The title Afroid alludes to my biraciality and refers obliquely to the term “negroid” that was used to identify me on my birth records. In that sense, it’s a satirical correction of the term.
The piece was created on the Korg M1’s eight-track sequencer as a quick sketch. (Because of the device’s limited memory, my sequences rarely survived beyond a day before being recorded and cleared.) All the parts were played manually, with some rough looping and little to no editing, in the spirit of the moment.
This was the first time I used the workstation’s distortion on a track, which would become a go-to colouration for me. The cassette recording adds some extra rawness. It was the last time I used the M1, as a few days later I purchased the 01/WFD which became my main instrument for the next 15 years.
I had then recently studied African, Southeast Asian and First Nations traditional music and there may have been some influence from those experiences here. The groove is mainly derived from jazz-funk and synth-pop. The music is entirely in the pentatonic mode.
Composed and recorded August 1993, Korg M1 to cassette
Transfer to CD-R, 2002
Photo: composer, spring 1993
Music and composer’s notes copyright Bruce A. Russell 2023
EL MAHBOOB 