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The Sounds of the Future

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Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Sound ((PASTS))

Abstract

In this chapter the focus is on musical instruments, and how the use of new instruments or new technologies partake in imagining the sounds of the future. The electric guitar of Jimi Hendrix, the electronic keyboards of Sun Ra and Herbie Hancock, and the computer technologies of contemporary DJs are discussed, leading up to the idea of the musician as having at her or his hands something akin to a control board for navigating into the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Sonic fantastic” might be seen as one possible dimension of what Richard Iton calls “the Black fantastic” (Iton 2008), translated, so to speak, into the sonic domain.

  2. 2.

    Lewis also references George Russell’s Jazz in the Space Age (1960) and Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved By Nature (1968).

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Steinskog, E. (2018). The Sounds of the Future. In: Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies. Palgrave Studies in Sound. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66041-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66041-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66040-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66041-7

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