Sekou Sundiata (August 22, 1948 – July 18, 2007) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and performer, as well as a teacher at The New School in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His students include musicians

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

and Mike Doughty. His plays include ''The Circle Unbroken is a Hard Bop'', ''The Mystery of Love'', ''Udu'', and ''The 51st Dream State''. He also released several albums, including ''Longstoryshort'' and ''The Blue Oneness of Dreams''. Margalit Fox
"Sekou Sundiata Dies at 58; Performer of Text and Sound"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', July 20, 2007. The ''Blue Oneness of Dreams'' was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

.AP via Topix.net "Poet, Performer Sekou Sundiata Dies"
July 20, 2007. In 2000 Sundiata received the Creative Capital Performing Arts Award. His subjects included

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, and reparations for slavery. Sundiata was a Sundance Institute Screenwriting Fellow, a

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Revson Fellow, a Master Artist-in-Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, the first Writer-in-Residence at The New School university in New York, and a professor at Eugene Lang College. He was a featured poet on two occasions at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, most recently in 2006.

Early life and education

Sekou Sundiata was born Robert Franklin Feaster in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, New York, but changed his name in the late 1960s to honor his African heritage. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

in 1972, before successfully undertaking a master's degree in creative writing from the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

Performance

In 1977, Sundiata together with poets including Rashidah Ismaili, Sandra Maria Esteves, Akua Lezli Hope, Mervyn Taylor and others formed the Calabash Poets Workshop, regularly producing events. Sundiata's works combined poetry, music and drama. His musical influences included

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

rhythms. He worked closely with Craig Harris on works such as ''Udu'', about

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in modern

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, and ''The Circle Unbroken is a Hard Bop'' about African Americans reaching adulthood in the 1960s. Sundiata based his one-man show ''Blessing the Boats'' on experiences of

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

addiction (back in the 60s), a car crash and a

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

transplant from a friend. He toured the show around the United States and internationally. The impact of the show inspired members of the audience to volunteer to become organ donors.Jo Roberts
"Vale inspiring poet/activist"
'' The Melbourne Age'', July 20, 2007 His last work, ''the 51st (dream) state'', featured music, dance, video and poetry about the responses to the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. After a performance at the Melbourne Festival, the show was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2006.

Recorded works

Sundiata recorded a number of works. His first album, ''The Blue Oneness of Dreams'' (Mouth Almighty Records 1997) was nominated for a Grammy. He toured with

on her Rhythm and News tour in 2001 and his ''longstoryshort'' album was released on DiFranco's Righteous Babe label. Sundiata's work was featured on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''Def Poetry'' series and PBS's ''The Language of Life''.

Teaching career

Sundiata taught writing at The New School in New York City. DiFranco was one of his students and claimed at the time of his death that Sundiata "taught me everything I know about poetry." Mike Doughty also studied under Sundiata in DiFranco's class. He wrote "Screenwriter's Blues", which was a minor hit for his band Soul Coughing in the 1990s, while studying in Sundiata's class. Another musician/poet who studied with Sundiata (at Eugene Lang College at The New School for Liberal Arts) was

Spin Doctors Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and N ...

' lead singer Chris Barron. In fact, it was Sekou that coined the name "Spin Doctors" for the newly formed band in 1988/89.

Death

Sekou Sundiata died of heart failure at a hospital in Valhalla, New York on July 18, 2007. He had struggled with many life-threatening conditions throughout his life, including cancer, kidney failure, a kidney transplant, pneumonia, and a broken neck sustained in an auto accident."Poet's passing a profound loss", ''The Australian'', July 20, 2007.

References

External links

*Margalit Fox
"Sekou Sundiata Dies at 58; Performer of Text and Sound"
''The New York Times'', July 20, 2007
Sekou Sundiata's "the sound of the memory"
''Salon'', October 6, 2000 *A 2002 Fresh Airbr>"Performance Poet Sekou Sundiata"
(interview), '' Fresh Air'', NPR, November 20, 2002
A 2006 KadmusArts interview with Sekou Sundiata
interview with Sekou Sundiata

at AALBC.com (African American Literature Book Club)
"Sekou Sundiata"
at Righteous Babe record label
MultiArts Projects