Spoken word soul
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (Consider using more specific cleanup instructions.) Please help improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2008) |
| Spoken Word Soul | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Poetry, Beat Generation, Neo-soul, Bebop Jazz, Electronica, Country soul, Jazz-funk |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1950's, Early 2000s, NYC, PHI, US |
| Typical instruments | Hand held Percussion, Upright Bass, Guitars, Electric Bass, Synthesizers - Keyboard - Drum machines |
Spoken Word Soul is a contemporary, eclectic blend of Poetry, Jazz-funk, Electronica or acoustic Country soul music elements that originated in the African-American community. The style is largely considered to be an underground offshoot of the Neo Soul movement from the 1990s and became very popular around 2000 to the present. Poets Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, The Watts Prophets developed the art-form in the 1970s.
From origins in Mid 20th century Beatnik culture & Jazz poetry associations, Spoken Word Soul music has become very popular today as indie artists (Musicians, Singer-songwriters, Poets) & their eclectic fans, dissatisfied & frustrated with current major Media offerings & commercial radio programming began utilizing the power of the internet to globally connect directly with other fans & artists. As a result, the Genre has become an international "Underground culture" of sorts via the use of various Internet Radio programs & Podcasts, blogs, social networks and download sites such as Facebook, Myspace, You Tube, London's Solarradio.com, CDBaby & Apple's iTunes, etc. Recording artists like Maggie Estep, Meshell Ndegeocello, Jill Scott, Floetry, & Ursula Rucker are considered the recent "progenitors" of this genre, while Indie (Unsigned) acts such as Detroit bred-Atlanta, Ga based artist Abyss, Chicago's own Tara Betts, Cincinnati acts like Vernon (Elemant), Wayne "Box" Miller, "Gifted", Lady J, along with Kim "DuWaup" Bryant, "Mizzan", "Jori Cotton", "L.I.F.E.", Symana "She-Speaks", "Loe" & Ty Stuckey push the poetic "envelope"...Kentucky's "Black Falcon" & "NAM", Berkeley, California based artist & radio personality Epiphany, Fayetteville, North Carolina's Val "Imani" Jones, famed L.A.-based Actor/Poet-Bassist Malcolm Jamal Warner, Indy's "Tasha Jones" Nashville's Rashad"thaPoet" and others are constantly releasing powerful, thought provoking blends of original Poetry & music "fusion", all while expanding the Genre worldwide. "It's still evolving", says Shades of J Guitarist "Dee M", "It's Real. Spoken Word Soul has been around for years & will Always be relevant."
[edit] References
- Who is Jill Scott? Now she's a Poet, too..
- [1]
- Algarin & Holman, ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe
- Cross, Brian (1993). It's Not About a Salary: Rap, Race, and Resistance in Los Angeles. The Haymarket series. London and New York: Verso.
- Imhorst, Christian: The ‘Lost Generation’ of the Music Industry, published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License 2004
- Gerd Leonhard: Music Like Water - the inevitable music ecosystem
[edit] Print
- Beat Culture and the New America 1950-1965 published by the Whitney Museum of American Art in accordance with an exhibition in 1995/1996—ISBN 0-87427-098-7 softcover, ISBN 2-08-013613-5
hardcover (Flammarion)
- Sanders, Ed Tales of Beatnik Glory (second edition, 1990) ISBN 0-8065-1172-9
- The Word Is Here: Poetry from Modern Africa. New York: Anchor, 1973.
- When the Clouds Clear. Johannesburg: Congress of South African Writers, 1990.
- Approaches to Poetry Writing. Chicago: Third World, 1994.
- To the Bitter End. Chicago: Third World, 1995.
- If I Could Sing: Selected Poems. Roggebaai, South Africa: Kwela and Plumstead, South Africa: Snailpress, 2002.
- Eargasms:Crucialpoetics." Mike Ladd, Saul Williams, Shariff Simmons, Brad Walrond, Carl Hancock Rux, Vybe Khameleons, Tai (Grfx) Allen, Rha Ghodess, Jessica Care Moore, Native Sun et al.
- Easy Listening For Armageddon Mike Ladd with guests muMs, Shariff Simmons, Jessica Care Moore, Latasha Natasha Diggs, grfx, beans, high priest(Mercury 1997)
- Jazz Poet's Society." JPS f/danja mouf, grfx, unspoken heard (Fifth Child 2000)
[edit] External links
- Interview with Gil Scott-Heron from December 11, 2007
- Saul Williams at Discogs
- Saul Williams at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG
- Bob Kaufman: The Jazz Poet of the Streets
- Bob Kaufman at the Beat Museum
- Jazz-funk at Allmusic
- Selected works by Langston Hughes
- Jazz Poetry @ All About Jazz
- Official website
- Spoken Word at the Internet Movie Database
- Spoken Word at AllRovi
