Congresswoman Malinda Jackson Parker: Liberia’s leading outsider musician

Posted On August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

She was better known to locals as Ma Parker. She wore unusual makeup and fashioned herself in clothes that have since been described as “Blindingly colourful”. She also constantly carried around a bag of sweets that she would give to children on the streets. Parker was independently wealthy and had a successful political career, but music fans are more aware of her for her outlandish musical stylings.

That’s all the information we have on Melinda Jackson Parker; she remains an anomaly and is as mysterious as the music she puts out into the world. The majority of the information that can be found about her is in Irwin Chusid’s book, Songs in the Key of Z, where he writes about a variety of artists who would be deemed as outsider.

All it takes is a few lines describing Parker’s music to entice any music lover. She takes conventional sound and moves as far away from it as possible, making sounds appealing when she doesn’t care about the record’s commercial success. If people thought that her dress sense was flamboyant, they suddenly realised they were nothing compared to the eccentricity of her music.

Experimental music is nothing new; it has been used as a form of protest and a means to push creative boundaries for decades now. It can be refreshing to hear music that steps outside the realms of the standard rules of rhythm and melody to give us something truly unique, and Parker certainly achieves that with her album—almost too much.

When you initially begin listening to her music, it can be hard to get past just how odd it is. However, when you learn more about her eccentric nature, it’s easier to lean into her music, and it feels comforting knowing you’re listening to something that she will have enjoyed making.

One of the most famous tracks on the album is ‘Cousin Mosquito #1’, which warns against the dangers of mosquitos. She does all of this while repeating the word “Cousin” hundreds of times. It’s hard to listen to the song without recognising it as something downright bizarre. “Abstract” is one word for it, but realistically, the music of Ma Parker is individualistic and completely unique.

She leaned into her political side when releasing the album as well. When it came out, rather than doing it under the name of Ma Parker or Melinda Jackson Parker, she used her official political title. The record was called The Liberian Landmark Joy by Congresswoman Malinda Jackson Parker and remains one of the most perplexing pieces of music ever written.

It also stands as a testament to the wonderment of music as a whole, though. Commonly described as an outlandish character, Parker was given a space to make music where she could let her more flamboyant side completely run free, and it’s a pleasure to listen to as we are given a glimpse into her mind for a short period.

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