Since his death in 1993, the music of Sun Ra has lived on, through classic albums, reissues of rare back catalogue and the continuation of the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by Marshall Allen.
The digital spaceways of the internet reveal musicians around the globe performing the work of Sun Ra.
Manchester has its own interpreters, The Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club, which was originally formed to celebrate the centenary of Sun Ra.
To assemble a large group of musicians who could dedicate the necessary time to decode, interpret and perform this music was not easy and the project is by it’s nature fragile.
The performance at the Wonder Inn was an opportunity to document the project in this short film, ‘The Language of Ra’ which celebrates the influence of Ra’s legacy, showing the Cosmo Dramatists rehearsing, performing and offering insights into the infectious joy of Sun Ra.
This disparate ensemble has members from a wide range of backgrounds, some of the whom have played together in various musical projects for over 30 years, others are academically trained professional musicians seeking new horizons of experimentation.
All are committed to the spirit of adventure offered by playing this extraordinary music, which has elements of big band swing, free-form jazz and electronica. It encompasses the resonance of ancient Egypt, outer space, the past, present, future, the unknown and the absurd.
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