The New Black Avant-Garde (By Ronnie Mc Grath)... Loving IT!

DEAR POET

Why you write that neo-surrealist
Intertextual quiltwork of untreated fabulation stuff
That seems to make no sense
And gives me a headache trying to figure out
Why brothaz like you
Mr Ronnie McGrath
Anthony Joseph and Sun Ra
Be complicating things
And filling our headz with nonsense about
The African Origins of UFO’s
“Breaking out the sky like the indelible mark of a comet
Like an ankh”
Like the “Negro of my features is as absent as the pharaohs nose”
The “Provocative lips of your colouring pencils drowning in a watercolour”
Come on, man!
What’s that about?
Lets face it!
You brothaz be getting praised
Be getting paid for Nothin!
And now white people be laughing at us
Thinking that we have truly lost our mindz in an
Outpouring of a perpetual search for the new
Thinking our body of literature is penned by four year olds in kente-cloths with dashiki patterns
Thinking our music isn’t really music at all
Just a sound texture in search of form
YEAH!
Thanks to you
Ronnie McGrath
Thanks to you
Anthony Joseph
Thanks to you
Mr Kamau Braithwaite
Nathaniel Mackey
Bob Kaufman
Amiri Baraka
Clarence Major
Darius James
Ted Joans
Ornette Coleman
Cecil Taylor
Sun Ra
George Clinton
And the most out-there of you all (if there is such a thing in your feral bunch of Gypsies)
Mr Lee Scratch Perry and his “arkworks of inventions.”
“I’m a toaster, not a boaster” indeed
Come on, Scratch,
What the hell are you playin’ at?
It’s 2007, MAN!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you all make some fuckin’ sense – PLEASE!

Ronnie McGrath

Shut up and Listen to... Anthony Joseph!

Although I've already said it... I love words: poets, writers, lyricists, painters (yes, painters!), grafitti artists, even -some- politicians.

So it is only normal that Anthony Joseph knocked me off my feet, on my previous post, I was talking about him being @ Son d'Hiver Festival on the 13th of Feb, and I had only listened to some excerpts of his pieces, but today I was able to listen over and over again to five or six full songs (Vero, Bermudez, River of Masks, Jo Sam meets Bo Nugg uptown and Gnawa poetry...) OhMiLord!

Although he is a newcomer on MY newborn musical universe, he's already accomplished lotsa things: he's written a couple of published essays, books ("The African Origins of U.F.O." -can you imagine?),poetry collections, etc. Looking forward to reading his stuff.

Some may disagree, but I think his poetry resembles Ben Okri's quite a lot: Super creative poetry full of magical/futuristic metaphors... sublime!

He's currently on tour internationally solo and with his Jazz quartet The Spasm Band. Beautiful sound they make together.

And of course... i had to make a very personal comment: VERO, featuring Mr African Music Maverick himself: Keziah "Rugged" Jones (on bass) is a masterpiece.

Maybe I've said it before, but Mr Jones is probably my favorite musician; Hey Keziah Jones, if by any chance you're reading this, you are my favorite musician!
Go Black Britain!
You can check Mr Anthony "Genius" Joseph's myspace up HERE...

And for you lazy friends who cannot google his official websilte, voilà!

Now that you've heard what he sounds/feels like, what are y'all doing on Feb 13?

*: Picture copyright of anthonyjoseph.co.uk

CONCERT

Anthony Joseph and Saul Williams are coming to Paris in February. Lucky us!

I had never heard of Anthony Joseph until last week. I checked his myspace (www.myspace.com/adjoseph), and this trini/british brother and the Spasm Band are beautiful all around! 

Saul Williams or Niggy Tardust. The effect of his poetry is Physical. Hypnotic.

I already told you that I love WORDS.

I'll be damned if I miss out. If YOU do, then, as we say in Swahili: KAZI YAKO (your problem!)!

That's Black avant-garde for you. (Keziah Jones where you at?)

Anthony Joseph and the Spasm Band

Saul Williams aka Niggy Tardust

Feb 13th 2009

Festival Sons d'Hiver- Créteil

Fee: 15 euros