Shoga Speaks — First Person

Robert Philipson

Join Filmmaker Dr. Robert Philipson as he explores stories from his personal life.

  1. May 26

    Zanzibar 88, Part Two

    Three months after his first visit, Robert Philipson returned to Zanzibar in July of 1988 and reconnected with his friends: Haroub, the object of infatuation; Abou, the civil servant with a wild streak, and his former teacher, mwalimu Jecha. During this visit, each revealed a new side. Haroub’s tenderness towards his ailing mother, Abou’s outrageous antics in front of the baraza boys,, Jecha taking him to an ancient ceremony of Persian origins that mystified him with no explanation.  The magic was still there, from the ridiculous (heated discussion about whether an octopus was a fish or not) to the sublime (silent communing of the Zanzibaris men with the ocean). Because his Swahili had so improved. Philipson dove ever deeper into the life of this extraordinary island. “Muslim without being fanatic, racial without being racist, at least on the surface, modern without being Western, Zanzibar is so secure in its own culture that it has suffered the depredations of history and the loss of its empire with grace and even humor.” Yet in spite of his extraordinary welcome, Philipson knows that he must leave and that these friendships, so vivid and generous, are ephemeral. He had yet to learn the wisdom of Zanzibar: family, friends, home . . . the drill. Music: "Adagio from Clarinet Concerto in A Major" – Mozart "Bomwanzani Wa Mahaba" – Bi Kidude "Culture Musical Club - 1 - LIVE at Afrikafestival Hertme" — Bi Kudude and the Culture Musical Club "Kothbiro" – Ayub Ogada "Kulumbu" – S.R. Mwinamila "Love" – Bin Seif "Mapenzi Matamu" – the Culture Musical Club "Mgeni siku ya Kwanza" – Swahili Entertainment TZ "Mimi Simtaki Wako" – Fatuma Dogodogo "Nuru" – Culture Musical Club "Yakety Sax" – Boots Randolph

    Zanzibar 88, Part Two

  2. May 11

    Zanzibar 88, Part One

    In March 1988, Robert Philipson, working on a dissertation about an untranslated Swahili playwright, arrived in Zanzibar for a two-week intensive language course at the Swahili Institute, but the island had other lessons to teach. Within hours of landing in Stone Town, he found himself adopted by the baraza called "Jaws," a gathering of men who socialized in one of the public squares on a nightly basis. Very quickly he developed a special friendship with two of them: Haroub, the self-proclaimed Rasta who became an object of fascination, and Abou, the devout Muslim with a true heart. He also developed a friendship with Mwalimu Jecha, his language teacher at the Swahili Institute who put him through his linguistic paces four hours a day but also invited him into his home. Philipson also discovered Zanzibar during Ramadan, when the island's rhythms shifted—restaurants closed during daylight; he ate surreptitiously in his rented house; and he was invited to elaborate futari, feasts that were both spiritual observances and expensive domestic obligations.  Philipson's homosexuality, which he'd had to submerge while conducting research at the University of Dar es Salaam, flared up through his friendship with Haroub, where a mutual sexual tension simmered beneath the surface. The magic of Zanzibar revealed itself in episodes: an expedition to Prison Island, swimming in calm waters with Stone Town's yellowing houses rising against the sky, the exotic beauty of sunset over the Indian Ocean, and the realization that speaking Swahili allowed him not merely to visit but to inhabit a place secure enough in its own culture to weather history's depredations with grace and even humor. And then . . . the sexual tension finally broke through. Music: "Bahati" — Shikamoo Jazz "Culture Musical Club - 1 - LIVE at Afrikafestival Hertme" — Bi Kudude and the Culture Musical Club "Jamba Bwana" — Them Mushrooms "Malaika" — Fadhili William "Muziki Asili Yake Wapi" — Remmy Ongala "My Angel (Malaika)" — Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba "Ramadan" — Hurairah and Rahma Tashtitiy "Ramadan (Arabic-Malay/Bahasa Version)" — Mostafa Abo Rawash "The Fisherman’s Life and Gratitude to the Sea" — Crejo Studio "Three Little Birds" — Bob Marley

    Zanzibar 88, Part One

  3. Mar 19

    HIV Negative

    The phrase "HIV Negative" implies the diagnosis "HIV positive," a precursor to the AIDS epidemic which decimated the gay male population in the 1980s and beyond.  The stigma, still a force in some sectors of our society, delayed the mobilization for effective treatment when the epidemic first appeared in the early 80s. It took Ronald Reagan five years to even mention the word "AIDS," although the disease had been ravaging our community. His presidency set the tone of the national response: stigma and marginalization, insufficient funding, avoidance of public discussion, delays in research, funding, and education. As the epidemic conducted its scorched earth assault on gay America, the most at-risk population spun about in anger, despair, disbelief, and denial. The last of these, sanctioned by the federal attitude of indifference, was the deadliest. Victims participated not only in their own destruction but -- wittingly or no -- brought about the death of others. (Religious condemnation played its evil part as well.) You might think that being HIV negative during the awful years before retrovirals made the disease a manageable condition rather than a death sentence felt like a deliverance, but you'd be wrong. "HIV Negative" portrays the terrible toll the disease took on all of us through the lens of a prequel to our short, "The Knowing." It covers the span of time from the early 80s, the honeymoon of Adam and Peter in first love and ignorance of the disaster that was about to befall, to the end of the decade which saw the dissolution of their relationship, the descent of catastrophe on their community, and their differing responses. And yet, it is not a tale of unrelieved darkness. The bond between the two ex-lovers remains. Narrated by: Sanford E. Gaylord Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    HIV Negative

  4. Mar 19

    Still Life

    "I have concluded from the melancholy nature of my subsequent development that the artifacts hung up on a child's wall can have a permanent effect on his life." So begins the essay on the role the Art played in my formation, an evolution spanning Southern California, France, the groovy Sixties, Africa. "Still Life" will reveal the malefic influence of "the original Joe Vogel," plumb the mysteries of “Ten Nights in a Barrel,” revel in the salvation of Dutch realism -- and picture this, so much more! If you didn't grow up in a family of visual artists or art collectors, the prints and paintings that adorned the walls of your house were probably reproductions of the Beautiful (landscapes! Impressionist paintings! photographs from that amazing trip to South America!). What effect might this art which you took in consciously or not every day have upon whatever taste you developed as you became your own person?  Welcome to the Philipson Museum of Eclectic and Accidental Art!  Host Info Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality. Music  “What I’ll Do” - Chet Baker “Vincent” - Daniel Champagne  “Lute Music - Netherlands: Courante” - Konrad Ragossnig  “Magnetic Rag” - Scott Joplin "Pictures at an Exhibition" - Khatia Buniatishvili-Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition” The Piano Guys Connect With Us: Website: shogafilms.org Instagram: @shogafilms Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    Still Life

  5. Mar 19

    The Goops

    What's in a bedtime story? More than you might imagine. As we were growing up, my father introduced his version of imaginary creatures, the goops, into our household and family life. Created as negative role models to teach manners to Victorian children, the goops first saw life in books of moralistic doggerel published in 1900 and after. "But it was their bad behavior that led my father to adopt them for his own." In this episode you will also be treated to one of my father's Prince Bagel stories, a world he invented whole cloth for his children as we piled on our parents' beds to listen in wonderment. "This was the mystery of the goops, and, in fact, the mystery that I never had understood about storytelling before.  The goops did not spring ex nihilo from my father's head.  They were an expression of his love.  The stories were told to somebody." Best to listen to this episode in your jammies.  Host Info Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality. Music “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” - Billy Joel “Gymnopédie No. 3” - Martin Hederos "My Blue Heaven" - Artie Shaw "Spiegel im Spiegel" - Arvo Pärt Connect With Us: Website: shogafilms.org Instagram: @shogafilms Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    The Goops

  6. Mar 19

    "Skinny"—The Black babysitter narrates her life with the Philipsons

    Meet Doris Hale, the most intimate and important African American that my famlly knew and trusted, in her own words. Dr. Philipson conducted and transcribed the interview back in the early 90s. In anticipation of releasing the manuscript of the family memoir, we present certain chapters as podcasts performed by voice actors. "Skinny" was recorded and mixed by Joyce Licorish. Host Info Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality. Connect With Us: Website: shogafilms.org Instagram: @shogafilms Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    "Skinny"—The Black babysitter narrates her life with the Philipsons

  7. Mar 19

    A Salvage Job, Part Two

    Sam and Daniel are in Israel, circa 1969. They are on a kibbutz, learning Hebrew in the morning and working for their room and board in the afternoon. Sam follows Daniel in his effort to deepen his Jewish identity. They go to Mount Tabor, site of a battle between the Israelites and the Canaanites, spend a weekend at a Chassidic yeshiva where Daniel is ardently proselytized by a recent convert. Finally they make pilgrimage to the Western Wall, the holiest shrine in Judaism, where Sam confronts his Jewish destiny. And still the revelations are not over because the first-person narrator -- me -- discovers the real motivation behind the writing.  It may not be what you think. It certainly wasn't what I thought at the time. "Even the outpouring of my story had been an act of cowardice. I had written what green authors so often write about, a territory so worn and worked over that it could serve only as an apprenticeship."  Host Info Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality. Music “Theme of Exodus” Ernest Gold “He AIn’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” - The Hollies “Jerusalem of Gold” - Ofra Haza “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” - U2 "Where is Love" - Acapella Arrangement from Oliver! Connect With Us: Website: shogafilms.org Instagram: @shogafilms Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    A Salvage Job, Part Two

  8. Mar 19

    A Salvage Job, Part One

    America 1968. Everything was up for grabs. All passion and creativity seemed to gush from the counterculture. "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive/But to be young was very heaven." I was young, 18, and enrolled as an undergraduate in the fourth year of the great experimental campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. The spirit of the 60s was everywhere, in our music and our politics. and our firm belief that the Establishment promoting the war in Vietnam and threatening us with the coercion of the draft was so wrongheaded that it would have to collapse in its own excrement. Out of this oppositional stew of radical politics, how did I, a thoroughly assimilated Jew with an identity I could barely point to, end up in a slide towards Israel? In this first part of "A Salvage Job," you will meet the barefooted young man dancing the hora in the picture above. It's his fault.  Host Info Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality. Music "Am Yisrael Chai" - Eyal Golan "Hinei Ma Tov" - Canto Hebraico “For What It’s Worth” - Buffalo Springfield  "Hatikvah(התקווה) Across the Globe - Acapella Israeli Anthem for Hope" - Various Artists "Am Yisrael Chai" - Shlomo Carlebach “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” - Three Dog Night “The End” - The Beatles Connect With Us: Website: shogafilms.org Instagram: @shogafilms Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

    A Salvage Job, Part One
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Join Filmmaker Dr. Robert Philipson as he explores stories from his personal life.

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