Activist and Musician – An Eloquent Voice for the Movement
Written by Stephanie “Andara” Solarys
The scamdemic has me producing in a new kind of way. It’s been step-by-step. I have some equipment in my own studio but I was so used to collaborating with people that it took me a while to get encouraged again. This whole time I’ve been practicing but as far as producing and recording, I had my equipment just sitting there. I have a set up where I use the sound module and I’m playing keyboard now! I can create drum beats with my fingers and string sections. All of a sudden I feel like I’m in my Beethoven phase! I’m expanding.
I got into music a very specific way as a kid. I was an avid music listener, I took piano lessons as a youngster but I wasn’t really into it. At fifteen years old, I was hanging out in Harlem with my best friend and his older brother who were jamming. They exposed me to Jimmy Hendrix. When I heard him, there was a voice in my head pulsating that said: “You are a musician now.” I had never seen or heard Hendrix before. The music itself communicated to me. “Up until this point you’ve -liked- music but now you must -play- music!” When I got a bass I practiced every day. I had a certain sense of discipline about practicing because of martial arts.
It’s interesting how my whole experience evolved. At first I was just happy to be a bass player and suddenly I started leaning into the notion that you can sing poetry! I’ve been writing longer than I was singing. In my first band I was a co- writer of a good portion of that material so in collaboration I was always creating a bassline or the bridge of the song. Then I started being able to visualize more the overarching structure of a piece of music; a verse or a chorus and a bridge.
The band that I`m most known for is a mothership project called “Earthdriver”. My newest band is called Narco Bourgeois and thanks to the medical freedom movement there is new music underway!
“One thing that became painfully obvious to me is that artists are the jesters and the minstrels of the imperial society.”
I recently had a great jam session with my friend Michael Jay (Gong) and Kevin Nathaniel (Embera). It’s totally improvised.
I also met another musician, his name is Michael Joseph Burdi. He is a phenomenal (middle Eastern) Oud player that I met at a protest in Manhattan. I would like to get him in the mix because he’d be a very powerful addition. I’ve had an incredibly diverse career and so I’m really thrilled if we can get some creative momentum going through our Healing Sounds Ensemble with performance opportunities. Music brings people together. Music allows you to have a new thought. With the support of the movement we can do a whole medical freedom tour! Go from living room-to living room! (Laughs.) I hope that with the present power of unity and reconfiguration, I will find myself in various venues and in connection with people I’m supposed to be synchronized with. I am actively seeking good management!
One thing that became painfully obvious to me is that artists are the jesters and the minstrels of the imperial society. We like to think of artists as the rebels but it’s generally not true. A big part of being on the art scene is who can jump up and sell out faster? There were a lot of artists who were piling in to conform. There was no inclination of people standing up. I didn’t train to become a musician to take experimental drugs brought to me by fallonious corporations. To resist, I think we should come together underground, play outdoors and do our own concerts. It helps to simply say “No” to the drugs as well.
I use my voice. There were a few people that warned me that I’m being labeled and blacklisted as an artist. “Don’t take such a vocal stance, you might never work again.”
“The truth is, we’ve always been a humanist moment. When people awaken, they can always re-join! We don’t exclude. We never did.”
It strikes me how even an old friend from the activist scene told me: “I’m not interested in what you have to say.” Their movement is based in exclusion and its elitism. I actually am interested in what he has to say, in what everyone has to say!
What would make him totally uninterested in my views? I am the same person -and- a more evolved person than when you first met me. The truth is, we’ve always been a humanist moment. When people awaken, they can always re-join! We don’t exclude. We never did.
When I was in highschool, I went to Bara, Tanzania as part of a project to build a library. When we got there a tragedy had occurred. Someone was severely injured by another community member. They wanted to be more gracious in their welcoming but they were deliberating. “We must sit here and discuss this for as long as necessary until we find -what we all agree- is a fair and reasonable solution. Every viewpoint must be heard.” That was the most democratic concept that I had ever seen, in principle. One voice can’t overpower another. That’s exactly how I feel towards my people. I take that with me throughout my life.
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