{"product_id":"funk-is-its-own-reward-by-lloyd-bradley-9781472123411","title":"Funk Is Its Own Reward","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn intimate, definitive exploration of Funk, the sound of a generation, that tells its stories, its triumphs and excesses.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom 1968 to 1978; from 'Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud' to \u003ci\u003eOff The Wall\u003c\/i\u003e; from the Third Harlem Cultural Festival to the P-Funk Earth Tour: \u003ci\u003eFunk Is Its Own Reward\u003c\/i\u003e plots the journey of an African American cultural movement that was always about far more than simply music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith roots in the poetry, art, theatre, intellectualism and jazz of the celebrated 1960s Black Arts Movement, and made possible by the shifts in thinking brought about by the Black Panthers, the rise of HBSUs and black political involvement, funk was the Second Great Black Renaissance. \u003ci\u003eFunk Is Its Own Reward\u003c\/i\u003e makes the connections between the literature, films, television, black arts collectives, theatre groups and media and analyses how they fed into a cultural wave that made a music confident enough to embrace the likes of Barry White, Bill Withers, 24 Carat Black, Bootsy, Mandrill, The O'Jays, the Fatback Band, Miles Davis, and the Brides of Funkenstein not just possible but inevitable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt looks at how, once African American popular music reconnected with and fully expressed the culture that created it, it had the freedom to express itself in any way it saw fit and still be funky. The music gave itself the scope to be acoustic, to be vocal harmony, to be brassy, to make social comment, to be orchestral, to be headed for the bedroom, to be all about the rhythm, to be electronic... and still be funky. It was never about where a piece of music hoped to end up, but where, to coin a phrase, it be coming from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy putting the music firmly in the context of the movement, \u003ci\u003eFunk Is Its Own Reward\u003c\/i\u003e drags a vibrant art form out from under the notion it only existed to help white people dance, and shines a light on the skill, experimentation, sense of community, humour, formal training, black pride, self-celebration, and intellectual and musical freedoms that went into it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn doing so, it uncovers the importance of black radio, how the wah-wah pedal was a happy accident, Motown's corporate role in the Dawn of Funk, why jazz, not R\u0026amp;B, is funk's nearest living relative, how life in a hippie commune changed George Clinton, why \u003ci\u003eSesame Street\u003c\/i\u003e was the funkiest programme on television, what blaxploitation actually meant to its intended audience, why Kool \u0026amp; the Gang stand apart from the pack, the immediate connection of James Brown's record to his audience, what was in Barry White's mother's record collection, how the self-contained band changed everything and where Maurice White first brushed up against the cosmic pyramid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJoining author Lloyd Bradley on \u003ci\u003eFunk Is Its Own Reward\u003c\/i\u003e's epic journey...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47734232580332,"sku":"9781472123411","price":80.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781472123411-funk-is-its-own-reward.jpg?v=1781218557","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/funk-is-its-own-reward-by-lloyd-bradley-9781472123411","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}