Aloe Blacc doesn’t let his children watch TV because he wants to protect their 'imaginations'

The singer operates a media-free house 
Safeeyah Kazi12 October 2018
The Weekender

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Aloe Blacc doesn’t let his two young children watch television because he thinks it limits their imaginations.

The American singer, known for his collaboration of Wake Me Up with Swedish DJ Avicii, opened up on being cautious of the impact of media whilst raising his young family.

Father-of-two Blacc told the Standard: “My wife [Maya Jupiter] and I are practising a non-media household. Although we are in media and in music, my wife is a television presenter and an artist.

“We share our music, lifestyles and our careers with our children but we give them the opportunity to use their own imagination.

“By limiting media they are able to create their own characters rather than be told which characters they have to be during their playtime by whatever multi-national co-operation and conglomerate that’s forcing down their throats the characters they should be playing.”

The 39-year-old former Brit and Grammy-award nominee said he has reservations from social media because users present a “perfect” version of themselves.

He said: “In this digital age we all have bifurcated selves, we have the self that we live in our daily lives with our friends and family who see us in real-time and then we have an avatar that lives online that we get to make be the best version of ourselves.

“There are no mistakes in our online selves and I think trying to use music to bring us together in real-time is really important. The digital age can take us away from realising that we are human [beings] that need to communicate in real-time.”

Blacc added that his passion for different types of music led to him exploring its history as part of documentary America’s Musical Journey.

The film, narrated by Morgan Freeman, delves into the birth of music in the US.

The chart-topping I’m The Man hitmaker declared the film more relevant than ever due to the “political climate” in America.

Blacc said: “Music can always be a nice way to break tension and to bring people together especially in a climate where politics can be heated and social issues can be very complex, this is the thing that can unify us and bring us back together. Music is an inclusive experience.

“It’s quite obvious that over the centuries, music has definitely transcended politics, hate and discrimination.

“Louis Armstrong is the artist that we focus on in the film as being an ambassador to America through music. He was able to in many ways challenge the status quo and introduce a new concept of race and the dynamic of diversity to an audience that was hungry for it but the politics at the time didn’t allow it.”

America's Musical Journey will start showing in select theaters in November. Visit AmericasMusicalJourney.com for all cinema listings.

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