‘Anarchist Africa::When Visions Fall From Sky’ builds on the dub poetry tradition of combining spoken word with dubwise production to deliver politically charged and socially conscious messages that challenge established (but not necessarily correct) paradigms. In this case it's preconceptions about the African subcontinent that are put under the spotlight by IR::Sankara Future Dub Resurgence, a group of musicians from Uganda in East Africa.
Set to an attention focusing soundtrack of minimalist bass heavy electronics, opening track ‘Anarchist Africa’ focuses on redefining Africa’s past by celebrating its anti-authoritarian and anarchist traditions through the rejection of centralized forms of government. This is followed by ‘When Visions Fall From The Sky’ which combines the traditional instrumentation of flute, djembe and nyabinghi drums with contemporary dub production (including a killer seismic bassline) to create a real gem of a track that uses a series of short factual statements to challenge and redress the inaccurate dominant narratives regarding Africa’s history.
The third and final vocal track recorded on a mobile phone at the outdoor Dub Museum in Kampala is ‘Dreams Are Dub Reality‘ which explores the importance of looking beyond our restrictive everyday perceptions of reality. The EP is completed by a further five alternate mixes which in equal measure emphasise the power of the music in the dub versions and the power of the lyrics in the acapellas. Both lyrically and musically it’s a fantastic collection of tracks unified by a singular sound that shows the best way to deliver a hard hitting message is alongside a hard hitting bassline.
‘Anarchist Africa::When Visions Fall From The Sky’ by IR::Sankara Future Dub Resurgence is out now on Dub Reality and available to buy on Bandcamp. A beautifully shot film directed by Joshua Black-Alibet to accompany ‘When Visions Fall From The Sky’ is also available to watch on Vimeo.