‘Cherchez La Femme’ at 45: An Interview with GRAMMY-nominated Vocalist Cory Daye
In this exclusive interview with PopMatters, co-founder and lead vocalist of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, Cory Daye, celebrates the 45th anniversary of the group’s classic self-titled debut.
During the summer of 1976, Cory Daye‘s voice wafted through the bamboo forests of New York’s Fire Island like an intoxicating fragrance. As the lead vocalist and co-founder of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, she beckoned the island’s dwellers to untold pleasures while the group’s self-titled debut stirred dancers into sweaty, salty abandon. Boardwalks seldom pulsed with such a bewitching beat.
By Bashir Muhammad Akinyele
Let me first begin my lecture with giving thanks to the Creator of the heavens and the earth. A Creator that is called by many ancient names in this world, such as Yahweh, God, Allah, Dios, and Olodumare. But the oldest name for the Creator in human history is Amen-Ra. This word Amen-Ra for the Creator of the heavens and the earth comes from the Afrikan Nile Valley Civilization called ancient Kemet-known to the world as Egypt. Amen-Ra comes the world’s first writing system called the Medu Neter. Europeans and Arabs call it Hieroglyphics. Amen-Ra means the hidden one, the unseen one, the prime mover of the universe and all living things. That might be too deep for some people, but this is Black History Month. The world, and Black people, must know our contributions to all human civilizations and religions. And we as Black people have contributed greatly to all human societies and all faith traditions in the earth. Afrikan faith traditions were the first
By Bashir Muhammad Akinyele
“Culture is a weapon in the face of our enemies” – Amílcar Cabral (He was one of Afrika’s foremost anti-colonial leaders)
Some of us are still on the revolutionary path to liberated ourselves from White and Arab cultural domination. Therefore, some of us do not celebrate any European or Arab holidays. However, we know that many of us in the Afrikan world community celebrate European and Arab holidays. This is because of the centuries of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and the invasions of the Afrkan world by non Afrikan people. Generations of Black people were forced to practice non Afrikan cultural holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. Black life has been, and still is, culturally dominated by Europeans and Arabs in the new millennium.