Celebrate Sun Ra and Marshall Allen’s Earth Arrival Days

Watch the Sun Ra Arkestra’s Sounds of Justice Performance
&
Join in a Zoom Interview with Marshall Allen

Under the leadership of Marshall Allen, the Arkestra carries the Sun Ra experience of sound, dance, song, light, and color into the present. Having joined the Arkestra in the 1950s, Allen is uniquely positioned to move this performance tradition forward, further cementing Sun Ra and the Arkestra’s twinned legacies as both progenitors and practitioners of the genre now called AfroFuturism. The Town Hall performance will include video art and painting by NYC artist William Mazza to create a synesthetic sight/sound experience of Sun Ra and his mind-bending view of the universe.

The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
Music & Lyrics by Sun Ra
Marshall Allen – director, arranger, alto sax, flute
Tara Middleton – vocals
D. Hotep – guitar
Gwen Laster – violin
Melanie Dyer – viola
Nina Bogomas – harp
Knoel Scott – vocals, saxes
Robert Landham – alto sax
James Stewart – tenor sax
Michael Ray – trumpet
Dave Davis – trombone
Emmett McDonald – trombone
Robert Stringer – trombone
Vincent Chancey – french horn
Elson Nascimento – percussion, surdo
Ron McBee – percussion
Tyler Mitchell – bass
Wayne A. Smith – drums
Marvin Bugalu Smith – drums
​William Mazza – live video painting

This Fundraiser for Arts for Art and the Sun Ra Arkestra is a celebration of these groundbreaking musical legends around their birthdays.

Your donation will give you exclusive access to the video of the Arkestra’s Songs of Justice performance at The Town Hall, made available for a limited time only, from Sunday, May 24, 5 pm ET to Tuesday, May 26, 11:59 pm ET.

In conjunction with the kick-off of this fundraising event, AFA will host a public Zoom chat with maestro Marshall Allen on Sunday at 6:30 pm ET on the eve of his 96th birthday.