Talk:Sun Ra

Incorrect characterisation

I replaced the characterisation of the 1960s music as chaotic with an attempt to indicate the new forms of compositional structuring: both in terms of tape delay/editing and in terms of the bracketed ensemble blowing. IMO the 1960s section needs more, though, on the important new opportunities opened by Ra's 1961-67 music. AllyD 18:39, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sun Ra's legal and preferred name is Ra.

Throughout the article, Sun Ra is called "Blount." This is disrespectful of the man and his choices. He legally changed his name to Ra, and was unequivocal in stating that Ra was his name, and nothing else. He stated that Blount never existed. Why, then, does the author persist in calling Ra by the name Blount? To my mind, I am understating the importance of this. It is disturbing and it serves to assert the author's personal bias, if not prejudice. Does anyone call the artist Prince by his surname Nelson? Does anyone call Madonna by her surname Ciccone? I could on, but the point is made. Stop disrespecting Sun Ra's choice and his true legal name: Ra. Zeugitai (talk) 04:42, 27 August 2015 (UTC)ZeugitaiZeugitai (talk) 04:42, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

• I think the article has it right: the name Blount is used up to the point when the subject changed his name and then Sun Ra is used thereafter. That avoids anachronism which would otherwise result, for example if someone by the name of Sun Ra was a member of a trade union and leading the Sonny Blount Orchestra in 1934. AllyD (talk) 06:30, 27 August 2015 (UTC)
• I have re-reverted an IP change whose bulk-replace of the surname "Blount" had introduced inaccuracies to the article text, such as a "Sonny Ra Orchestra" in the 1930s, a nonsensical claim that "Sun Ra claimed to have always been uncomfortable with his birth name of Ra" and a claim that his headstone text is "Herman Sonny Ra aka Le Sony'r Ra". AllyD (talk) 08:00, 19 September 2018 (UTC)