R.I.P. AMIRI BARAKA

Amiri Baraka (October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014),
born Everett LeRoi Jones,
formerly known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka

"He was denounced by critics as buffoonish, homophobic, antisemitic, a demagogue. He was called by others a genius, a prophet, the Malcolm X of literature. Eldridge Cleaver hailed him as the bard of the "funky facts." Ishmael Reed credited the Black Arts Movement for encouraging artists of all backgrounds and enabling the rise of multiculturalism. The scholar Arnold Rampersad placed him alongside Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright in the pantheon of black cultural influences."
The Guardian

The following is just one example of the type of energy Baraka put into his art.
Amiri Baraka class on revolution and art - Part 1 (August 7, 1985)
First half of a class by Amiri Baraka on revolution and art. The discussion covers Miles Davis, the Poetry Orchestra Project, formalism, relationship of society to art and film, satire vs. social protest, Ed Dorn, black literature, Henry Jones, W.E.B. DuBois, and Mark Twain

https://archive.org/download/naropa_amiri_baraka_class_on/naropa_amiri_baraka_class_on_64kb.m3u

Amiri Baraka on revolution and art. Part 2 (August 7, 1985)

Second half of a class by Amiri Baraka on revolution and art. Subjects include Harlem Renaissance, American modernism, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, music composition, and a discussion of his murdered sister. Works by the class are also included in the discussion. (Continued from 85p088.) Keywords: New American Poetry, Black Arts Movement, New York School, sound poetry, music in literature, political poetry

https://archive.org/download/85P089/85P089_64kb.m3u

This audio is part of the collection: Naropa Poetics Audio Archives

It also belongs to collection: Audio Books & Poetry

Artist/Composer: Baraka, Amiri

Date: 1985-08-07 00:00:00

Label / Recorded by: Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics

Keywords: Sound Poetry; New American Poetry; New York School; political poetry; Black Arts Movement

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

See article in NJ.com for more details of Brother Baraka's Passing.