8:52 - eastern Standard Time
So I'm back in NYC, and that's all right with me, digging the wonders of project-style heat where you actually have to open the window in mid-winter in order to be comfortable. that's what I'm talking about...
This is the review (more or less) that i wrote for Sonia Sanchez's new CD "Full Moon of Sonia". In addition to what i say in the review, when you get the CD, check out the way in which she converts even the subject matter that has come to be cliche to us; to something new and more incisive. Examine the way in which she imbues everything with the complexity it deserves. She is still Big Dog in any pound we try to run...
Full Moon of Sonia
It is refreshing to see a legend, a respected artist, come forward and show all of us how to do it right. Full Moon of Sonia does more than give us good poetry set to music; it galavants through an amazing formal and stylistic range that reminds us all how Sonia finally got to this place.
From the CD’s opening line “What to say to you now / in the soft afternoon / as you hold us all / in a single death”, her lines are surprising, and as is signature Sanchez, refuses to stay away from either the topic or the form that is difficult. In particular “Poem to Some Women…” is guaranteed to bring goose bumps to the listener if he/she can even sit through the persona piece about the woman who takes her seven year old to the crack house and leaves her there for a week in exchange for a fix. Still, Ms. Sanchez is as celebratory (Haiku #11) as she is raw, as uplifting (Catch the Fire) as she is rebellious, as she is compassionate. Tupac explores complexity, forces us in looking at this controversial icon to examine the whole of everything. Her ability to reach in and find the necessary compassion (without being saccharine) are testament to her talent… “the day I heard the sound of your death / my brother… I remember the poems in your mother’s eyes…” .
Good Morning Sex reminds us that the personal is political; that what is the fun-loving, cut-loose poem is no less necessary or important than the overtly political. Further, the music and vocals which accompany the pieces are smartly thought out, and make brilliant use of the poly-rhythms in both. The choices for musical accompaniment are as surprising in some instances - e.g. Poem for Some Women, I Have walked a Long Time – as the turns in the poems themselves. Full Moon of Sonia is more than a good poetry CD. It is a must have of exquisite work from a literary legend. Get it now.
So I'm back in NYC, and that's all right with me, digging the wonders of project-style heat where you actually have to open the window in mid-winter in order to be comfortable. that's what I'm talking about...
This is the review (more or less) that i wrote for Sonia Sanchez's new CD "Full Moon of Sonia". In addition to what i say in the review, when you get the CD, check out the way in which she converts even the subject matter that has come to be cliche to us; to something new and more incisive. Examine the way in which she imbues everything with the complexity it deserves. She is still Big Dog in any pound we try to run...
Full Moon of Sonia
It is refreshing to see a legend, a respected artist, come forward and show all of us how to do it right. Full Moon of Sonia does more than give us good poetry set to music; it galavants through an amazing formal and stylistic range that reminds us all how Sonia finally got to this place.
From the CD’s opening line “What to say to you now / in the soft afternoon / as you hold us all / in a single death”, her lines are surprising, and as is signature Sanchez, refuses to stay away from either the topic or the form that is difficult. In particular “Poem to Some Women…” is guaranteed to bring goose bumps to the listener if he/she can even sit through the persona piece about the woman who takes her seven year old to the crack house and leaves her there for a week in exchange for a fix. Still, Ms. Sanchez is as celebratory (Haiku #11) as she is raw, as uplifting (Catch the Fire) as she is rebellious, as she is compassionate. Tupac explores complexity, forces us in looking at this controversial icon to examine the whole of everything. Her ability to reach in and find the necessary compassion (without being saccharine) are testament to her talent… “the day I heard the sound of your death / my brother… I remember the poems in your mother’s eyes…” .
Good Morning Sex reminds us that the personal is political; that what is the fun-loving, cut-loose poem is no less necessary or important than the overtly political. Further, the music and vocals which accompany the pieces are smartly thought out, and make brilliant use of the poly-rhythms in both. The choices for musical accompaniment are as surprising in some instances - e.g. Poem for Some Women, I Have walked a Long Time – as the turns in the poems themselves. Full Moon of Sonia is more than a good poetry CD. It is a must have of exquisite work from a literary legend. Get it now.
1 Comments:
run(!)... dont walk(!)
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