Color Me Bliss
Color is the vibration of people. It evokes moods, thoughts, and emotions, and acts as bookmarks in our memoirs. Raging red, envious green, mellow yellow, or true blue. Without it, the world would be an uninteresting place. Color distinguishes us from one another (cliques and sets), but it is also brings us together (culture and nations). Subliminally, it identifies where each of us stand; a visual statement that compliments our philosophies on life. Bliss is a prototype of this vibration. Her music and style is a colorful energy that relates and connects to everyone. Granted she is a bit more than distinct; from her curly hair to her tribal tattoos all the way down to her skittle toes. Yet inside her individuality, the world still gravitates towards her. Psychedelic, she is the center of all shades; her color is Bliss.Toni Burke: Tell the people what it is you do.Bliss:I am a singer, songwriter, aspiring actress, dreamer, lover and believer =) TB: Your style is very diverse, far out, and culturally aware. What are your thoughts on today’s concept of American fashion? B: Fashion is creativity; style is what we make it. I dig that people are [now] wearing whatever the hell they want. The best place to see different styles is in the streets of NYC every block is a new runway. It’s collaboration of various generations; from the 50’s to the 90’s. Personally, I don’t follow trends. I just wear what I like. Even if it is the same shit I wore three days in a row, or it is out-dated. Who cares? Rebel, rebel, anarchy. Do what you want! Read more
Event Coverage: Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival
Over the weekend, members of the TRACE Blog Staff were invited to “The Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.” Check out some of the images they brought back!For more images, click HERE
- Courtesy of TECH28
Estilo Hip Hop.
Hip Hop music has the ability to give a voice to the disenfranchised in any country, and as music with a message it is a form available to all societies worldwide. Directed by New York based filmmakers, Loira Limbal and Virgilio Bravo, ESTILO HIP HOP chronicles the lives of Eli Efi, Guerrillero, and Magia, three hip hop artists from Brazil, Chile and Cuba who firmly believe that hip hop can change the world. These three inspirational leaders mobilize young people to become politically active. However as the stakes assume greater risks, the leaders are faced with challenges and have to make
life-altering decisions that ultimately impact the course of their lives and of the hip hop movement.
ESTILO HIP HOP will air nationally on Global Voices on PBS WORLD on Sunday, June 28 at 10 PM. For more information and to check your local listings, please visit
- Courtesy of Sigourney Salley + Keith Selby
Insider: Jackie Sanchez Knows Her Colors
Jackie Sanchez’s range of make-up looks can be credited to her multiple muses. Finding inspiration in music, photography, and fashion (to name a few) Jackie finds contrasts and nuances to expand her talent as a celebrity make up artist. Listening to Amy Winehouse’s CD Frank inspired her to think of a black and white photo of a beautiful girl with a coiffed hairdo and strong red lip, the vegetable isle at a grocery store makes her think of a new color combination and fashion designers like McQueen make her think of new make up looks.
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MJ
TRACE pays tribute to the greatest pop legend of our time. Rest in Peace.
Protea
This Friday, June 26th, Congolese model Noella Coursaris, founder of the Georges Malaika Foundation, along with L’Altruist and TRACE magazine, invite you to a very special benefit event at Citrine NYC. The event will benefit the Georges Malaika Foundation, Noella’s own non-profit organization dedicated to unlocking the potential of young African girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo through education. GMF firmly believes that education is a basic and fundamental right for children and adults everywhere, and the foundation seeks to provide young girls in the DRC with school tuition, school supplies, and regular meals. GMF also works to build properly equipped schools and provide college scholarships. Hosted by L’Altruist, a group of five professionals dedicated to organizing “fun-raisers” for NYC-based non-profits, this event cannot be missed - and 100% of the ticket proceeds will go directly to the Georges Malaika Foundation.
For more information on GMF, or how to get involved or make a donation, please visit Georges Malaika Foundation .
To learn more about L’Altruist, check out their interview on Guest of a Guest .
WomanHood Passage Fundraiser
Voices of New York Speak!
Be sure to check this out! Some of TRACE’s favorites Nikki Ntu and Melo X will be day panelists and ensure that this event is not one to be missed!!
For more info on the event and the organization check :
http://www.vonyspeak-
- Courtesy of Sigourney Salley
Rebirth of a Nation
Tonight, TRACE will celebrate the launch of our annual best-selling issue, Black Girls Rule!, featuring Dominican model Arlenis Sosa on the cover. Along with TRACE, DJ Spooky, aka Paul Miller, will be screening his remix of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 blockbuster, The Birth of a Nation. TRACE sat down with DJ Spooky to gain some insight into cinematic remixing, and why he chose to tackle such a controversial film.
TRACE: What was your reaction when you first saw the original film “Birth of a Nation”? What inspired you to remix it?
DJ Spooky:The last 8 years were such a weird blip in history - false elections, false wars, media blackout on any relationship to reality (remember those “weapons of mass destruction” - why are we fighting two trillion dollar wars? Anyway, Birth of a Nation has a resonance with so much of what’s going on - we have a black president, we have occupied nations, we have crazy Republicans… the loops are pretty intense, and they’re utterly intertwined with our contemporary situation. I didn’t remix the film to make it nice and new - the idea was to dig into the DNA of film history and connect some of the dots. The myth of America, the myth of war, slavery, occupation, and how people define identity - dj culture has absorbed so much of what it means to relate to the rhythms that define modern life. I just wanted to flip the two together, and see what came out of the mix.
TRACE: How does remixing a film like “Birth of a Nation” allow you to expose the historical biases and racial propaganda of the 20th century? How do you relate this to present day American culture? (Political/racial/psychological/etc)
DJ Spooky: Looking back at the 20th century and the beginning of Pop culture, the main theme was the “minstrel show” - look at the biggest films of the era “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone With The Wind” - they all were obsessed with race, class, and the changing operating system of what America represented: to itself. People loooked at Birth of a Nation like a mirror held up to reality. The film was viewed as a historical reality. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. America today still has so many issues to confront, but things evolve and change. Try telling that to Rush Limbaugh…
TRACE: Describe the technical process of remixing film and how it differs or is similar to the process of remixing music. Do you find one medium more powerful than the other?
DJ Spooky:When the film was presented at Paula Cooper Gallery, it was done as a kind of art installation. I wanted to figure out how to make it a living breathing document that reflected some of the major themes of contemporary art today - appropriation, collage, documenting everyday life and above all - plaigiarism. You can look at video artists like Doug Aitken, or African American video artists like Arthur Jafa, you can see the same dynamic. Even digital media artists like Cory Doctorow. Anyway, I want to push the collage aesthetic as much as possible. Alot of my influences come from early cinema like Dziga Vertov’s collage documents, cinema verite (keeping it real, hah!), or early African American film makers like Oscar Michaux. The vibe for the whole project is “director as Dj” and yeah, film and music as a medium, are more emotionally direct than alot of contemporary art, but there’s still an elusive quality that makes this project stick together. It’s hard to say which is stronger. It’s all technical…
TRACE: How does that technology fuel a new wave of control over how history is written/rewritten, altered, or represented?
DJ Spooky:Technology is the basic medium of everything in the 21st century, and basically we just need to accept that. Looking back at the 20th century the main thing that kept humanity from losing out completely to the forces that we unleashed on our selves (fascism, socialism, communism, racism etc) was the ability to channel how technology and expression. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we hadn’t broadcast Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech, or if people hadn’t been able to check out Mahatma Gandhi’s “Salt Satyagraha” marches, or the way Nelson Mandela and the ANC communicated a will towards a new South Africa? You have to always expect that people will take the tools provided and change them. That’s what this film project is about. I guess you could call it comparative myths of the near future, through the prism of the past.
For more information, check out Rebirth of a Nation
Photos courtesy of djspooky.com
Interview courtesy of Mikaela Gauer
A Jade Of All Trades
Place: Santos, NYC | Open Party
Subject: Jade
On an evening that ideally complements a blanket and a movie, there I stood in front of the stage waiting for Jade to perform. The first time I saw her live, I must admit her songs left a spell on me that has yet been broken. In awe by her mighty vocals, I was immediately taken by her aura and for that reason this gloomy night seemed to linger auspiciously. Although the rain and the cold did not inspire much promise, NYC still agreed that something magical would happen. About 10:30pm the TRACE team arrived, ready to record this spectacular evening, but even more expecting, and indeed we experienced the magic. Within minutes the initial group of 30 party-goers became an eclectic crowd of 200 hipster fairies, socially fluttering together. Instantly the venue’s (Santos) vacant decor transformed into a magic castle where Cyclopes and Sorcerers played the role of security and bartenders. Literally a disco ball in the shape of a heart sparkled over us with meaning, and the natural chatter vanished underneath Q-tip’s funky turntables, which instead gave our bodies a reason to converse with the music. Maybe it was the strobing lights or the thick smoke, but as I scanned for my reflection by the bar mirror, amongst it all, I barely identify who I was. A paraelle feeling to OZ, we traded our admission to become apart of this mystical experience, and anxiously, we waited to hear from our special guest… Read more