Samm sangs — yall know what that means; “sangs” means another step beyond merely singing; means going into the deep self (both conscious and subconscious, as well as the unconscious) and pulling up a sound that springs from the four major areas that provide fertile ground to root, grow and enable your sound to flower. The total locus and motion of that is located in the head, heart, gut, and groin. And don’t forget, we are considering all of this within the context of music by Samm Henshaw.
The head part is the expression of all your thoughts. Some people are expert at making clear the logic, and possible inevitability of all their ruminations, their ponderings, their meditations, analyzations, conclusions, hunches, intuitions, all the things that run through the brain and can be expressed in word and/or sound (sometimes there are no words but there is a sound that perfectly expresses whatsoever be going on). I do realize in some cultures, sight is the way, might even be smell and the taste/texture of good food. There are many ways to express ourselves. Could be a dance, or something else entirely. Anyway, that’s the head part.
As an artist, Samm Henshaw is a shifty halfback with the power of a fullback. He goes where a lot of songs don’t go. Most so-called love songs be focusing on lust and sex. Samm has a more profound understanding hence he also emotes about agape and companionship, or like the old Jackie Wilson R&B song go — he wants “a woman, a lover, and a friend”, which all collectively profiles his particular gender preferences (i.e. woman), his sexual desire, (i.e. lover), and ultimately his need for companionship (i.e. friend).
> “BETTER” — The Sound Experiment – EP
The heart is the art of feelings, of expressing feelings, sometimes a gesture, or a deed, not always a word, or a letter written to or about a person, but could be a moment, maybe an especial experience, whatever righteously generates a serious emotional reaction. We don’t necessarily know how come or where from, we just feel the thing is real, because as any fool know and the wise certainly understand, ain’t nothing like the real thing. And guess what, stuff that’s plastic (regardless of plastic’s seemingly inexpensiveness or its convenience, still) ain’t nothing like. . .
By the way, there is an important book, A General Theory Of Love, that offers a fuller understanding on the multifaceted aspects of this thing we call love — uses scientific observation and deduction to explain the metaphysical and spiritual elements of love, I think you will dig it.
Now the gut, well, the gut is not just a hankering to satisfy a physical hunger. The gut be about survival and what any of us will do to keep on keeping on. Survival is a mean master, will have you up early in the morning looking into somebody’s mirror and asking that reflection is that me? Am I really here cause I crave a tasting of whatever or whoever bees up in this here room?
The fourth center is the groin, which is deeply misunderstood, deeply diminished in terms of its full function in the human context. I once heard the groin crassly described as a sewerage plant and an amusement park combined into one. Except physical elimination is absolute necessary for the health of the human body; and, of course, procreation is necessary for the survival of the species. If you think about it, that viewpoint puts another kind of spin on the groin.
Philosophically, music is a serious upliftment when we deal with the totality (head, heart, gut, and groin) of human existence. For a fuller understanding thereof, some of us go to church, some to the mosque, some to the synagog, some to the temple, some just commune with nature. All of us be seeking something outside of ourselves to complete the inside of ourselves, the thoughts and feelings of ourselves, the yearning for communication and embracement, to communicate with the force beyond ourselves, indeed, the force that created the self (even though our individual consciousness might be totally sui generis). In any case, those who are seekers seek a reciprocal relationship, i.e. to embrace and to be embraced. Love, then, is actually a quest for howsoever we fulfill that need, that yearning to embrace and be embraced; embracement far beyond just someone’s warm and welcoming arms. When you listen to the sweep of Samm’s striking sounds, the way he sangs, you can hear and receive aspects of all that.
By the way, my man sound like he must be Otis Reddings’ second cousin’s grandson, or something like that. He got that river deep all up in his voice, and then come to find out he of Nigerian heritage, living up in the UK, doing music that often employs that bad, Black (African American) back-beat. This must be what heaven sounds like. Or maybe, might even actually be heaven when we sound like this.
P.S. — Ok, O-Kaaayyyy! Here’s a little lagniappe, some solo Samm. If you’re of a mind to, do so deeply enjoy.
—Kalamu ya Salaam / May 2019 – New Orleans