9 Quotes & Sayings By Sun Ra

Sun Ra (born Herman Blount, Jr.) was an American musician, bandleader and composer. Ra is best known as the founder and leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a jazz-rock group that performed from the 1930s to the 1980s. Ra's recordings were ground-breaking experiments in free improvisation and extended composition. The Arkestra was widely influential in the development of jazz, funk, and electronic music. Born in Chicago on May 26, 1914, he invented his cosmic name by combining the Sun (mythology) with Ra (ancient Egyptian sun god). He lived at various times in New York City; Chicago; Atlanta; San Francisco; and Munich Read more

He died in New York City on December 16, 1993.

1
First of all I express sincerity. There's also that sense of humor, by which people sometimes learn to laugh about themselves. I mean, the situation is so serious that the people could go crazy because of it. They need to smile and realize how ridiculous everything is. A race without a sense of humor is in bad shape. A race needs clowns. In earlier days people knew that. Kings always had a court jester around. In that way he was always reminded how ridiculous things are. I believe that nations too should have jesters, in the congress, near the president, everywhere... You could call me the jester of the Creator. The whole world, all the disease and misery, it's all ridiculous. Sun Ra
2
We hold this myth to be potential Not self-evident but equational Another DimensionOf another kind of Living Life Sun Ra
3
And then when I went to Chicago, that's when I had these outer space experiences and went to the other planets. Sun Ra
4
Music is a language, you see, a universal language. Sun Ra
5
But recently I began to feel that maybe I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do and need to do with American musicians, who are imprisoned behind these bars; music's got these bars and measures you know. Sun Ra
6
I use music as a medium to talk to people. Sun Ra
7
I'm playing dark history. It's beyond black. I'm dealing with the dark things of the cosmos. Sun Ra
8
What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth. Sun Ra