(global) southern girl

More signs of "an emergic global anti-hegemonic culture" with Islam at its heart (Not that I'm making any declarations on the Islamic identity of Badu or Farrakhan... but there is obviously enough of a "family resemblance" for them to be included in the mini-manifesto at the top of the blog):

Sporting a huge, billowing afro and a T-shirt with an anti-Iraq war slogan, Erykah Badu expressed her support of black leader Louis Farrakhan and the Palestinian cause Thursday before a crowd of Israeli fans and journalists in Tel Aviv.

The Grammy-award winning neo-soul vocalist, 36, is in Tel Aviv to perform on Saturday night. She has also won acclaim for her acting roles in "Cider House Rules" and "House of D."

"I come from across the water bringing light and hope," said Badu in her deep, languid voice. She commissioned a poster design especially for her visit to Israel, featuring a large hamsa - a traditional Middle Eastern good luck charm _ that appears to be growing out of her hair. At the bottom, the words for peace in Hebrew and Arabic appear side by side.

(For the rest of the story: Visiting hip hop artist defends Farrakhan, Palestinian cause

sweetest day / millions more march / erykah badu
an african american muslim convert as the founder of chinese hip-hop

sweetest day / millions more march / erykah badu

I wonder if there is some cosmic significance to the fact that Sweetest Day coincided with the Millions More March (the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March this year. It is easy to find both positive and negative connections. Both events can be seen as sincere expressions of love. Both can also be seen as commercialized, exploited immitations of the same. (Can you tell I didn't have a Sweetie this year?)

I caught part of the Millions More March on CSPAN. Out of what I saw, the best part was definitely watching Erykah Badu doing her thing. Apparently she had been scheduled to sing "Time's a Wastin'", but after they introduced her and the music started playing, she stopped the music to give a speech! Her comments were eloquent enough to make me think she had written them beforehand, but "rough" enough to make me think she wasn't doing what the planners of the march had expected her to do.

I suspect that faced with the considerable temptation of being handed a microphone and a live television audience she decided to go the Kanye route and say whatever the hell she wanted to say. Although in contrast to Kanye, her words were simple, beautiful, powerful and eloquently delivered.

Towards the end she even said "I'm not going to sing. I'm not going to sing". And it would have been alot more appropriate if she had stuck to her guns and let her comments stand on their own. Unfortunately, she caved in and sang anyway... not that the song was performed badly, but it was anti-climactic given the quality of the comments which came before.

If I find a transcript of her comments, I definitely intend to add the text or a link to it.