BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE – The Sound of Black Power (27/04/2024)

Crate digger / rock critc / reissue producer and archivist extraordinaire Pat Thomas came to the Bureau to tell us how black power intersected with counterculture and influenced folk, rock, soul and jazz in the years between 1965 and 1975 when musicians were viewed as revolutionaries and revolutionaries were considered pop culture icons.

We hear astonishing stories from his book ‘Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power’ and some truly amazing sounds from the accompanying album.

And we learn how the Black Power Movement, and the Black Panthers in particular, wwer not just about political activism, but about humanity and about a way to live. 

And how many of their adherants used a pencil, a book of poetry, a typewriter or a musical instrument to evoke change via culture and community action.