TRIBAL REALITIES Issue 11 Beta4

Tribal Realities Visions,

Verses

&

Vibes

from

Higher

βeta

Dimensions

Raw Visions

Shamanic Arte-facts from the TR Series

The Jungle Brother/2

A Graphic Novel Steppin’ Outta Babylon

Tribal Vibez: Tribe Records

Detroit Masters Re-Mastered on Soul Jazz Rec.

OBA the King of Edo

A Single-Canvas Short Story

Tunde Adebimpe

Lo-tech Man inna Hi-tech World

Tele-Visions: Le Retour de Liaram Joël Cimarrón Animated Homage to Aimé Césaire underground

visual

magazine

issue

11

Tribal Realities Table of Contents

01 Raw Visions Tribal Realities Series 08 The Jungle Brother Episode 2 18 Tribal Vibez Message from the Tribe 20 Oba A Single-Canvas Short Story 22 Lo_techs Tunde Adebimpe’s modus operandi 24 Tele-Visions Le Retour de Liaram 26 Artist’s Statement 27 Creditz Cover: Dancer (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada © 2010

Hunter (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010 TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 1

Hunter and Dancer (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL

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raw visions Frankly , I am not a painter. Actually, I am a Shaman, performing Ancestral Rituals, Yajnas, Poojas. Therefore, the vibrant traces of paint and mixed media that you observe in my artworks are just the material marks of the Yajna performed.

Indeed, my paintings are simply the tangible dimension of a more complex, intangible Reality of Subtle Energies.

A Dance of Energy. Beyond the mental. Supra-mental.

My paintings are a Gate. A Gate of Trans-Formation. Pass through the Gates to Access the Sacred Space of Transcendence. Move Beyond.

Access Your Inner Core Vibes.

Meet Your Tribal Realities!

The mixed-medias on brown paper shown on these pages are details of one single work (165x70cm). This and other artworks are available for sale on-line at: http://ww w.artflock. com/artist/mkatana http://marco-spada. fineartamerica.com/

REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010 TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 3

Chief (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010

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Shaman (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010 TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 5

In-coming Spirit (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010

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Spirit (detail), mixed media on brown paper , TRIBAL REALITIES Series, Marco Spada Š 2010 TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 7

the jungle brother A Graphic Novel Steppin’ Outta Babylon - Episode 2

HOW DO YOU DARE? you, HUMAN INTRUDER!! i am the guardian of the living jungle of emerald and you are violating this sacred land. the vengeance of the ancestors will strike down upon the insane desecrator from babylon! tell your last prayers...

now, it’s time to die!

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ON HIS WAY TO REACH THE SHAMAN, AKON GOT LOST IN THE LIVING JUNGLE OF EMERLAD. THE TERRIFIC GUARDIAN MENACE HIM, A MERE HUMAN INTRUDER...

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w-what?? n-no, i am not a desecrator. I rejected babylon! i rejected babylon’s greedy corruption but the guardian is going to tear me into pieces, anyway!

Damn! ...

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i have no fear! i wanna proceed on my path! i am gonna fight the guardian!

???...i am expanding!! I feel a deep force growing inside my-self...

UNEXPECTEDLY, THE HEAVY EMOTIONS TRIGGERED A PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION, LATENT INSIDE his BEING. akon STARTED TO EXPERIENCE POWERFUL ENERGIES WITHIN HIMSELF. HIS PHYSICAL BODY DISINTEGRATING INTO NEW FORMS, his total being growing into a glowing and sparkling intense light...

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 11

MY NAME IS oBA. I AM THE KING OF YOUR SUPRAMENTAL STATE, I AM YOUR avatar...

w-what is happening to me? w-who are you?

akon’s inner core vibes turned into the warrior oba, his only chance to defeat the guardian...

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now i see in my powers! guardian,

en garde!

ド

ン

akon,now aware of his oba state of consciousness, fiercely expressed his intentions to the guardian of the ancestors’ land. the two entities facing each other in a single combat!

we’ll see! show me what you got!

ズ

drAwing his sword,

ザ!

the guardian challenged akon-turned-oba, the supra-mental avatar..

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 13

... die!

you

gonna...

well-balanced in his emerald powers, the guardian swiftly engage the oba warrior with words of vengeance and death. is akon-turned-oba ready to face the terrific powers of the guardian?

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not...

... so... ... easy!

yes, he is ready! The OBA WARRIOr, calm as a mountain and flowing like running water , moved to avoid his opponent’s attacks. smooth. their auras blending into a cosmic dance of life and death...

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 15

dAMN YOU! GOTCHA!

ゴ ウ

burn...

babylon, burn!

THE OBA WARRIOR waits for guardian’s faux pas then, he STRiKEs WITH ALL HIS DEVASTATING POWERS ...

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ガ

ガ コ

BIRDS IN THE SKYES ...THE WHOLE FOREST OF EMERALD, resonating with the clash...

コ

コ

コ コ

...silently witness THE COSMIC DANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH between the guardian and the oba warrior. who’s gonna be the ultimate dancer? the answer is in the next episode! stay tuned!! end of episode 2 - The Jungle Brother, Marco Spada © 2010

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 17

tribal vibez T r i b e R e c o r d s + U n i v e r s a l S o u n d s

” Music is the healing force of the Universe.”

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Yesir! Music is the Universal Healing Force! I re-

alize this everytime I grab my didjeridoo and I go in the wood to play. Everytime I meet people in a drum circle under the protection of the mighty djembè.

Everytime I listen to tunes, composed, produced and played with the full heart, irrespective of musical genres, labels and space-time. Music is a universal means of Unity and Love. Vibes express emotions better than words. Word. (ha!) This is why I wanna tell you about Tribe Records: a collective of talented musicians from Detroit. Their jazz/funk vibes were recently re-mastered by our beloved SoulJazz Records /Universal Sounds: An Anthology of Tribe Records 1972-1977. Uhm...Detroit in the 70s: thus we immediately think about Motor City and Motown.

Well, think again. Indeed, by 1970s, Motown moved to L.A. and the automotive industry was hit by the oil crisis. In the midst of such a devastated cultural scenario, Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin, Marcus Belgrave & Co. activated their entrepreneural mindsets and decided to run their own label, along with their black awareness magazine. Their mission? Heal the Universe, one vinyl at the time! In their own words: “ Music is the healing force of the Universe.”

In these days, the Soul Jazz folks packaged their anthology of Funk and Deep Jazz with reprinted articles, photos from the original Tribe Magazine and limited edition postcard set...featuring Jesse Jackson, Sun Ra and Watergate...

In this turbulent era of change, who’ s gonna champion Detroit’s musical legacy ? who’s gonna understand, appreciate and embrace the message from the Tribe? Comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Tribal Realities, anyone?

Tribe Records is available on TR11 video-playlist: http://tribalrealities.blogspot.com/ Digital download on Soul Jazz Records: http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=202 TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 19

http://marco-spada.fineartamerica.com/ *mixed media on canvas (40x40cm) TRIBAL REALITIES Series Marco Spada Š 2010 *

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Oba

Oba, the King of Edo. Oba is a word that started buzzing in my head. One day. He came and took the shape of a brass sculpture from Benin. The grandeur of cire perdue: a “lost-wax� casting story. He took the shape of a fearless warrior of the Supra-mental Kingdom. Eventually, He became an illustrated story we commonly call comix. And a portrait on canvas. Indeed, He took shape in front of me. Charcoal gave me the strokes. Acrilycs gave me the volumes. And emotions. Painting knife to fill the emptiness of a solitary chief. Layer after layer, brush strokes telling me the story of a legendary king who died for His people. He was crowned in Yorubaland. An upright carriage. Carrying insignia. Leading His people through the majestic steps of His royal dance. His wives follow. Gentle and light steps. War chiefs greet him, with their appropriate dance rhythm. Never bowed His head to the intruders. Sacrificed to protect His Land. He is now calling His people, again. Are you One of Them? The Sacred King is the Vehicle of Ancestral Spirits. They say: Too much Tears. Too much Blood. Forget about Tribal Hate. We Are All Different. We Are One. Human Beings with a Divine Mission on Earth. This is a Message of Peace from a Warrior King Who Died for His People. Peace.

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 21

lo-tech man inna hi-tech world *extra-ordinary people* tribal attitude* creative technologies*

Tunde Ade bimpe

TRIBAL REALITIES in phull FX: My own version of Tunde Adebimpe live performing. Energy Free-Flowing All Around!

I consider myself a low-tecnology man living in an high-technology world. I live in a countryhouse, performing millenary healing rituals, and, simultaneously, I produce web 2.0 visionary art-works for post-modern human beings. Years ago I answered my Call: give voice to ancestral cultures and primitive systems of knowledge through state-ofthe-art creative technologies. Whether live painting performance, comix, video-muzik or publishing, I deliver the message. Thus, I am a lo-tech men inna hi-tech worlds. This is the philosophy behind the TRIBAL REALITIES project. In line with this modus operandi I wanna tell you the stories of [extra-ordinary people] with a [tribal attitude] through [creative technologies]. This very first time, I wanna tell you about Tunde Adebimpe.

Born in Nigeria (1975), Tunde (“Ton-day” ) was then raised in Hampton, Pittsburgh, PA. Dad was a psychiatrist + social worker + painter +musician+writer...mum was a pharmacist and “one of the best storytellers I know” he commented in a recent WSJ interview. His sister is a gospel /opera singer while his brother was a writer. Looks like a vibrant and creative family/ environment, uh? Indeed, the multi-talented Tunde is an actor, musician and director. His a capella version of Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend”, performed in the indie drama/documentary “Rachel Getting Married,” is definitely an intense journey into the reality of Love.

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Actually, I was almost crying when I watched that. Don’t worry, it’s on TR11 video playlist, don’t miss that! And I added the music video he directed and animated - for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song “Pin”. That one is awesome! An animator, specialized into stop-motion technique, Tunde was one of the guys behind the gory MTV’s Celebrity Death Match (particularly, Michael Jackson vs. Madonna and Beastie Boys vs. Backstreet Boys: remember those maximum carnage episodes?) As the frontman of TV on the Radio - a Brooklyn-based indie rock band - he got under his belt 4 albums and several EPs, singles & remixes. Recently, the man was one of the special guests on latest Massive Attack album. But what I really enjoy are his live performances. Why? because each and every gig is a ritual, performed with high concentration and deep devotion. Tunde is able to express his pristine vibes - let me say, his TRIBAL REALITIES - improvising with everything he finds around. Actually, Tunde grabs a LINE6 DL4 Stompbox and starts his live show. A human beatbox live recording into a machine loop sampler. Straight to your dome, deep into your heart. Keep it Tribal! Keep it Real!

Check out Tunde on the TR11 Video-Playlist at www.youtube.com/user/SAIselecta

TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 23

tele-Visions <video, animations, movies, day-dreaming...>

liberté, égalité, fraternité... ...identité.

Aimé Césaire

Above: I painted Aimé Césaire while he is adding the word “identity” to the classic “liberty, equality, fraternity” as he welcomes Ségolène Royal in Fort-de-France, Martinique (2007).

Aimé Césaire has been a verbal artist. Aimé Césaire has been a statesman. Aimé Césaire is a major contemporary poet from the French Antilles with a formidable reputation throughout the francophone world. And beyond. Indeed he is well known to the English-speaking audience for his early book-length poetic masterpiece Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (Journal of a Homecoming) . An eloquent and robust critic of colonialism, Césaire greatly contributed to the post-colonial ideology, shaping the seminal concept of “négritude”- a turning point for generation of black youths, striving to build a positive racial identity. Challenging euro-centrism and its supposed “civilizing mission” of the “primitive” cultures of Martinique, Antilles and Africa, Césaire was a “counter-assimilationist” of French academic education. As a matter of fact, he decided to re-educate himself. How? Le Cahier is a good starting point, I guess.

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The latter is a dramatic journey of self-exploration. The speaker embodies /discards several different mask/identities, according to the narration... “a hyena-men and

panther-men, I would be a Jew-man, a Kaffir-man, a Hindu-manfrom-Calcutta, a Harlem-man-who-does-not-vote (...) I would say hurricane. I would say river. I would say tornado. I would say leaf.

I would say tree.”... Searching for his own identity. Indeed, the narrative goes ahead with ” Qui et quels nous sommes? Admirable question! “[Who and

what we are? Excellent question!] Hence, given this perspective, Négritude

is not a mere static label, but a dynamic process of identity-construction. He commented “there is no predetermined négritude; there is no essence; there is only history - a living history” At this point, the Poet/Shaman calls all the Cosmic Forces and articulates his powerful mantras, thus generating multiple identities/masks. The black man searching for hiw own identity, becomes the Vodoun priest who unleash his Shamanic Powers, transforming the Self as follows....

“A force de regarder les arbres je suis devenu un arbre et mes longs pieds d’arbre ont creusé dans le sol de larges sacs à venin de hautes villes d’ossements à force de penser au Congo je suis devenu un Congo bruissant de forêts et de fleuves” [By dint of gazing upon trees I have

become a tree and my long rooted feet have dug into the ground huge pouches of toxin, cities of bones piled high by dint of meditating on the Congo I have become a Congo rustling with jungles and rivers]

Through the Shamanic Experience of Transformation, the black man finally finds his true Self, namely, the Tree. Back to the Roots, the Tree is the dynamic process of going back to the original culture in the ancestral humus of MotherLand. Africa. The sense of displacement, vanishes through a meditation on one’s own true self. <This concepts resonates so much with the ratio behind the TR magazine: re-discover our inner core vibes. TRIBAL REALITIES, anyone?! >The different stages of such a transformation of the Self has been brilliantly narrated by the fresh and original art of an emerging and promising animator: Joël Cimarrón. With an ancestral approach and a genuine attitude he pays homage to his compatriot Césaire through an animated short film project titled Le Retour de Liaram (The Return of Liaram). You can get a sneak preview of this amazing project - currently under production - at the link below. Check It Out Ch’Yall: http://dailymotion.virgilio.it/Liaram TRIBALREALITIES#11 - 25

,

,-

Marco Spada Editor

<artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement> I am a Shaman, painting Visions. Leveraging the Powers of word_music_video_art, I guide rare souls to their own destinations.Beyond the reductionist-cartesian paradigm, I create Spaces of Trascendence giving voice to human beingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pristine desire: going beyod the physical body to higher level of consciousness. I explore trans-personal dynamics, depict enlightning experiences, taking part into the Vibrant Dance of the Universe: the Simultaneous and Multiple Unity. My Art is Magic, because it mediates between the Natural and the SuperNatural. Are You Ready to Cross the Gate and Dance Your Life?

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,-

TRIBAL REALITES, raising consciousness since January 2008, is an underground visual magazine, creatively blending Ancestral Knowledge with 21st Century Culture.

Submit As the Editor, I am in a Perpetual Beta State, always open to original, pristine and visionary contributions. If you would like to contribute to TRIBAL REALITIES just email me and I will get back to you. Want an Ad inserted in TR magazine?

In both cases, contact me at: tribalrealities@gmail.com http://tribalrealities.blogspot.com/ Everything designed/painted/produced/post-produced by Marco Spada unless otherwise indicated.

COPYRIGHT © MARCO SPADA 2010

TRIBAL REALITES is published by Marco Spada under a Creative Commons (CC) license: Attribution, Non- Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 Unported (by-nc-nd) You are free: to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions: Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. More info at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Original Image Credits: [page 18-19] --> http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/releases/?id=202 [page 20] --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TV_on_the_Radio_live_20040913.jpg [page 23] --> http://it.line6.com/store/hardware.html?modelID=35

All trademarks used are properties of their respective owners

Much Love To Those who have spread the word, contributed to, and simply enjoyed Tribal Realities.Blessings!

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