Sekou is to contemporary African American Poetry, what Marvin Gaye was
to modern soul. He is gifted with a rich, undulating voice which
heightens the bittersweet wordscapes heard through this collection.
Listen carefully and he'll take you there!
"Music is reference, source, resource, and inspiration to me as a writer
and performer," says Sekou Sundiata. "In fact, it's damn near impossible
to understand what contemporary black poets are doing without
understanding what's going on with black music and its relationship to
black speech and black literature. My work is grounded in
African-American culture, necessarily including African-American music."
Indeed, the Harlem-born poet's words reach their full power when spoken
aloud in his commanding baritone, and his concerts are almost always
driven by a live band consisting of highly regarded players from the
worlds of jazz and R&B, including trombonist/composer Craig Harris, a
frequent collaborator. Predating (but still informed by) the current
generation's embrace of hiphop, Sundiata came of age as an artist during
the Black Arts/Black Aesthetic movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
His first album, The Blue Oneness of Dreams, and its successor,
longstoryshort, are both rich with the sounds of blues, funk, jazz, and
African and Afro-Caribbean percussion. Sundiata's poetry is packed with
shout-outs to inspirational musicians, including John Coltrane, Miles
Davis, and Bob Marley.
As a longtime teacher of literature at New York City's New School
University, the poet has inspired plenty of artists himself, most
notably RBR's own Ani DiFranco (who declares that Sundiata "taught me
everything I know about poetry") and M. Doughty of Soul Coughing (who
says "he really squeezed some amazingly good, honest stuff from
people"). Moreover, his long-form work in music theater has garnered
numerous awards and toured the U.S., with his next production set to be
presented by 651 Arts and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the Next Next
Wave Festival in December 2000. No matter what outlet he selects for any
given undertaking—theater, classroom, book, or album—Sundiata brings
many years of intelligence, craftsmanship, and intensity to the
endeavor. In the words of critic Greg Tate writing in The Village Voice,
"This brother is the conduit through which the direct lineage of
Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Gil-Scott Heron, and the Last Poets shall
be maintained. Here is a writer with the bluesy poetic grasp, historical
insight, and populist spirit to reach the bourgeois, seminar the
politically correct, and still rock the boulevard."
"Sundiata's poems moan, soothe, stir, and shake... He is the griot of our times." —Vibe
Read more about Sekou here.
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