Books and Magazines


With its evocative verses and resonant themes, American Equations in Black Classical Music invites readers on a transformative journey through the melodic landscapes of jazz, the analytical realms of economics, the intricacies of American life. While making room for the speculative, to allow one's imagination to begin to continue to draw from past lessons/innovations to hack future portals for these traditions to breathe new lives. A poet known for her work as MoorMother, Ayewa poems hold that same power. In the poetic tradition of jazz & protest poetry of the 60's and 70's, Ayewa continues to question systems and make connections between the historical and the present. In the tradition of her artistic group Black Quantum Futurism, Ayewa's poems speak to the communal survival mechanisms and temporal technologies that Black musicians and artistic communities have developed, uncovered, reconfigured to combat temporal oppression and reclaim our time. American Equations is an intricate interplay of history, society, and the human condition illuminates the stark realities and poignant struggles of the past and present. From the vibrant jazz culture to the pressing economic disparities, from racial equations to the melancholic strains of blues, and from the enduring legacy of black classical music to the profound impact of time and speculation, these poems delve deep into the interconnections and entanglements that shape our world.

Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) – American Equations in Black Classical Music

Explores the echoes across time and space that link Carla Grandi’s book of poetry “Contraproyecto” (1985/1987) & Meredith Monk’s film and album “Book of Days” (1988).The zine is a rare chance for English speakers to be introduced to Grandi’s work, with several poems translated from Spanish for the first time specially for the event.“In a time of increasing authoritarianism, misogyny, and lethal polarization, we revisit these works to learn strategies of mourning and political defiance.And to understand the appeal of medieval settings to capture repressive regimes and the subversive potentials of magic, myth, and madness. Conceived of at roughly the same time and yet under very different circumstances, both works interweave medieval storytelling and contemporary events to protest racial and political violence and to celebrate intellectual and physical survival. Carla Grandi wrote“Contraproyecto” as a personal and affective response to the everyday restrictions and heinous violence of Augusto Pinochet’s regime in Chile, which barred her and many other leftists from teaching and publishing. Written and produced in the late 1980s, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, and affected by the uncertainties and injustices of the Cold War, Meredith Monk’s film “Book of Days” shifts between a fictional medieval town and contemporary footage from New York City. With a soundtrack composed by the avant-garde artist and composer, and voiced by herself and a twelve-voice ensemble, the film deserves to be listened to as much as to be seen.”

carla grandi t. (& meredith monk) – contraproyecto