I have been really lucky recently to see a real cultural giant, right here in Manchester: Black American poet Arimi Baraka.
 Amiri Baraka was on at Contact Theatre  http://contactmcr.com/  as part of the Manchester International Literature festival http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/
 

(Tried to find a credit for this photo but couldnt. sorry internet 🙂

I was turned on to the work of Baraka at a Beat film night in Vancouver when I was travelling a few years back with my good friend “The doctor”. It was a great night that showed the wonderful Jack Kerouac narrated/Robert Frank directed “Pull my Daisy”. The film starred Allen Ginsberg and Old Bull Lee Bill Burroughs in sort of subverted “ I love Lucy” domestic beat-romp (if you have ever read those words in a sentence before then you win some sort of prize) You can watch it, as well as finding other underground gems on the wonderful www.ubu.com It also pops up online every now and again; this was the only version I could find and you have to install something  http://www.veoh.com/watch/v6406893MxQs3zEx?h1=Pull+My+Daisy 
On the same night there was a great film that had Amiri Baraka (then still under his original name LeRoi Jones) reading on it (which i have never been able to track down!!).
I was bowled over by the power and intensity of his words and his delivery, so when I heard he was on in Manchester I jumped at the chance to see THE voice of black American beat culture, whose poems still have the power and relevance to cause controversy.
We were treated to an introductory performance by the wonderful performance group Young Identity http://www.youngidentity.org/ . Now usually if you said to me “youth performance poetry” I would be inclined to give it a miss, and this is from someone who performs poetry! I think it brings up in people’s minds badly written work performed by surly teenagers or overly precocious drama school types. (I know how many assumptions and generalisations there are in that sentence, just deal with it yo!). This couldn’t have been further from that unfair stereotype: beautiful, powerful and dripping with emotion, quality and talent. Truly astounding. As a group they were excellent with each individual piece being astounding. Phenomenal. I will be looking out for their next performance; it has completely changed my view of youth poetry and performance.

The Amiri Baraka section was split into a brief interview followed by a reading. The interview was ok; he was fascinating and covered a wide range of topics from his youth and upbringing in Newark, to his time with the beats in Greenwich Village and then Harlem, to his current views on America and the Obama administration. He was one of those people who you could just listen to speak all day long. The interview was slightly clunky as it was clear that rather than respond to what was said, the interviewer had a list of pre-prepared questions which she would not deviate from. It just didn’t quite flow…man. When he got up to read this slightly frail and bookish 78 year old gentlemen was transformed in to the eloquent and angry colossus that we know and love. He sang, beat the lectern, be-bopped, hooted, howled and did, as he said in his own words, what an artists should do “Tell the truth…and make it beautiful”

He was funny too, he had us rocking and rolling as the razor of his sharp mind , honed by years in the poetic-political landscape, cut deep, to the bone, and made you think. Even weeks afterwards lines keep popping in my head and I’ve become an avid reader of his work as well as finding the many wonderful recorded performances on you tube. Here is one that he read on the night, recorded somewhere else :  “Something in the way of things”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKcPlbVHdy0  
The work is sometimes difficult, sometimes challenging but always powerful and worth paying attention to.

(Sorry for my terrible qulaity photo from the audience at Contact, its only in there to make the writing seem better 😉