What is this thing called poetry?Lecture Three: The performance poem

• Today’s performance poetry, in South Africa and elsewhere has what we call a transnational aesthetic – it is rooted in different national and cultural traditions that speak of the entangled history of slavery and colonialism

In this lecture• Brief introduction to one important aspect of South African orature

(oral literature): izibongo. Zolani Mkiva’s izibongo for Mandela’s inauguration in 1994 signaled for many the return of cultures and traditions denigrated by apartheid

• Brief history of transatlantic slave trade – travelling of African oral and musical traditions to the United States. The birth of the blues, gospel, jazz, soul, rock ‘n roll, rap and hip-hop are linked to this history.

Imbongi Zolani Mkiva’s poem for Mandela’s Inauguration“Ntengu-Ntengu Macetyana”

(The Honey Bird is Never without Plans)

Russell Kaschula describes the poem’s “complex literary tapestry”

• Traditional motifs and animal imagery. • Complex patterning of naming and

ancestry typical of the tradition• Poet as community historian, the keeper

of the memory of a people• Also a modern poem• Incorporates references to chiefs and

ancestors but also• History of the ANC• Mandela’s standing among international

leaders• Mandela’s role in ending apartheid and leading

process of reconciliation

Praising Madiba http://youtu.be/w0_-ADJnp58

Zolani at InauguralHoney bird

The Xhosa Imbongi• The contemporary imbongi [is] a man or woman

who is involved in the oral production of spontaneous poetry in any given context (but often writes poetry as well, using traditional styles and techniques), who is in a position to act as a mediator, educator, praiser and critic between an authority and those under that authority and who is accepted by the people and the authority in question. (Russell Kaschula, Foundations of Southern African Oral Literature, 1993)

Kausu Kuyateh (Senegal) and Dembo Konte (Gambia)Kora – West African stringed harp-lute. In the Mande cultures of West Africa – the instrument of the ‘jali’ or griot (who plays a similar role to the Xhosa imbongi)

“Kairaba Jabi” http://youtu.be/yRUO1Wcmj7A

The Slave Trade: over 400 years

“Sometimes I feel like a motherless child”African-American spiritual

"Motherless Child" http://youtu.be/F3oVz1Wjb7w

Chain Gang Songs and Field Hollers

Digital Library of Georgia: Robert E. Williams Photographic Collection http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/hargrett/williams/Robert E. Williams (d. 1937), an African-American Photographer, operated a photography studio, R. Williams and Son, in Augusta, Georgia, from 1888 until around 1908.

Skip James (1903-1969) delta blues

Blind Willie Johnson (1897 -1945?)

– fingerstyle bluesBlind Willie Johnson – “Dark was the Night”http://youtu.be/BNj2BXW852g

Skip James – “Cypress Grove Blues” http://youtu.be/RrTkvCiINn0

http://youtu.be/qGaoXAwl9kw

“The Revolution will not be Televised”

• “Godfather of Rap”• That song was about your mind. You have to

change your mind before you change the way you live and the way you move…The thing that’s going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on film. It will just be something you see and all of a sudden you realize, ‘I’m on the wrong page.’ (Gil Scott-Heron)

http://genius.com/Gil-scott-heron-the-revolution-will-not-be-televised-annotated

You will not be able to stay home, brotherYou will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop outYou will not be able to lose yourself on skag andSkip out for beer during commercialsBecause the revolution will not be televised

• The revolution will not be televisedThe revolution will not be brought to you by XeroxIn 4 parts without commercial interruptionsThe revolution will not show you pictures of NixonBlowing a bugle and leading a charge by JohnMitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eatHog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuaryThe revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be brought to you by theSchaefer Award Theatre and will not star NatalieWood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and JuliaThe revolution will not give your mouth sex appealThe revolution will not get rid of the nubsThe revolution will not make you look five poundsThinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother

Nikky Finney was born in South Carolina, USA. A child of activists, she came of age during the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. Finney's fourth book of poetry, Head Off & Split, in which “Left” appears, was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for poetry.For more poetry and info: http://www.nikkyfinney.net/

Nikky Finney “Left”

Nikki Finney reads “Left”http://youtu.be/Ty6z9QMFKNw

QuestionsThe poet as community historian

• What is the effect of the inclusion of the Rudyard Kipling’s “A Counting-Out Song” in the epigraph and then quoting from it in the poem itself? What word is the poet asking the reader to silently add to the poem? With what effect?

EeneeMeneeMainee Mo! Catch a—• Why are several places from South East Asia mentioned

in reference to where the helicopter pilot has also flown?“Bong Son, Dong Ha, Pleiku, Chu Lai” – what historical context does this add to the poem?

• Who is “Mr. Every-Child-Left-Behind”? • Who is Bull Connor and how does his inclusion in the poem

add further historical context to the situation? Watch NikkiFinney’s National Book Award acceptance speech.http://youtu.be/BFSiKx-hzks

• Find out for yourself what happened to the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

• Why is New Orleans an important American and global city – what has New Orleans given to the world?

• Why were the grandmothers and Kanye West finally right?• What is the design of the poem?

– where does it start? Where do we end off? What effect does this have on your experience as a reader?

Useful Links• “Profile of Zolani Mkiva”http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=17267• “Praise singer remembers Madiba inauguration”http://youtu.be/VCe9WhE-Kwk• “Madiba's inauguration remembered”http://www.enca.com/south-africa/madibas-inauguration-remembered• Gil Scott-Heron -Johannesburg -Live 1976 Old Grey Whistle Testhttp://youtu.be/SvHFuJX2Ock• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: A Documentary about Gil Scott-HeronBBC Fourhttp://youtu.be/rVNORb4RvBw• “Sight-Specific, Sound-Specific . . .” (2005) an essay on performing poetry by Nathaniel Mackeyhttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/239324• “Message in the music: political commentary in black popular music from Rhythm and Blues

to early Hip Hop by James B. Stewart The Journal of African American History. 90.3 (Summer 2005): p196. From Literature Resource Center. To get there go to RU Library Website “English: Databases & e-resources”

http://ru.za.libguides.com/c.php?g=174156&p=1147927