On funk and the cosmos

This post is dedicated to defining, explaining and exploring the term “cosmic funk” - or at least what it means to me, and how funk music and all things cosmic have become a kind of de facto spirituality for me. 

The notion of salvation through music in my psyche probably dates back to when my teenage mind was first exposed to the future scene from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure:

 

Future enlightened dudes as depicted in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

The first line in the Wikipedia plot summary reads “In 2688, humanity exists as a utopian society due to the inspiration of the music and wisdom of the Two Great Ones, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan.” Of course Bill and Ted were more about heavy metal than funk, but the connection between music, enlightenment and its potential to positively affect society was first suggested to me by that movie, I think.

I first started using the term "cosmic funk" around 2008, while I was crafting my Couchsurfing profile. The first hint comes with the up-front mission statement, “To facilitate the arrival of The Bright Green Mothership in East Asia”, but the specific term is used further down in the profile when describing my music collection. Moreover, you can see hints of a secular philosophy centered around groove and the cosmos throughout the page, particularly in my description of my 2005 encounter with George Clinton from Parliament Funkadelic.

Searching my Gmail for the term “cosmic funk” returned the following email from 2009, an invitation to a cosmic funk-themed 30th birthday party. The list of suggested artists provides further clues as to the precise definition of the term:

Hey guys!

Great news - now there are not one, but two awesome parties to choose from! The Mackay Mexican Fiesta is still happening this Saturday (see email below), but for those of you near Brisbane who can't make it, I'm having another bash in Brisbane on the 22nd (my actual birthday), which my brother and his housemates have kindly agreed to host.

Here are the details:

Where: 41 Jones St, Auchenflower, Brisbane

When: Tuesday 22nd September, from 1930 onwards

Theme: Cosmic Funk - think Boney M, Parliament Funkadelic, Moonraker, the Star Wars Disco theme, Jamiroquai, etc - come on board the Mothership and shake that sacro-iliac!

Ok, you don't actually have to dress up, but please do stop by for a beer. I'll be buying a few cartons, but if you want to do some serious drinking, bring something to supplement.

Catch you soon,

Benson

Cosmic funk is probably best defined by lyrics of the song “Mothership Connection” and the whole Parliament Funkadelic mythology, which I’ve already written about in this Facebook post.

If you haven’t read it yet, the key cosmic funk and P-funk Mythology-defining phrase is this one:

"Funk upon a time, in the days of the Funkapus, the concept of specially-designed Afronauts capable of funkatizing galaxies was first laid on man-child"

Mind not sufficiently blown yet? Read on...

One of my favourite P-Funk quotes. It works on so many levels!

Second only to the P-Funk Mothership concept in terms of ability to epitomise the cosmic funk philosophy would be Earth Wind and Fire, whose album artwork and lyrics were littered with cosmic enlightenment themes:

“Take a ride in the sky, on our ship fantasii”

Eric Carlson recently wrote an article on “The Cosmic Joy of Earth Wind and Fire”, which suggests that bassist Maurice White might have preempted Bill and Ted by a decade or two. He writes:

“During this time, White began to have dreams, profound visions where he communed with the Creator of the universe and received orders to create a group that spread peace and joy around the planet. These visions would eventually lead The Salty Peppers to transform into Earth, Wind, & Fire, the cosmic messengers of funk ecstasy that everyone knows today.”

Earth Wind and Fire, the cosmic messengers of funk ecstasy (Let’s Groove, 1981)

Here’s a more obscure example that my friend Graham Coglan introduced to me during our Shanghai teaching days. It’s a song called “UFOs” from an album named “Cosmic Truth” - cosmic funk doesn’t get much purer than that!

And of course this one from War is another cosmic funk classic. Futuristic space-themed lyrics? Check. Irresistible funk groove? Check. 

There’s another more recent example of a cosmic funk messenger who deserves a mention in this article, and that is of course Jamiroquai.

Jay Kay and his band “in orbit” in the liner notes of Travelling Without Moving (I found the image here; I do actually own this album but the liner notes are somewhere in a box at my parents’ house)

Apart from tracks with space-age names like Space Cowboy, Cosmic Girl and Light Years, there’s this gem from Funk Odyssey 2001. Listen for the futuristic synth sounds in the intro and again, note the connection between cosmic themes and enlightened states.

Also note how the album cover resembles the Stargate scene from A Space Odyssey 2001:

Then there’s the 2006 track “Starchild”, which doesn’t directly mention space travel in its lyrics, but does hint at the idea of the Starchild as some kind of saviour or messenger. I’ll let you listen to it and draw your own conclusions :-)

So while we’re on the subject of A Space Odyssey 2001 and the Starchild, let’s watch that ending again.

Stanley Kubrick’s depiction of the Starchild was very different to George Clinton’s.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this is all starting to sound a bit new age, and you’d probably be right. Many of the ideas about “lightworkers” and “star seeds” are reflected in the lyrics of songs that you’d put in the cosmic funk genre. That doesn’t mean that I’m suggesting you take them literally of course!

Notice in the article about lightworkers that one of the 11 types is called “The Messenger”. I’d suggest that purveyors of cosmic funk warrant their own sub-category: the Funk Messenger. 

In September 2000, when my student funk outfit “High Density Beagles” made it to the finals of the University of Queensland Student Union Battle of the Bands, I thought I was going to be like Bill and Ted; destined for greatness. I was having similar visions of grandeur to Maurice White from Earth Wind and Fire. I thought I was going to save the world with my music (in other words, all three of the original songs we’d written at that point).

At the heats of the UQ Union Band Competition circa September 2000. The crowd goes wild.

Now, I realise I’m not going to be the Funk Messiah. I am not the Starchild. But am I a Funk Messenger? Perhaps, although you could argue that I need to be performing funk to larger audiences to be put into that category. Can I call myself a funk disciple? A funk soldier? Absolutely! Anyone can be one of those if they have the right mindset.

So to finish where I started - with the claim that cosmic funk can be a form of spirituality - I think if you see spirituality as anything that helps people find meaning in life and achieve transcendental mental states, then it certainly can. 

Analysing the “cosmic” and the “funk” aspects separately, this is how I see it:

Cosmic - this is both a world view and a sense of connection with the greater whole. It’s the idea that there are infinite possibilities in an infinite universe (see David Deutsche’s TED talk for a great discussion of this idea), and the hopeful future represented by space exploration and evolving into (or learning from) more enlightened and intelligent beings.

Funk - perhaps this is the meditative aspect. I see funky grooves as mantras that allow us to transcend our everyday mental state. You know that feeling you get when a certain song hits you right in “there”? This is related to George Clinton’s quote above. Free your mind...

To summarise, we don’t need to wait for the coming of the Starchild - we are the Starchild. We just need to undergo a metamorphosis. For more on what that means (that would be a whole new post), look up Daniel Schmachtenberger, particularly this podcast and this article. 

Perhaps it’s a stretch to say that funk can help you become enlightened and make the world a better place. What I can say for sure is it’s been a great source of positivity and psychotherapy for me over the years. So give it a try. And just maybe, if we all do it, the outline of the Starchild will begin to emerge...