By Kristina Robinson
What would it look like if you woke up tomorrow in a free world? Singer-songwriter, Charm Taylor’s latest music-video offering, “Moksha” from her debut EP, The Road Within, presents her vision of such a place. Opening with the voice of Marcus Garvey booming from the radio and Ms. Charm Taylor at the wheel of 1966 pink Ford Galaxie, this musical moksha is a vibrant afro-diasporic art- pop romp through the streets of a liberated New Orleans.
Combining elements of the esoteric and the avant-garde, Taylor and her circle of divinely clad goddess-bodies navigate the streets of post-Katrina New Orleans together. In a city where a party is never just a party, Taylor’s squad sets up a healing frolic in the streets, using ancient and modern tools of self-care and divination. Embracing Ifa as her preferred mode of spiritual liberation, Taylor seeks to introduce the world to the modern Black American iyawo and present the syncretic culture of Black Americans as something both ancient and new.
“Moksha” moves the narrative of the newly christened carefree black girl forward by anchoring her firmly to both time-honored tradition and futuristic projections. Pushing “Moksha’s” brilliant color and high energy movement ever forward are the song’s poetic, clear lyrics penned, as always, by Ms. Taylor herself. “Moksha” lives up to what Okayplayer refers to as “Taylor’s effortless transition from airy croon to full-blown spitter.”
From the first notes, “Moksha” is a resistance song rooted in joy. It is also a track you can dance to and the effect is elevating and mood altering. Taylor eases on down the road, picking up members of her circle along the way and we the viewer are invited to go along and partake in an unadulterated centering and celebration of feminine sexuality, spirituality and creation.
Kristina Kay Robinson is an artist, writer, and native of New Orleans, LA. She is the coeditor of Mixed Company, a collection of short fiction by women of color. Her work has appeared in The Baffler, Xavier Review, and Guernica.
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