Friday, December 16, 2016

RECORDING DEBUT OF REVOLUTIONARY POET AMINA BARAKA

People's World

THE RECORDING DEBUT OF REVOLUTIONARY POET 
AMINA BARAKA


Newark NJ: On December 15 the woefully under-recognized activist-poet Amina Baraka signed a recording contract with the legendary free jazz label ESP-Disk in preparation for her debut CD, "If I Can't Dance, It's Not My Revolution".

Ms. Baraka, one-time People's World columnist, performer at the recent Better World Awards luncheon and the widow of Amiri Baraka, spent the day in rehearsal with members of the Red Microphone, the quartet that will serve as her accompanying band on the record.

The CD is to be recorded in a Brooklyn studio on January 29 and ESP-Disk, the record label that debuted such stellar artists as Albert Ayler, will be releasing it both on CD and digital formats early in 2017. Poetry selections will constitute a powerful issues-oriented sampling of Ms. Baraka's works from the early 1960s through the present. The pieces will range from those inspired by the author's childhood in the pre-Civil Rights American South to a brand new piece written in the wake of Donald Trump's election which she fittingly entitled The Fascist.

Ms. Baraka's part in the movements for social justice, Black liberation, human rights, economic justice and peace have been well documented for decades. She performed extensively with her celebrated husband over many years, as well as a jazz and blues vocalist and dancer, and as a sometime member of the Bread is Rising Poetry Collective. Previously, her only recorded work was in joint efforts with Mr. Baraka, so this 2017 debut work is deemed quite historic. "I'm very excited to finally have a vehicle to present my poetry. This also includes whole aspects of my own story. But now, in these times when racism and hate are again bold and violent and under a thinly-veiled guise of so-called 'patriotism', cultural workers NEED to speak out. We are standing up". 

The Red Microphone, a self-described ensemble of liberation jazz, is led by writer and percussionist John Pietaro who has also authored many articles for The People's World and Political Affairs. He is the curator of the monthly New Masses Nights performance series at Henry Winston Unity Hall. The band performed at several Better World Award functions and also accompanied Ms. Baraka at the 2016 Dissident Arts Festival which occurred this past summer here in New York City. The other members of the quartet are saxophonist/flutist Ras Moshe Burnett (a noted underground musician and activist), saxophonist/composer/pianist Rocco John Iacovone and the electric bassist Laurie Towers. 


The photo shows Ms. Baraka and Mr. Pietaro, for the Red Microphone, signing the ESP-Disk contract.

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