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Ras Moshe Burnett

Ras Moshe Burnett (Theodore Burnett)

Description

Ras Moshe was born in East New York in 1968. His father was from Brownsville and was a jazz musician. His paternal grandfather was from Jamaica, came to the United States in the early 1930s, and was also a musician. Ras followed in their footsteps and is also a musician, playing multiple instruments including saxophone, flute, and African drums. As a young man, Ras’ father played at The East and would bring Ras along for performances. His father also served in the Vietnam War and Ras speaks about his father’s experiences at war. Ras grew up in East New York and described it as Black and Hispanic. He briefly mentions what he remembers of the 1977 New York Blackout. As a kid, Ras, his sister, and mother moved into his mother’s parents’ house in Amittyville. He described it as Black Suburbia, but a positive experience. His mother’s father was not a musician, but he grew up in Harlem and was very into the music scene as a young man. They returned back to East New York after a few years. He attended Forest Hills High School in Queens, as a result of the efforts of his guidance counselor at I.S. 218. He described it as “almost majority white” and that the school had a good band. As an adult, Ras moved to Fort Greene, which he described as experiencing a Renaissance during the 1980s. A lot of Black musicians lived in Fort Greene at the time, and MOBY (a black...
Type:
Oral History
Contributors:
Amaka OkechukwuWeeksville Heritage Center
Created Date:
January 20, 2016
View Original At:

From Collection

2016 Weeksville Heritage Center Oral History Series