A Pure Solar World - Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism

Surveying the breadth of Sun Ra's extraordinary creativity, this book explores how the father of Afrofuturism brought "space music" to a planet yearning for transformation, bolstering the aspirations of Black people in an unwelcoming white world. Sun Ra famously claimed he hailed from Saturn. Known on Earth for his inventive music and extravagant stage shows, he pioneered free-form improvisation within an ensemble setting, leading his devoted band, the "Arkestra."

Sun Ra transported jazz from the inner city to the cosmos, infusing traditional swing with otherworldly harmonies, rhythms, and sounds. Described as the originator of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra conceived "space music" as a means of forging a brighter future for Black Americans here on Earth.

A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism offers an engaging introduction to the life and work of this legendary yet often underappreciated musician, composer, and poet. Paul Youngquist explores and assesses Sun Ra's wide-ranging creative output – encompassing music, public pronouncements, graphic design, film and stage performance, and poetry – and connects his diverse endeavours to the culture and politics of his era, including the space race, the rise of technocracy, the civil rights movement, and even space-age bachelor-pad music.

By thoroughly examining the astro-black mythology that Sun Ra espoused, Youngquist masterfully demonstrates that he offered both a holistic response to a planet desperately requiring new visions and vibrations, and a novel form of political activism that harnessed popular culture to advance social change. In a nation obsessed with space and grappling with issues of race, Sun Ra's aim extended beyond mere assimilation for the socially disenfranchised; he sought a wholesale transformation of American society and a more creative, egalitarian world.