"Black Poetry is two trains running: one train heads west into the heart of the Euro-centric literary tradition, the other train heads east fueled by the oral and aural afro-centric folk traditions. The westward bound is text oriented, the eastward bound is sound oriented. It only makes sense that a full appreciation of the text-based black poetry requires literacy and a deep familiarity with the Euro-centric tradition, and vice versa, a full appreciation of the sound-based black poetry has its own criteria, which includes "hearing" the poem in addition to intimately knowing black music and the daily life of the African American working class.
The main line of connection between contemporary
black poetry and its audience is in the hearing/experiencing the poetry rather than in
literally reading and explicating the poetry. Yes, there has been a massive surge of
interest in poetry, but it is not in "reading" poetry, nor is it in poetry in
general. The resurgence is in hearing contemporary, socially oriented poetry
expertly recited. In this regard, a recording is then much more accurate in
transmitting poetry than is a book."
~Kalamu ya Salaam, "The Sound of
Black Poetry", QBR The Black Book Review, Vol. 7, Num. 2, March
- April 2000
|
OUR SOULS HAVE GROWN DEEP LIKE THE RIVERS: BLACK
POETS READ THEIR WORK
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Amazon
Release Date: Jan 18 2000
Label: RHINO RECORDS
Entertaining and enlightening, OUR SOULS HAVE GROWN DEEP LIKE THE RIVERS: BLACK POETS READ THEIR WORK is an invaluable collection of original voices born of the African-American struggle. This authoritative two-CD set of 20th-century black poetry assembles more than 70 writers reading their own work and covers the art form from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. The different styles here constitute a vast verbal journey that takes the listener from the traditions established by W.E.B. DuBois to the more progressive turns of rap visionaries Public Enemy. Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Maya Angelou orate with resounding clarity; Nikki Giovanni, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, and U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove lend rich nuance and textured dialect to their beautifully worded lines; and tracks from Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, Gil Scott-Heron, and the Last Poets create a context for the performance poetry of contemporary "spoken word" artists. The live recordings in particular harbor a great warmth and intimacy, adding to a sweeping sense of history that, neither pedantic nor overbearingly political, respectfully represents some of the greatest moments in African-American literature and performing arts. Christopher Stackhouse
Over the years, Rhino Records has proven that it can release well-thought-out and well-produced collections of spoken work recordings. With Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers, the company has proven yet again its ability to produce a well-balanced and fascinating collection. Spanning from 1919 to 1999, this double album collects some of the finest recordings of African-American poetry available, and lingers not too long in the territories of the old and the young. Indeed, the selections on Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers are evenly spread throughout the time that the release covers, featuring a wealth of recordings from the Harlem Renaissance -- not only predictable representatives like Langston Hughes, but Countee Cullen and Arna Bontemps as well. The great poets of the '50s and '60s like Gwendolyn Brooks also get fair time and the collection closes with the recently critically acclaimed performance poets like Gil Scott-Heron and Carl Hancock Rux. Overall, the selections are careful and comprehensive; not only do these poets do a good job of representing their generations, but these poems do a good job of representing their poets. Our Souls... could have easily been twice or half of its size here, but as a double album, Rhino has presented a compilation of great value, artistic and otherwise. ~ Stacia Proefrock
Artists
Performining On This Double CD Include:
Maya Angelou,
Amiri Baraka,
Arna Bontemps,
Gwendolyn Brooks,
Lucille Clifton,
Wanda Coleman,
Countee Cullen,
Nikki Giovanni,
Langston Hughes,
Audre Lorde,
Claude McKay,
Tracie Morris,
Ishmael Reed,
Carl Hancock Rux,
Sonia Sanchez,
Gil Scott-Heron,
Ntozake Shange,
Quincy Troupe,
Derek Walcott,
Saul Williams,
Al Young,
Kevin Young, Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy, Wole Soyinka, over 70 Poets in
all!
Related Links
Linton Kwesi Johnson
http://authors.aalbc.com/linton.htm
Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in the Brixton section of London, Johnson
invented dub poetry, a type of toasting descended from the deejay stylings of
U-Roy and I-Roy.
Gil Scott-Heron
http://authors.aalbc.com/gil-scot.htm
"One of the most influential progenitors of rap music"
Mutabaruka
http://authors.aalbc.com/mutabaru.htm
Just above his forehead, poet Mutabaruka has a strip of white hair that bisects
his jet black locks. That is the only white thing about this revolutionary
writer whose "Every Time I 'Ear Dis Sound" burst through the mellow reggae of
the early '80s like a bullet from an AK-47.