Black History Month from a musical perspective
Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, February 3, 2021
- Singer Maria Jackson recently moved to Bend and started a collaboration with guitarist Maya Hendrix.
Black history is American history, and nowhere is that more clear than in popular music.
From early slave hymns, moving into gospel music in churches, to folk, ragtime, country, jazz, blues, R&B, rock ’n’ roll and the explosion of subgenres that fall under the “rock” category, Black artists had a guiding hand in all of it.
Trending
As part of GO! Magazine’s Black History Month issue, I chatted with local Black musicians about their thoughts and experiences surrounding the month, especially in light of a renewed focus last year on the Black Lives Matter movement. Throughout the interviews, tokenism kept popping up: the notion that I’m only talking to these artists because they’re Black, and it’s Black History month. The only way to address that was to lean into it, and present the artists’ voices with as little editing as possible.
That said, these interviews have been cut for length. Most of them are paired with a key track from the artist, to create a short, Bend-centric Black History Month playlist.
“Love is Like Oxygen,” Milo Matthews
Bassist, singer and songwriter Milo Matthews has maintained ties to Bend for the past couple of years, even as he’s continued to travel the country and world in his 1985 Ford bus. He’s back on the road now (he spoke from Olympia, Washington), but said he’ll be in Bend sometime in the spring.
“Love is Like Oxygen,” originally by the band Sweet, is from Matthews’ latest project, a series of cover songs titled “The Last Goodbye.” He plans to release a new cover every two weeks.
Q: What are your thoughts about Black History Month and everything that goes around it?
Trending
A: I used to celebrate Black History Month back in the day, where it’s an honorary month because of Martin Luther King. It’s just a recognition of history and people’s achievements. But also, they would focus on TV specials and commentary. But then after a while, it dissipated for me personally because I didn’t really respond too well because I just kind of considered myself a citizen of the world. I kind of lost the vibe and the support of doing Black History Month until just this last year. … But in this past year, I’m just recognizing that.
Q: Because of what happened last year with the Black Lives Matter movement, and with Black History Month here, do things feel any different now because of that? Does it feel like people are paying more attention?
A: Oh absolutely. I think they’re being more aware and they’re learning more and they’re associating themselves now with being knowledgeable and conscious. There’s a huge wave of awareness going, and I’ve had personal chats with friends. … When everything was super heated and all the protests were going on, and I was still on the road driving, I would make it a point to avoid major cities driving my bus through. I always liked the small towns anyways, but I never made a big deal out of it on a personal basis because of the way I see the world and how I relate to any people of color, or non-color. Asians and Blacks and Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, I’ve always come from that unified, hippy kind of stance. But I’m definitely feeling the change, being treated — being asked about how I am and how I’m doing, people going out of their way to say hi and being courteous and not looking over at me when I’m going to the store to buy something, or walking down the street and someone else is crossing the street because they don’t want to pass me on the same side of the sidewalk.
“Neblar,” Maxwell Friedman Group
Hammond artist Maxwell Friedman has been a fixture on Bend’s music scene for many years. The 17-year-old composer and keyboardist has spent the pandemic playing solo streaming shows and working on new material on his own and for his eponymous band. The four-piece funk/jazz/soul/fusion group will perform the next Soul Funktion Entertainment streaming show from Midtown Ballroom on Feb. 12; visit soulfunktionentertainment.com for more information.
“Neblar” is from the Maxwell Friedman Group’s debut live album, “Beyond Neblar,” released in 2019.
Q: What are your thoughts on Black History Month in general and the tokenism feel to it that can be there?
A: I think the issues with tokenization, at least my interpretation of tokenization, come from just representation of minority groups in certain ways without really consulting them for their own perspective. Like someone else basically limiting the voice and replacing it with their interpretation of what they feel needs to be addressed. So I think talking to BIPOC people and specifically Black people about Black History Month is actually really crucial. … That’s the biggest thing for me about Black History Month. Being a Black teen in public school in Bend is not having a lot of representation. I’d at least want, for the one period of time where we talk about the people (who are) my ancestors, I want it to be accurate; I don’t want it to be whitewashed. I want it to be the truth, and I want people to really understand all the contributions, all the progressions into the future that Black people have contributed to society, and then everything, all the adversities they’ve had to face.
Q: Talking about Black contributions to American history, I think a big one that comes up that is in both of our wheelhouses is music, popular music. I can’t think of a single form of popular music in the United States that isn’t influenced or directly inspired by Black America.
A: Exactly. I think that’s one of the biggest reasons I’m a jazz musician, is because I live in a place where there aren’t a lot of people that look like me. I don’t have a lot of experiences with that side of my culture, so a great way to connect with that is by playing jazz music, by playing R&B and hip-hop music, by playing gospel music, by surrounding myself with the art forms created by African American people in this country and really learning them and respecting them. I think that helps me really get in touch with that side of our culture, and that’s the second big thing about Black History Month. As a musician, I’m always trying to remind people, “Hey, you listen to this music? Well this is where it came from.”
“Just Like Them,” Mosley Wotta
Bend poet, rapper, visual artist and writer Mosley Wotta has stayed busy as usual during the pandemic, releasing a slew of new music including the album, “This is (Not) All There Is,” and single “Head On.” As the year progresses, expect more music through Wotta’s new label, Wake Records, as well as a multimedia streaming show, “Basic,” which will be filmed later this month.
“Just Like Them,” the lead track from “This is (Not) All There Is,” was recently made into a video featuring animation by Wotta. The video was featured in NPR’s “Heavy Rotation” column last month.
Q: What are your thoughts on Black History Month in general and the tokenism that can come into that?
A: In a town like this, tokenism is going to be inevitable until it isn’t. Any way to try to lift up people who have been oppressed by people who have been oppressing is inherently flawed, but is also part of the work that needs to be done.
… There’s a growing willingness to lean into discomfort as a daily practice rather than a trend. We’re seeing substantive changes in superficial ways that are going to translate to core infrastructural changes, so far in as we have (a majority of) women for our city council, which has never happened before, which is a good indication of trying something different. And I’m more keen to be curious about this town than I am to condemn it personally, but I don’t think that’s unique to me. I do think more and more folks are wondering about what possible outcomes could come from the mistakes that we’ve made, the missteps that we’ve made, as a way to get our footing moving forward. And that is very hopeful.
Q: With everything that happened last year with Black Lives Matter coming to the forefront, are you noticing anything around that with Black History Month?
A: If you believe that your ethical practice and investigation is ever over, then you are an extremely dangerous community member. If you believe that you can celebrate Black lives during a protest or during a particular month, if you think that it starts and stops with Black lives — if this is an investigation into our relationship well beyond how we perceive our various identities as people — you are a very dangerous community member. If you think that you can simply write a check to donate some funds, if you think you can go to a soup kitchen one time, if you think you can give somebody five bucks, if you think that you can simply put up some Facebook posts, if you think that you can simply join a cause or buy something from a nonprofit or whatever — as a finite action, as an all-in good action, you are entirely missing the point around this deeper ethical investigation. If you are truly an ethical person, you are constantly questioning and unsure of whether or not you are doing enough to be clear about what your ethical stance is.
J Meast has been a fixture of Bend’s hip-hop scene for nearly a decade, splitting his time between the city and California. He recently released “4 the Mob 4,” the concluding installment of the “4 the Mob” EP series, and is working on a sequel to his 2016 EP, “Sip on This.” Look for a new single with Philthy Rich coming soon.
“You Gone Be OK” is from “4 the Mob 3.”
Q: What are your feelings on Black History Month in general, and the tokenism aspects that come up with it?
A: I guess you could say as a Black person I’m appreciative that they would set aside a whole month for us. I guess it does kind of bother me a little bit that we get the shortest month of the year, but it is what it is I guess. At least it’s appreciated and it’s talked about and honored. That’s the good and that’s the beauty of it. As far as Black History Month, I mean, it’s Black History Day for me every day. But to have a month that just honors Black people, that’s appreciated because I feel like we deserve that.
As far as the Black Lives Matter movement, I’m also appreciative of that as well. It’s something that’s needed and it’s something that needs to continue. I wish that people would understand that it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re just trying to push everybody out and say, “Oh, it’s only about Black lives.” At the end of the day, I feel that it’s more or less Black people trying to be heard and trying to get a valid point across and just be respected and be treated equal. … It’s more or less to let people know that we want the violence to stop towards Black people. It’s not needed. If you want to make an arrest, make an arrest, but killing somebody in the process of making an arrest is just not OK, and it happens a lot to Black people.
Q: Do things feel different now with Black Lives Matter coming to the forefront last year?
A: I’m a Black man in America, so it’s just the same with me every day. I have a son. When he gets old enough, I have to install that in him and let him know how to carry himself as a Black man in America. He’ll have to do the same when he has kids. … I’m not saying that every day I’m singled out or I’m experiencing racism every day. I have definitely experienced racism, and I’ve experienced a lot of those things. But I still have to carry myself properly every day and be safe and make sure that my family is safe.
Maria Jackson
A newcomer to the Central Oregon music scene, singer Maria Jackson is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She works as a traveling nursing assistant, including in Oregon for the past couple of years. In the last few months, she has made Bend her home base.
After diving into the local karaoke scene, she teamed up with her best friend, guitarist Maya Hendrix, to form a duo and work on original music. They have no recordings yet, which is why this playlist is missing their track, but you can check out live videos and updates at Jackson’s Instagram: @mariatheprestigiousbeast.
Q: What are your thoughts on Black History Month, especially with everything that happened last year with Black Lives Matter?
A: I didn’t really learn a lot about Black history in depth until I was well into my 20s — like 24, 25 I started actually looking into these things … outside of that strict guideline of, oh, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and these are the only people you really know. It’s a lot. I had to at some point stop because you learn so much and you recognize so many things. It just brought to the forefront a lot of the things I went through growing up. In Baltimore, it’s not looked at as the best place. I think things have calmed down a little bit, hopefully, but they were wild when I grew up there. It was a lot of violence, a lot of drug usage, a lot of drug dealers — that was normal for me, being in that environment. And I just didn’t recognize how systemic racism played a part in that because that’s all I knew, and I just assumed that that’s how life was for everybody. So I’m really hoping this year with how everything happened last year, people really take the time to educate themselves and really take the time to dig into Black people’s lives and their history and how all of us have gotten to the point that we are at right now.
Q: Do you think that Black Lives Matter coming to the forefront last year has changed anything?
A: I do just feel like a lot of the times Black lives are not really considered important at all unless it’s a political move. A lot of the times it’s completely looked over and pushed under the rug. Most of the people I talk to in Oregon realistically are white people, and a lot of them were just like, “Oh, well, you’re just bringing up politics,” and I just look at them like, “How are you telling me (that) me talking about my life and how things happen to people who look like me are me trying to bring up politics, when it’s literally my life?” But that’s really the only way a lot of people who aren’t of color will equate Black lives. It needs to be attached to something, it needs to be attached to organization, it needs to be attached to politics. I think a lot of people, white people or non-POC, don’t look at just the individual and the fact that Black people have hopes and dreams and things that they want to do and fears like everybody else. When they’re expressing that in settings that may happen to be whiter than others, it’s not because they’re trying to make anybody feel guilty or uncomfortable. They are literally just telling you, “This is what my life is like.” And if that makes you uncomfortable, good, because hopefully you can be a catalyst to somebody else and help dismantle the fact that me bringing up how I live and how people have responded to me just being in a space physically, how that’s deemed uncomfortable.
“No More,” Jeshua Marshall
“Great Again,” Kourtni
“It Ain’t Right,” MC Ragtop