Sekou Sundiata

July 19, 2007 8:36 PM

Poet Sekou Sundiata died on the 18th. If you aren't familiar with his work, you can listen to him here. Interviews here.
posted by serazin (13 comments total)

I'm not a big fan of the "."

If that's what you'd like to say, go for it, but I hope you'll also remember him by taking a listen to his work.
posted by serazin at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2007

Sorry for the disorganized post, but here's one more link: Sundiata on Reperations...

Just because you put puppies in the oven, doesn't make 'em biscuits
posted by serazin at 8:41 PM on July 19, 2007

Wow, I hadn't heard about him in a long time. Thanks for the link.
posted by fungible at 9:01 PM on July 19, 2007

Man. I loved his work. This sucks.
posted by geekhorde at 10:07 PM on July 19, 2007

I never knew of him before, and now I too can say this sucks. Thank you, serazin.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 11:37 PM on July 19, 2007

He was a great teacher.
This sucks.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:03 AM on July 20, 2007

I don't want to be curmudgeonly, but since poems are actual *text* -- you don't have to listen to the author (I'd never have made to Vonnegut's books if I'd heard him) --

But there was no text in the first 70 search-engine entries I checked. Is this about poems, or personality?
posted by Twang at 1:45 AM on July 20, 2007

since poems are actual *text*

Tell that to Homer. Come to think of it, that asshole was all about personality too.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:33 AM on July 20, 2007

Mike Doughty (of Soul Coughing), a former Sundiata student, shares his memories.

The NYT on Sundiata.

Sundiata performing on Def Poetry Jam
posted by eustacescrubb at 9:29 AM on July 20, 2007

Twang: I looked for linked text of his poems and didn't find them either. Sundiata was a performer, and often collaborated with musicians. He comes from a tradition that emphasizes spoken perfromance. This is different from a lot of poets - particularly white poets - who tend to emphasize a written tradition in their work.

It's not about a personality cult, it's about a different medium.
posted by serazin at 10:09 AM on July 20, 2007

It's not about a personality cult, it's about a different medium.

Call it poetry if you like ... but Homer lasted because he committed to text.
posted by Twang at 4:25 PM on July 20, 2007

eustace beat me to it: Doughty's obit made me sad and happy at the same time. Seems a life well lived.
posted by yerfatma at 4:54 PM on July 20, 2007

Call it poetry if you like ... but Homer lasted because he committed to text.

Homer's medium was actually an oral medium, and had there been audio recording in his time, we'd probably have Homer's performances instead of text to intereact with. Poetry began as an oral medium, and remains always partly oral -- as the man said, "the sound must be an equal to the sense" -- this is why even the stuffiest of academic poets read thier work out loud to their audiences.
posted by eustacescrubb at 9:17 AM on July 21, 2007