AMINA
BARAKA RECORDS DEBUT CD, HEADLINES NYC PERFORMANCE
By John Pietaro
Amina Baraka photo by Joyce Jones
New
Masses Nights, the monthly series of radical
performance, will celebrate Black History Month with the legendary Amina Baraka
who will perform selections from her recently recorded debut CD.
Ms. Baraka, a vital force of social justice and
fight-back over decades, is a poet of unique talent who stands as woefully under-recognized.
Though she’d been active alongside her late husband, the celebrated poet Amiri
Baraka, her work as an independent artist has often been overlooked outside of
the activist circle in the New York/New Jersey area. While some state that this
was caused by being outshined by the fame of Mr. Baraka’s output, others attest
that the couple’s international profile as voices of radicalism enforced an
unspoken censorship about her. “Plus, I was raising a family”, Ms. Baraka
clarified. Those were hard years. Someone had to be here when the children came
home from school. When Amiri traveled, I often needed to be home”. The family
experienced threats by reactionary forces, and during the height of COINTELPRO
operations, the Barakas were subject to federal and local government
investigation, compelling Ms. Baraka to stand protectively over home and
children.
Stories
of a lifetime
Ms. Baraka’s plans to record an album of her poetry
have been long-standing, a goal she always intended to see realized. Working in
a collaborative effort with this reporter over the past year, she began to
formulate the project as one which would offer a vision of herself through the
stories of her lifetime. “Some of these poems date back to the 1960s and ’70s.
Others were written very recently as I sit up nights into the early morning
hours. Memories, faces, sounds. It’s all
about the people’s struggle”, she explained.
After signing a contract with renowned underground
jazz label ESP-Disk (which released albums by such seminal artists as Albert
Ayler and Ornette Coleman), Ms. Baraka worked with this reporter’s quartet the
Red Microphone to establish arrangements for her poetry. Some of the pieces
were set to original compositions of band member Rocco John Iacovone while
others were cast over free jazz, blues or R & B-flavored music. The
material was recorded in January’s chill at Park West Studios in Flatbush,
Brooklyn NY. The CD is due for release in late spring or early summer.
ESP-Disk’s Steven Holtje has remarked that the project is one of “historic”
proportions.
During the recording session Ms. Baraka remarked:
“I’ve been waiting my entire life to record my poetry this way. I thrive on the
music and much of it is improvised, so that leads me to perform the pieces in
new ways, in some cases with new words. This CD is very important right now as
we face a kind of American fascism we haven’t known before.”
In
performance
Ms. Baraka, in the company of the Red Microphone, will
perform selections from this collection at the radical arts series New Masses
Nights on Saturday February 25, 7pm at the Henry Winston Unity Hall located at
235 West 23 Street, 7th floor, in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. Admission
is a $10 donation. The members of the Red Microphone are Ras Moshe Burnett
(tenor saxophone, flute), Rocco John Iacovone (alto and soprano saxophones,
piano), Laurie Towers (electric bass) and this writer, musical
director/drummer-percussionist John Pietaro.
Toward the cause of Black History Month, other
performers on the February 25 bill include jazz bassist/poet Larry Roland’s
quartet (Larry Roland-Bass, Poetry, Voice; Michael Moss-Reeds, Flute; Waldron
Ricks- Trumpet; Chuck Fertel- Drums) and guitarist Dave Ross’ trio (Dave
Ross- Guitar; Eric Lawrence-Saxophone, Flute; Ras Moshe Burnett-Saxophones,
Flute; special guest Shlomit Oren Ross: Movement, Voice). There will also be a
reading of a Langston Hughes work originally published in “New Masses”, the revolutionary cultural magazine the series is
named for.
For more information on the series see www.facebook.com/NewMassesNights
and see the FB event page https://www.facebook.com/events/1534135256626751/
