And then, I saw a video featuring Nandi Bushell.
I am so very late to this party but I felt the need to write about this for this month's opening words as it was such a supreme spark of joy--the kind of which that I was of the aforementioned desperate need to see and receive. Nandi Bushell, is a 10 year old girl of British and Zulu heritage who operates her own parent approved and monitored You Tube channel on which she creates videos of herself exploding with joy with playing her rock and roll drums along with heavy rock songs.
I first heard of her very recently as a piece of her story happened to go viral. It turns out that after performing a letter perfect version of Foo Fighters' "Everlong," she challenged Foo Fighters mastermind Dave Grohl to a drum battle. I honestly do not want to know the specifics as I just want to hang onto the magic of it all, but the video during which Nandi's challenge is given a response by Dave Grohl himself--first performing "Everlong," and then, throwing down the gauntlet by giving Nandi the challenge of nailing Grohl's drum performance of Them Crooked Vultures' "Dead End Friends"--was entirely worth just seeing Nandi's euphoric response after watching the video. Her elation. Her jubilation. How she leapt around her room to end up in the embrace of who I presume is her Dad. That brought tears of joy to my eyes.
For me, my tears arrived from Nandi's happiness. The happiness of having her message received so positively. The happiness that arrives when being truly seen and validated, regardless of race and gender. But because of her race and gender, the fact that she was seen and validated by a member of rock and roll royalty that is Dave Grohl, demonstrates of such an enormity that cannot be fully measured of how much representation matters!!!
Think about it. How many rock and roll musicians of color have you ever really seen? I know that for myself growing up, the sight of Black musicians performing rock and roll was essentially non-existent, which made my love of the genre and the fact that I was a budding rock drummer feel so suspect to some of my peers, especially as music was so dramatically segregated by race within musical genres, i.e. rock and roll=White while R&B/soul/funk=Black...and never the twain shall meet.
To my friends with whom I became bandmates in my Middle School group named Ground Zero, my race never made a difference. I firmly believe they were happy that I could play drums and play them well enough for the band. But there were some of our peers to whom I felt forced to prove myself to not only being a member of Ground Zero, but for playing rock and roll music at all. And believe me how fun it was to shove my drumsticks into their faces every time I bashed my drum kit with all that I could muster, which I now firmly understand was fueled by my inherent cultural right to play that music as Black people invented rock and roll.
But in defense of my peers, I get it. Seeing Black people perform in rock groups was something that was just unseen and so, if you had never seen it, sometimes how does that perception fuel itself into believing what can actually happen and therefore, exist? And to that end, having not seen that very image myself, I did feel as if I was living on the moon.
That is precisely why the sight of Fishbone in the mid 1980's was so seismic for me. And then, Living Colour during my college years. And of course, seeing Prince slash apart the sky with his white lightning guitar solo that concluded "Let's Go Crazy" during those opening minutes of Albert Magnoli's "Purple Rain" (1984).
I needed to see people who looked like me writing, singing and performing the very music that I cherished myself. I needed to know they existed so that I felt validated within my own. I needed to know that I was not an anomaly. I needed to know that I was not an impossibility. I needed to know that I was not wrong. I needed those figures to help me understand myself so that I did not feel alone in the universe.
Even now in 2020, the sight of Black people within rock and roll is rare but with hip-hop and pop music being the dominant music forces these days, seeing anyone in rock and roll is kind of rare. That being said, the sight of Nandi Bushell is one steeped in importance as well as just pure, unabashed rock and rock joy. I know that even now, at the age of 51, it is not terribly often to witness the sight of a Black female rock and roll drummer. Of course, both Shelia E. and Cindy Blackman-Santana instantly come to mind. But that is indeed only two and they are also both of an older generation, which is questionable if it would mean terribly much to a young Black girl who may be deciding whether to pick up a pair of drum sticks and bash away to The Who just like Keith Moon.
But...I do think that Nandi Bushell possibly, potentially could be a source of inspiration.
Now, of course, I never wish to place any undue burdens upon this child to carry a weight she never asked for, a responsibility she never wanted when clearly she is happy enough to rock! Yet, then again...when she accepted Dave Grohl's challenge, it is a sight to witness the artwork placed upon her own drum kit, where insignias of Equality and the Black Lives Matter power fist are proudly displayed. Maybe to a certain degree, she is willing to take up a certain mantle while also being able to play rings around her detractors. Because if there's anything racist rock fans would really hate to admit, it is having their collective asses kicked by this 10 year old Black girl who is so unintimidated and ready to throw down valiantly.
And valiantly she played, meeting Dave Grohl's challenge after three days of practice with a soaring heart and precision that illustrated how well she just nailed every beat, note-for-note, all the way down to Grohl's "angry" drum faces. Seeing this video filled my heart because Nandi's heart was full and I would imagine, so was Dave Grohl's, who certainly never had to respond to this child. But...he did!
That is what music is all about. That connection that spans generations and races ad time and space. To find kindred spirits who are joined together in song. THAT was the good news I needed to see so desperately. And furthermore, if the sight of Nandi Bushell behind her drum kit inspires and even moreso, makes other kids who look like her feel less alone in the universe and thus, are given the courage to rock, that just makes music itself that much better.
Keep rocking, Nandi!!!!
PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!
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