With the Brooklyn-based Afro-Punk Festival travelling on a national tour, the Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder interviewed the show’s organizer, Matthew Morgan, on the makings of this one-day extravaganza and what it means to be a Black punkster today.

So, I’ll just jump right in. Afro-punk — what is it? Well, the word is a bit misleading and people take it too literally. We’re trying to dispel the notion that Afro-punk means Black punk, necessarily, because it’s not a genre or a particular look, style, or sound, or even something exclusively for Black people. It’s everything. The industry would have you believe that Black music is one-dimensional, just rap/R&B. But Black music has many sounds, and we’re trying to promote alternative Black culture and show that there’s also this side of it too.

I’ve been hearing about your annual Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn, NY, for years now. What made you finally decide to tour the show? Is there a large enough audience for it? Yes. This is our sixth year up and running, and we feel that there is definitely a broader audience appeal. There are probably tons of Black punk kids scattered all over Minnesota, probably the only kids of color at rock-n-roll shows not knowing that there are other kids around here just like them that share their taste in music. We know that’s out there — it is just about getting them all in a room together. In Brooklyn it’s different, because there’s lots of alternative thinking and dressing Black folks able to experiment without the ridicule you might get in a small town. It becomes more apparent for young African American kids who grew up in a certain background who come to a show when they’re able to let go. It’s that security that you get when you’re amongst people who look like you. It’s freedom.

The documentary Afro-Punk speaks to that earlier effect of the lone Black rocker. Absolutely. The total event itself grew out of a film by my ex-business partner James Spooner, who saw a story in the experiences of Black kids in the punk rock scene. Like him, these kids had a certain type of upbringing, grew up in the suburbs, one of or the only Black kids in their neighborhoods, went to a predominantly White school, had predominantly White friends, and shared an interest in so-called predominantly “White” music. They were the only Black kids at most of these punk shows most of the time. Some of them actually grew their sense of identity from being “different” because they stood out at shows. But, being the “only one” at a venue or feeling disconnected from a certain experience of your community is the conflict that the film deals with. These kids connect with the alternative lifestyle, but then see that as detracting from the myth of a “stereotypical” African American experience that they know but don’t relate to as closely.

A lot of people will find the connotation between the words “Afro” and “punk” odd. How is this movement being received by the general Black (hip hop) community? Are Black punk rock artists being absorbed by the overall, and Whiter, punk community? The punk audience is really diverse and multicultural, so reception is really based on the band. For instance, Bad Brains seems to have transcended race and is embraced by a predominantly White scene. And the OutKasts/Andre 3000s, M.I.A.s, Santigolds and Cee-Los resonated the way they did because they weren’t manufactured. People want to buy into their artists’ intelligence and be inspired. There are musicians out there that satisfy; they just have a harder time breaking through because, as record labels tell me all the time, they don’t know how to market African American punk music. There are great Black rock bands. We’re here to get the artists out there on the mainstream so they can connect with their audiences.

Afro-Punk, a 66-minute documentary, explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical “black history month” documentary this film tackles the hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power.

http://www.afropunk.com/