In July of 2015 while surfing the net, the director of the movie Corrado Rizza found what he considered to be an amazing video on YouTube. It was published by Hiroyuki Kajino, an active Japanese DJ in the 80's. It was an unpublished interview with Larry Levan from the Paradise Garage in New York City. The Paradise Garage opened in 1977 and it was a legendary club where Larry Levan showed his creative genius for ten years. He was so creative that he turned his club into a temple of music. Larry died prematurely in 1992, at the of age 38.
The inspiring story of the Roland TR808, from the creation of Planet Rock which established it as a dynamic modern instrument, to how it defined hip hop and modern dance culture, through to its continued use today.
Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. Starting with Funk's roots in Jazz and the James Brown bands of the '60s we travel to the Bay Area to celebrate Sly & the Family Stone, then to Dayton the birthplace of so many of Funk's originators, then onto Detroit where from the ashes of Motown, P-Funk's Mothership arose, and then to LA where a new crop of musicians are creating their own Funk history. On our journey into Funk, we talk to legends Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Nona Hendryx, Maceo Parker, Bernie Worrell, and Steve Arrington and their descendants Mike D, D'Angelo, Sheila E, Shock G and Sade's Stuart Matthewman. Narrated by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson of the Roots.
In the late 1970s, the "greatest city in the world" was teetering on the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en mass housing corruption gave way to a city in crisis. Yet out of the economic and social strife that held the "Big Apple" hostage, a family of homegrown cultures that would forever change the world began to emerge. Downtown Calling not only documents, in detail, the evolution of New York City's fertile music and art subculture during this period, but how its collective output continues to play a prominent, driving role in the international fashion, art and music industries today.
Arthur Baker is a DJ, record producer, and remixer, best known for producing Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock" and for many dance remixes in the 1980s and into the 90s.
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