Research Article
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The Song, For Real!

Year 2019, Issue: 51, 97 - 113, 01.11.2019

Abstract

This article emphasizes the primacy of the song (both as content
and form) in Amiri Baraka’s poetics and limits its discussion to the
collection entitled, Funk Lore (1996) and the album Real Song (1994)
in dialogue with each other. In the context of the theories that value
sound and music in terms of their cultural and historical rootedness,
Baraka’s “funk lore” means collective knowledge and behavior that
incorporates body and kinetics. Baraka breaks the Western forms
of reading and writing with his insistence on musicality, orality
and performance, which are more than personal choices—the most
distinctive of African American expressions. In his omniverse, the
soundless ghosts represent the destructive force, whereas the everresisting creative spirit is represented by sound, voice, music and funk.

References

  • Attali, Jacques. Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Translated by Brian Massumi, U of Minnesota P, 2009.
  • Baraka, Amiri [Jones, LeRoi]. Blues People: The Negro Experience White America and the Music That Developed from It. Morrow Quill, 1963.
  • --- [Jones, LeRoi]. “The Changing Same (R&B and New Black Music).” Black Music, Apollo, 1970, pp. 180-211.
  • ---. Real Song, Enja, 1994. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. Funk Lore: New Poems (1984-1995). Edited by Paul Vangelisti, Los Angeles: Littoral Books, 1996.
  • ---. “Somebody Blew Up America.” Counterpunch, 3 Oct. 2002. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. Lecture. Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action, edited by Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman, Coffee House Press, 2004, pp. 294-300.
  • ---. “Dig This! Out?” Tales of the Out and Gone. Akashic, 2007, pp. 138-143. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. “Rhythm Travel.” Tales of the Out and Gone. Akashic, 2007, pp. 162-164.
  • Bolden, Tony. “Groove Theory: A Vamp on the Epistemology of Funk,” American Studies, The Funk Issue, vol. 52, no. 4, 2013, pp. 9-4, Project Muse.
  • Bull, Michael, and Les Back, editors. The Auditory Culture Reader. BERG, 2003.
  • ---. Introduction: Into Sound. Bull and Back, pp. 1-17. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • DuBois. “The Sorrow Songs.” The Souls of Black Folk, Penguin, 1989, pp. 204-216.
  • Filmer, Paul. “Songtime: Sound Culture, Rhythm and Sociality.” Bull and Back, pp. 91-112.
  • Gery, John R. O. “Duplicities of Power: Amiri Baraka’s and Lorenzo Thomas’s Responses to September 11,” African American Review, vol. 44, no.1-2, 2011, pp. 167-180, JSTOR.
  • Gilroy, Paul. “Between the Blues and the Blues Dance: Some Soundscapes of the Black Atlantic.” Bull and Back, pp. 381-395.
  • Glennie, Evelyn. “How to Truly Listen.” TED, 2003, https:// www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen/ transcript?language=en#t-93140.
  • Gwiazda, Piotr. “The Aesthetics of Politics/The Politics of Aesthetics: Amiri Baraka’s ‘Somebody Blew Up America,’” Contemporary Literature, vol. 45, no. 3, 2004, pp. 460-485.
  • Harris, William J., and Aldon Nielsen. “Somebody Blew Off Baraka,” African American Review, Amiri Baraka Issue, vol. 37, no. 2/3, 2003, pp. 183-187, JSTOR.
  • Henriques, Julian. “Sonic Dominance.” Bull and Back, pp. 451-480. Lorde, Audre. “Poetry Is Not A Luxury.” Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Crossing Press, 1984, pp. 36-39.
  • Nielsen, Aldon. “Belief in Lyric.” American Studies, The Funk Issue, vol. 52, no. 4, 2013, pp. 171-179, Project Muse.
  • ---. “Alabama.” The Funk Era and Beyond: New Perspectives on Black Popular Culture, edited by Tony Bolden, Palgrave, 2008, pp. 161-170.
  • Shafer, Murray. “Open Ears.” Bull and Back, pp. 25-39. Sun Ra. “The Outer Darkness.” The Immeasurable Equation: The Collected Poetry and Prose, edited by James L. Wolf and Hartmund Geerken, Waitawhile, 2005, p. 296.
  • Thomas, Lorenzo. “Neon Griot: The Functional Role of Poetry Readings.” Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and Twentieth-Century American Poetry, U of Alabama P, 2000, pp. 189-218.
  • Waldman, Anne, and Laura Wright. “Some Questions for Jerome Rothenberg.” Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics, An Anthology, edited by Anne Waldman and Laura Wright, Coffee House Press, 2014, pp. 199-122.
  • Winks, Christopher. “Introduction: Bob Marley: Carver of the Head Cornerstone,” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, vol. 43, no. 2, 2010, pp. 190-193, Taylor and Francis Online.
Year 2019, Issue: 51, 97 - 113, 01.11.2019

Abstract

References

  • Attali, Jacques. Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Translated by Brian Massumi, U of Minnesota P, 2009.
  • Baraka, Amiri [Jones, LeRoi]. Blues People: The Negro Experience White America and the Music That Developed from It. Morrow Quill, 1963.
  • --- [Jones, LeRoi]. “The Changing Same (R&B and New Black Music).” Black Music, Apollo, 1970, pp. 180-211.
  • ---. Real Song, Enja, 1994. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. Funk Lore: New Poems (1984-1995). Edited by Paul Vangelisti, Los Angeles: Littoral Books, 1996.
  • ---. “Somebody Blew Up America.” Counterpunch, 3 Oct. 2002. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. Lecture. Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action, edited by Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman, Coffee House Press, 2004, pp. 294-300.
  • ---. “Dig This! Out?” Tales of the Out and Gone. Akashic, 2007, pp. 138-143. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • ---. “Rhythm Travel.” Tales of the Out and Gone. Akashic, 2007, pp. 162-164.
  • Bolden, Tony. “Groove Theory: A Vamp on the Epistemology of Funk,” American Studies, The Funk Issue, vol. 52, no. 4, 2013, pp. 9-4, Project Muse.
  • Bull, Michael, and Les Back, editors. The Auditory Culture Reader. BERG, 2003.
  • ---. Introduction: Into Sound. Bull and Back, pp. 1-17. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • DuBois. “The Sorrow Songs.” The Souls of Black Folk, Penguin, 1989, pp. 204-216.
  • Filmer, Paul. “Songtime: Sound Culture, Rhythm and Sociality.” Bull and Back, pp. 91-112.
  • Gery, John R. O. “Duplicities of Power: Amiri Baraka’s and Lorenzo Thomas’s Responses to September 11,” African American Review, vol. 44, no.1-2, 2011, pp. 167-180, JSTOR.
  • Gilroy, Paul. “Between the Blues and the Blues Dance: Some Soundscapes of the Black Atlantic.” Bull and Back, pp. 381-395.
  • Glennie, Evelyn. “How to Truly Listen.” TED, 2003, https:// www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen/ transcript?language=en#t-93140.
  • Gwiazda, Piotr. “The Aesthetics of Politics/The Politics of Aesthetics: Amiri Baraka’s ‘Somebody Blew Up America,’” Contemporary Literature, vol. 45, no. 3, 2004, pp. 460-485.
  • Harris, William J., and Aldon Nielsen. “Somebody Blew Off Baraka,” African American Review, Amiri Baraka Issue, vol. 37, no. 2/3, 2003, pp. 183-187, JSTOR.
  • Henriques, Julian. “Sonic Dominance.” Bull and Back, pp. 451-480. Lorde, Audre. “Poetry Is Not A Luxury.” Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Crossing Press, 1984, pp. 36-39.
  • Nielsen, Aldon. “Belief in Lyric.” American Studies, The Funk Issue, vol. 52, no. 4, 2013, pp. 171-179, Project Muse.
  • ---. “Alabama.” The Funk Era and Beyond: New Perspectives on Black Popular Culture, edited by Tony Bolden, Palgrave, 2008, pp. 161-170.
  • Shafer, Murray. “Open Ears.” Bull and Back, pp. 25-39. Sun Ra. “The Outer Darkness.” The Immeasurable Equation: The Collected Poetry and Prose, edited by James L. Wolf and Hartmund Geerken, Waitawhile, 2005, p. 296.
  • Thomas, Lorenzo. “Neon Griot: The Functional Role of Poetry Readings.” Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and Twentieth-Century American Poetry, U of Alabama P, 2000, pp. 189-218.
  • Waldman, Anne, and Laura Wright. “Some Questions for Jerome Rothenberg.” Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics, An Anthology, edited by Anne Waldman and Laura Wright, Coffee House Press, 2014, pp. 199-122.
  • Winks, Christopher. “Introduction: Bob Marley: Carver of the Head Cornerstone,” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, vol. 43, no. 2, 2010, pp. 190-193, Taylor and Francis Online.
There are 26 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects North American Language, Literature and Culture, Literary Studies
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Özge Özbek Akıman 0000-0002-8644-044X

Publication Date November 1, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Issue: 51

Cite

MLA Özbek Akıman, Özge. “The Song, For Real!”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 51, 2019, pp. 97-113.

JAST - Journal of American Studies of Turkey