Pearl Platitudes: 30th Anniversary of Kelan Phil Cohran’s “African Skies” to be Celebrated

Josefe-Marie will honor the pearl anniversary of African Skies on Juneteenth through her youtube channel. She will be joined by Aquilla Sadalla and "HaNaFaa." 

Birthed in Haiti, matured in Montreal, and graduated from Indiana University, harpist Josefe-Marie moved to Chicago on October 14, 1990, and pursued an even higher education with Kelan Phil Cohran. Through Cohran, (1927-2017), a revered multi-instrumentalist, astronomer, and philosopher who co-founded the AACM, she would learn long-tone techniques, become a tone scientist, and play on Cohran’s influential 1993 album, African Skies.    

     This album, which also features Josefe-Marie’s trombone, also includes bass clarinetist/vocalist Aquilla Sadalla, bassists Malik Cohran and Oscar “Bobo” Brown III, and the leader on trumpet, guitar, and harp, among other instruments. It would become the soundtrack for “African Skies,” a sky show at the Adler Planetarium that would play for four successful years. 

     When speaking about the exhibit before its March 16, 1993, preview, Cohran, as quoted in a statement issued by the Planetarium, said, “I feel that both music and astronomy are as ancient as humanity, and both cut across cultures. The more we learn about others the more we can brush away the superficial misunderstandings.”

     To honor the album’s 30th anniversary, Josefe-Marie, Sadalla, and “HaNaFaa” will relive its meanings and messages on Juneteenth (June 19). The celebration will be available on her youtube.com channel.  

     Josefe-Marie recently recalled memorable moments about African Skies, which happened to be her first-ever recording session.

     “We played as if it were a live performance. There was no take one, take two, take three,” she said. “We performed live in the studio with very few breaks in between songs.”

     One exception to the album’s organic origins occurred on “Kilimanjaro.” After the original take, Cohran asked his ensemble, named Legacy, for comments. Josefe-Marie, displeased with her trombone solo, requested another take. “Just for you,” he replied, “we will redo it.”

     “When I listened back to (the second take), the solo that I did not like was actually better,” she said. “I flowed with the first solo. The second one had more thought to it. The first one is more spontaneous.”

     Josefe-Marie also explained why “White Nile,” track two, and “Blue Nile,” track eight, are identical. When Cohran received the master recording, “Blue Nile” had been duplicated, so he decided to call version one “Blue Nile” and the second version “White Nile.” This intended order, she added, is reversed on youtube.com, where the album can be heard in its entirety.

     Also, Josefe-Marie learned that her trombone prevented a second take on “Cohran Blues.” The leader’s cornet crafts the melody, “and then you have Malik on electric bass and string bass and Bobo on his piccolo bass,” she recalled. “Then, as a response to Kelan’s part, we’re supposed to have (Aquilla’s) bass clarinet come in. She didn’t, and so I came in. That’s my claim to fame as a trombonist!”

     Life in Legacy, Josefe-Marie continued, allowed everyone to breathe collectively and through multiple instruments. Everyone plays various flutes on “Kalahari,” and Cohran’s invented instrument, the Frankiphone, fuels “Kilimanjaro.” Also known as a space harp, it is a string instrument played with the thumbs. Cohran named it for his mother, Frankie, and first played it with Sun Ra, whose Arkestra he held membership in from 1958-61. (Cohran, by the way, received the name “Kelan” while on a 1991 tour in China from Chinese Muslims. In Mandarin, the name means Holy Scripture.)

     Josefe-Marie’s confidence as a trombonist, she stated, came from listening to Cohran talk about and play long tones. She cited his solo on “Blue Nile” as an example. “That one note that he played for a long time on his horn is part of the long tones,” she said. This technique Cohran learned from Sun Ra is what “tone scientists,” his term for musicians, should strive to become. “This meant knowing how to use a specific tone and pitch to impact people, their souls, and to impact healing,” she said.

     “You start from the instrument’s mid-range and slowly go a half step down, a half step up, until you play the full range,” she further explained about long tones, which Cohran also taught his seven sons, known professionally as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. “He told us that when you sing, to get to the part in your voice, to get a laser focus, a round sound, so the long tones is a form of that on your instrument.”

     African Skies, Josefe-Marie continued, has its own language, as it explores science and astronomy, while transcending culture and civilization. “It pulls together the idea that there is a cosmic rhythm that we’re connected to…while bringing different cultures (from Africa) like the Tuareg and Dogon together from ancient times to modern times.

     “I’m so grateful to the Lord for being a part of this moment connecting people from different walks of life into something uplifting,” she continued, noting how choreographers, hip hop artists, musicians, and poets from as far away as New Zealand and France have told her through Facebook about the album’s influence.

     “I’m so grateful that African Skies is part of the fabric of Chicago’s history and what Phil Cohran stood for,” she said. “There is no word to describe his body of work and contributions, as they are impactful beyond category.”