ATL 2067
Commissioned for Flux Night Atlanta Georgia in October 2013, ATL 2067 was developed for a one night free public event in Castleberry Hill.
ATL 2067 imagines a future Atlanta. The project reanimates music recordings fixed during the early days of the recording industry produced in temporary studios in hotel rooms and function rooms across the city of Atlanta – and controlled under copyright in the USA until 2067. Late 1920s Atlanta witnessed a flurry of recording activity, with labels travelling south from New York collect music of the surrounding area – from blues to cajun folk via country. At this moment collectively-authored music and lyrics were locked to apparent authors and fixed to the commodity form of the gramophone record.
Working with local hip-hop producers, 78rpm recordings from the 1920s were reassembled into the rhythmic matrix of rap beats. Folk cultures of the beginnings of the 20th Century plugged directly into the beat cultures of the beginnings of the 21st – rap, trap, and ghetto-tech.
A street-level sound system was installed at the corner of Walker's Street and Peter's Street in Castleberry Hill. Local emcees staHHr, J-Live, Ekundayo and Boog Brown were invited to host - performing as Master of Ceremonies - to extend an open mic invitation to the Atlanta public who were invited to rap about the future of the city. For five hours people stepped from the crowd to improvise a freestyle rap cypher over the future beats.
The project reactivates archival material generated by an early 20th Century Georgia public by inserting it back into the rhythmic milieu of contemporary Atlanta to collectively envisage and perform a potential future. The temporary sound system and assembled public occupied an optimistic future – 2067, the year that the collectively authored material will finally return to public ownership and envisaged an imminent public domain.
Here is some coverage from the audience on the night
Watch the sting here
Curated by Helena Reckitt
All of the following tracks were recorded in Atlanta and used as source for samples.
Video
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Audio
Downloads
Click here to download the 1920s source material (Zipped WAV and AIF files 201.2mb)
Click here to download the 1920s source material (Zipped WAV and AIF files)
Present Joys 2067 (REKchampa)
Present Joys 2067 (REKchampa) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Present Joys performed by Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
Recorded in Atlanta GA, April 16, 1928
ATL Beat 11
ATL BEAT 11 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Bob Lee Junior Blues performed by Memphis Jug Band
recorded in Atlanta GA, October 19, 1927
ATL Beat 10
ATL BEAT 10 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
C'est Si Triste Sans Lui performed by Cleoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon
recorded in Atlanta GA, April 18, 1929
ATL Beat 15
ATL BEAT 15 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
99 Year Blues performed by Julius Daniels
recorded in Atlanta GA, February 19, 1927
ATL Beat 14
ATL BEAT 14 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
99 Year Blues performed by Julius Daniels
recorded in Atlanta GA, February 19, 1927
ATL Beat 12
ATL BEAT 12 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
99 Year Blues performed by Julius Daniels
recorded in Atlanta GA, February 19, 1927
ATL Beat 9
ATL BEAT 9 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Willie Moore performed by Burnett and Rutherford
recorded in Atlanta GA, November 3, 1927
ATL Beat 7
ATL BEAT 7 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Acadian One-Step performed by Joseph Falcon
recorded in Atlanta GA, October 16, 1928
ATL Beat 2
ATL BEAT 2 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Fatal Flower Garden performed by Nelstone's Hawaiians
recorded in Atlanta GA, November 30, 1929
and
Rocky Road performed by Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
recorded in Atlanta GA, April 16, 1928
ATL Beat 8
ATL BEAT 8 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
This Song Of Love performed by Middle Georgia Singing Convention No 1
recorded in Atlanta GA, December 10, 1930
ATL Beat 6
ATL BEAT 6 MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Fatal Flower Garden performed by Nelstone's Hawaiians
recorded in Atlanta GA, November 30, 1929
99 Year Blues (DJ Assault)
99 Year Blues (DJ Assault) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
99 Year Blues performed by Julius Daniels
recorded in Atlanta GA, February 19, 1927
C'est Si (DJ Assault)
C'est Si (DJ Assault) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
C'est Si Triste Sans Lui performed by Cleoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon
recorded in Atlanta GA, April 18, 1929
Fatal Flower (DJ Assault)
Fatal Flower (DJ Assault) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Fatal Flower Garden performed by Nelstone's Hawaiians
recorded in Atlanta GA, November 30, 1929
Georgia Stomp (DJ Assault)
Georgia Stomp (DJ Assault) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Georgia Stomp performed by Andrew and Jim Baxter
Recorded in Atlanta GA, October 16, 1928
This Song Of Love (DJ Assault)
This Song Of Love (DJ Assault) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
This Song Of Love performed by Middle Georgia Singing Convention No 1
recorded in Atlanta GA, December 10, 1930
Waiting For A Train (MC Strategy)
Waiting For A Train (MC Strategy) MP3 (right-click/ctrl+click to download)
samples:
Waiting For A Train performed by Jimmie Rodgers
recorded in Atlanta GA, October 22, 1928
this beat was produced for Free-to-air, Manchester 2007
Thanks
This project would not be possible without the knowledge, support and generosity of: Helena Reckitt, Anne Dennington @ Flux Projects, Boog Brown, staHHr, J-Live, Ekundeyo, Ismini Adami, Amond Jackson & J-Haze @ Salem Psalms, Dillon Maurer, Kevin Fleming @ Georgia State University Library, DJ Assault, REKchampa, Charlotte @ Plastic People, Nicole Morrell, DJ Burn One, Walt Live, Lisa Blanning, Andrew Nosnitsky, Mike @ A3C, Soundspecies, MC Strategy, Chip Gooding, Bruce Harlan & Rusty Sheorn, Matthew White