun Ra used multiple names to describe himself and his band “The Arkestra” (remix of “orchestra”), including “The Intergalactic Arkestra”, “The Solar Myth Arkestra”, “His Cosmo Dsicipline Arkestra”, the “Blue Universe Arkestra” and “The Jet Set Omniverse Arkestra” to name a few.

In the film, Sun Ra has been M.I.A. since his European tour in June 1969. He is teleported to a different planet with his band and decides to resettle Black folks here. The vehicle for flight to this outerspace utopia –  Sun Ra’s out-there jazz music. Sound also becomes a weapon to fight off white FBI agents and Sun Ra’s arch nemesis – The Overseer, a pimp-overlord that poses as a community leader and philanthropist but is actually destroying Black communities.

Check out the trailer above and watch the full film below.

Happy Africa Day, fam.