Resources

    Note on Titles

    Wild Up’s Anthology engages with the complex history of Julius Eastman’s legacy and ideas, including the titles of his work. Each person involved in making this Anthology negotiates their position and relationship to the n-word; thus, the word appears in several permutations throughout. We chose to use Eastman’s given titles in the track listing to honor the composer’s intentions. Here is a quote directly from Eastman about titling the series, and a quote from interdisciplinary artist, cellist, and writer Ethan Philbrick from his recent book Group Works: Art, Politics, and Collective Ambivalence (Fordham University Press, 2023). Please visit the READING LIST section of this website for additional resources.

    From Julius Eastman

    The quote below is from Julius Eastman’s remarks to the audience before the premieres of Crazy N****r, Evil N****r, and Gay Guerrilla in January 1980 during his composer-residency at Northwestern University:

    “Now, there was, there was a little problem with the titles of the piece. There were some students — and one faculty member — who felt that the titles were somehow derogatory in some manner, being that the word ‘nigger’ is in it. These particular titles: the reason I use them is because — in fact, I use — there is a whole series of these pieces, and they’re called the Nigger Series. Now, the reason I use that particular word is because, for me, it has a — what is, what I call — a basic-ness about it. That is to say, I feel that — and in any case, the first niggers were, of course, field niggers, and upon that is really the basis of what I call the American economic system: without field niggers you wouldn’t really have such a great and grand economy that we have. So, that is what I call the First and Great Nigger: field niggers. And what I mean by niggers is that thing which is fundamental, that person or thing that obtains to a basic-ness, a fundamental-ness, and eschews that thing which is superficial, or — what can we say — elegant. So that a nigger, for me, is that kind of thing which is: attains himself or herself to the ground of anything, you see. And that’s what I mean by nigger — so, there are many niggers, there are many kinds of niggers. There might be — there are, of course, ninety-nine names of Allah but then there are fifty-two niggers. And so, therefore, we are playing two of these niggers.”

    From Ethan Philbrick

    “...the meaning and force of performative utterances are determined by context: It matters who does the saying, who does the hearing, and what populates the surround. For example, when the n-word is uttered by white subjects, either maliciously or analytically, it calls up the accumulated history of white supremacist violence with lacerating force and might produce a rush of pain, shame, or guilt, depending on the context, tone, and recipient, whereas, when uttered by Black subjects, it might call up the same accumulation of violence or perhaps be subject to a critical resignification or redeployed as a term of affiliation, depending again on the context, tone, and recipient.”

    Reading List

    ​​Recommended reading compiled by Wild Up and interdisciplinary artist, cellist, and writer Ethan Philbrick (co-author of Wild Up’s Julius Eastman Vol 3. If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? liner notes)

    Beam, Joseph, In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology (1986)
    View Original
    Dohoney, Ryan, “John Cage, Julius Eastman, and the Homosexual Ego” from Tomorrow is the Question: New Directions in Experimental Music Studies (2014)
    View Original
    Ferguson, Roderick A., Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique (2003)
    View Original
    Fisher, Gary (Author) Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky (Editor), Gary In Your Pocket: Stories and Notebooks of Gary Fisher (1996)
    View Original
    Gaines, Malik, “Same Difference” from Artforum (2018)
    View Original
    Hartman, Saidiya, Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America) (1997/2022)
    View Original
    Hemphill, Essex (editor) Beam, Joseph (conciever), Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men (1991)
    View Original
    Hisama, Ellie, “‘Diving into the earth’” the musical worlds of Julius Eastman” from Rethinking Difference in Music Scholarship (2014)
    View Original
    Jafari S, Allen, There’s a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life (2021)
    View Original
    Jean-Françios, Isaac, “Julius Eastman: The Sonority of Blackness Otherwise” from Current Musicology (2020)
    View Original
    Johnson, E. Patrick and Henderson, Mae G. (editors), Black Queer Studies (2005)
    View Original
    Lorde, Audre, Sister Outside: Essays and Speeches (1984)
    View Original
    Morrison, Matthew D., “Race, Blacksound, and the (Re)Making of Musicological Discourse” from The Journal of the American Musicological Society (2019)
    View Original
    Nyong’o, Tavia, Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life (2019)
    View Original
    Packer, Renée Levine and Leach, Mary Jane (editors), Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music (2015)
    View Original
    Piekut, Benjamin, Experimentalism Otherwise: The New York Avant-Garde and Its Limits (2011)
    View Original
    Quashie, Kevin, Black Aliveness, or a Poetics of Being (2021)
    View Original
    Saint, Assotto, Spells of a Voodoo Doll: Collected Works (1996)
    View Original
    Sharpe, Christina, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (2016)
    View Original
    Stoever, Jennifer Lynn, The Sonic Color Line: Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening (2016)
    View Original
    valitutto, richard, “Note: Pianist Will Interrupt” from the liner notes to Wild Up’s Julius Eastman Anthology, Volume One: Femenine (2021)
    View Original
    Woods, Seth Parker, “Foreword: Unabashed Adornment” from the liner notes to Wild Up’s Julius Eastman Anthology, Volume One: Femenine (2021)
    View Original

    Media

    The 66th Annual Grammy® Awards

    On February 4, 2024, we attended The 66th Annual Grammy Awards, where our album Julius Eastman Vol.3: If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?  was nominated for Best Classical Compendium.

    Wild Up: Tiny Desk Concert

    In April 2023, we were thrilled to play our GRAMMY®-nominated track, Julius Eastman’s Stay On It, on Tiny Desk.

    Read More on NPR.org

    Holy Week and the Aftermath of MLK’s Death

    Podcast about the legacy of Martin Luther King and about the American failure to internalize the full scope of the Civil Rights Movement. Wild Up’s recordings of Julius Eastman score the entire series.

    Read More on Vulture.com

    SAVVY Contemporary: Raven Chacon, Christine Eyene, Jean-Christophe Marti, Elaine Mitchener, and Sumanath Gopinath

    SAVVY Contemporary and MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues hosted two days of talks, concerts and performances of Eastman’s works. This video is a dialogue between Raven Chacon, Christine Eyene, Jean-Christophe Marti, Elaine Mitchener, and Sumanath Gopinath (2018).

    Watch on Facebook.com

    SAVVY Contemporary : Kodwo Eshun, Josh Kun, Sean Griffin, George Lewis, and Mary Jane Leach

    SAVVY Contemporary and MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues, hosted two days of talks, concerts and performances of Eastman’s works. This video is a dialogue between  Kodwo Eshun, Josh Kun, Sean Griffin, George Lewis, and Mary Jane Leach (2018).

    Watch on Vimeo.com

    Photo Gallery: Wild Up at 92NY

    Wild Up in performance at The 92nd Street Y, New York on April 2023.
    photos by Joe Sinnott

    Press

    Julius Eastman Anthology