Throwback review…
Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums by Sonia Sanchez
I read this one back in 2008, my My Space days; this is part of my project to continue transferring some of those older reviews here. This is what I wrote then, no revising.
I love this title. There’s a festival taking place in Antigua right now called ‘Out of the Drum’ – it’s an afro-Caribbean folk dance and drumming festival and a powerful reminder of the rhythm that beats naturally in our bloods linking us one to another. There’s a lot of music, too, in this collection (sometimes actual music, sometimes the music of living and loving, the ‘pulse’ of life). But what strikes me is the brevity of the language and the way she efficiently, and beautifully, blends and ‘confuses’ the senses and gets to the heart of the matter. That said, my absolute favourite pieces were two longer – much longer – pieces singing the praises of two of my favourite artistes, Ella Fitzgerald ( joyful celebration of her life and music) and Tupac Shakur (a poignant reflection on his life and society). Now, who ever thought I’d have occasion to use those names in the same sentence.
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jhohadli 