The Wavelength
Monday February 8th, 2021 with Joe Reilly
Black History Month Installment #1 - Some Soul, Some Funk, Some Hip Hop and Some Sounds Straight From Africa

To mark Black History Month, tonight we feature music by Black artists from across Canada and around the world. The first hour features mostly soul, funk, pop and hip hop sounds while hour two focuses on African artists. Here is a link to a very interesting piece in Atlantic Magazine about Black History Month. It provides some background on how Black History Month originally started and how many support the necessity of a month like this to focus on the importance of Black History as part of our overall historical narrative because there has been a tendency in historical teaching in the West to ignore the accomplishments and importance of marginalized groups while focusing on the narratives of white people. The article also notes that some members of the Black community (including Morgan Freeman whom we hear from in a short clip on the show tonight) are opposed to Black History Month as they feel it pigeon holes Black History and allows people to ignore Black culture for 11 months of the year. You'll need to read the article and listen to the show and make up your mind on what you think. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/02/black-history-monthretire-or-reboot/470124/ Tonight we will focus on great music created by Black artists and we'll probably do the same thing on the Wavelength next week as well. Enjoy.