Solo Meditations

Recorded at AlMax Studios (Columbus, Ohio)
Meditation No. 1 recorded on June 18, 2015
Meditation No. 2 recorded on June 28, 2015
Meditation No. 3 recorded on July 28, 2015
Meditation No. 4 recorded on August 16, 2015
Meditation No. 5 recorded on August 17, 2015
Meditation No. 6 recorded on March 19, 2016
Meditation No. 7 recorded on November 3, 2015
Meditation No. 8 recorded on September 28, 2015
Meditation No. 9 recorded on January 12, 2016

Edited and mastered at AlMax Studios by Mark Lomax, II
Produced by Mark Lomax, II for CFG Multimedia, LLC
Liner Notes by: Ben Weiss
Composer Notes by: Mark Lomax, II
Cover Design by Mark Lomax, II
Photo Credits:
Cover unknown
All other photos by Amirah J. Lomax
www.amirahlomax.com

Mark plays RBH Drums exclusively
visit them at www.rbhdrumsusa.com
 

Solo Meditations

Mark Lomax, II

As modern humanity has moved away from striving toward its essential self, the voice and language of the Drum has lost its meaning. In his 1992 article, Drum is the Ear of the Gods: Africa’s Inner World Of Music, Richard Hodges asserts that “[s]ubtle verbal expressions may be encoded in drum language. Almost everybody can understand this language

As modern humanity has moved away from striving toward its essential self, the voice and language of the Drum has lost its meaning. In his 1992 article, Drum is the Ear of the Gods: Africa’s Inner World Of Music, Richard Hodges asserts that “[s]ubtle verbal expressions may be encoded in drum language. Almost everybody can understand this language at a basic level; often there will be other levels of meaning woven in which can be understood only by drumming initiates of a certain level of experience. This is the source of the concept of the “talking drum.” Drum language can be used for reciting history and myth, for praising kings and patrons, for topical social commentary, for long-distance communication.” This concept of the Drums talking, “reciting history” and “topical social commentary,” is the basis for this series of recordings.

Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/33:08
  2. 2
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/20:14
  3. 3
    0:00/5:24
  4. 4
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/11:50
  5. 5
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/7:11
  6. 6
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/1:17
  7. 7
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/15:57
  8. 8
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/15:26
  9. 9
    In cart Not available Out of stock
    0:00/12:46

You might also like this solo recording by Mark Lomax, II.

Meditation No. 1: Charleston & Memphis

Recorded in response to the assassination of Senator  Clementa Pinckney (Pastor), Tywanza Sanders, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lance, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, & Susie Jackson at the historic Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The shooting occurred at 9pm on a Wednesday night during prayer meeting.

This piece represents a confluence of emotions. Anger, sympathy, hope, joy, sorrow, peace. The shooter is a victim of a system predicated on racism/white supremacy as much as those he murdered in a cowardly terrorist act, but the sense that their faith in that moment gave them comfort that their souls would return to the One suggests that we should celebrate their lives by working to bring an end to this wicked and evil spirit. The hope lies in the promise of tomorrow, the power that we all have at our most human and divine core to overcome.
Meditation No. 2: Fire Baptized

Recorded after five Black churches were set ablaze. As of this writing, 8 have now burned to the ground within ten days of the Charleston Massacre giving me the sense that my generation, our present moment, is being baptized by fire because of the apathy of our elders, and our subsequent inability to effectively combat the racist constructs that allow for such evil to exist in this country. Kwame Toure said that “[p]power begins at the point of conception.” This piece represents my belief that our collective power starts at the point of our shared humanity. It is time to take the freedom that is rightfully ours.









 
Meditation No. 3: July The Fourth?

7/4/15: In NYC watching fireworks and enjoying time with my family. At the end of the show a normal looking European American guy next to us just said, “America!” We looked at each other and laughed that a mediocre fireworks display would illicit such a response, but, on the cab ride back to our borrowed apartment in the village, his sentiment and the emotion, the sense of awe behind it, nagged at me. I realized that it nagged at me because it was a sentiment that I could not share. My sense of what amerikkka is stands as a complete opposite end of his. That moment summed up the tale of two countries. One that inspires and uplifts, and the other which subjugates and obfuscates my peoples humanity.

July 4th 2015 came just days after 8 black churches had burned to the ground, 9 African Americans had been gunned down in the midst of prayer service, and after President Obama sang a hymn composed by a slave ship captain after having spoken eloquently about the racial situation. He named each of the fallen and said that they had found grace in death. The President then asked that God would continue to “shed His grace on the United States of America,” but I wonder when Blacks in amerikkka will find the grace?

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglas said, “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.” These words, spoken 163 years ago, could not be more true today, and I believe that the grace President Obama prayed for will not be given until amerikkka admits its crimes against humanity, and pays reparations.