Stan Douglas: Luanda-Kinshasa
Text by Diedrich Diederichsen
In celebration of The Infinite Mix, The Vinyl Factory releases the soundtrack to Stan Douglas\s Luanda-Kinshasa. The video is shot like a documentary film on a set carefully crafted to resemble a legendary New York recording studio.
Luanda-Kinshasa depicts a fictional 1970s jazz-funk band engaged in a seemingly endless real-time jam. The band’s music echoes the then-current confluence of American jazz, funk and Afrobeat—a musical fusion made possible, as the video’s title indirectly implies, by the emerging independence and rising profile of African nations.
As the camera appears to seamlessly circle around the studio, the sound mix highlights whichever musician it lingers on, enhancing the impression that we are watching a live performance. But the band’s improvisation is actually a construction: intricately remixed by Douglas in the editing room, it extends through over six hours of ‘alternate takes’ created by recombining various shots and accompanying sections of music. Conjuring a never-ending sequence of variations, Luanda-Kinshasa conjures a vision of culture as a potentially ‘infinite mix.’
Track list:
1A: Luanda
1B : Luanda
2A: Kinshasa
2B: Kinshasa
Stan Douglas: Concept/Editing
Scott Harding: Producer/Arranger
Kahlil Kwame Bell: Percussion
Liberty Ellman: Lead Guitar
Jason Lindner: Moog Whirlitzer
Abdou Mboup: Congas
Nitin Mitta: Tablas
Jason Moran: Rhodes, B3 & Band Leader
Antoine Roney: Alto Saxophone
Marvin Swewell: Rhythm Guitar
Kimberly Thompson: Drums
Burniss Earl Travis: Bass
Recorded in Brooklyn, New York on June 22nd and 23rd, 2013.
Publisher: The Vinyl Factory
Artists: Stan Douglas
Contributors: Diedrich Diederichsen
Publication Date: 2016
Binding: Double 12” heavyweight vinyl
Dimensions: 12 x 12 in (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
ISBN: 0000000000080
Retail: $30 | £25
Status: Not Available
Stan Douglas
Since the late 1980s, Stan Douglas has created films, photographs, and installations that reexamine particular locations or past events. His works often take their points of departure in local settings, from which broader issues can be identified. Making frequent use of new as well as outdated technologies, Douglas appropriates existing Hollywood genres (including murder mysteries and the Western) and borrows from classic literary works (notably, Samuel Beckett, Herman Melville, and Franz Kafka) to create ready-made contextual frameworks for his complex, thoroughly researched projects.