The Squid's Ear Magazine


Green, Jaki Shelton : The River Speaks of Thirst (Soul City Sounds)

A collection of poems written by and read by ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the first African American and third woman to hold the title--Jaki Shelton GreenŠ-presenting 11 texts with experimental sound work arranged by Shirlette Ammons, a fascinating set of observations and an insightful selection of "political statement, cultural commentary, and an aesthetic milestone".
 

Price: $12.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Jaki Shelton Green-text, vocals

Jennifer Evans-vocals

Shirlette Ammons-arranger

CJ Suitt-vocals

Nnenna Freelon-vocals


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 711574907717

Label: Soul City Sounds
Catalog ID: SCS-0001
Squidco Product Code: 32368

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardstock Sleeve
Recorded from September, 2019, to March, 2020, by Alec Ferrell.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The Justice Theater Project is proud and honored to present The River Speaks of Thirst, a collection of audio poems written by Jaki Shelton Green documenting the real experiences of African American people past and present. In this unique production, each poem is a separate story/vignette using various mediums including music, dance, song, and dramatic interpretations to illustrate themes ranging from race, oppression, emancipation, religion, and grief. Director and Choreographer Kristi V. Johnson explains her vision, "As I listened to each poem, there wasn't one that did not connect with some aspect of my upbringing as an African American woman growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Additionally, the poems about the young black men who died from police brutality reminded me of the anger, fear, and pain I feel as a mother of a young, brown boy. After speaking with Jaki, there were so many commonalities in our backgrounds, these stories became personal for me as well. Once I was able to draw connections between the material and my personal life, I intended to create a symbiotic relationship between the music, text, and movement that clearly illustrates the various themes within the work to enhance its accessibility for all audience members."-Soul City Sounds



"Jaki Shelton Green releases her first album The River Speaks of Thirst on Soul City Sounds, Juneteenth, 2020. The North Carolina Poet Laureate has written eight books of poetry and has been published in over 80 national and international anthologies, featured in such magazines as Essence and Ms. Magazine.

PopMatters contributor John Amen says of the album: "The River Speaks of Thirst is at once a political statement, cultural commentary, and an aesthetic milestone, a skillful commingling of galvanic activism and evocative poetry . . . Jaki Shelton Green documents the history of blackness, a segment of which is the history of the United States, if not the Americas at large - the atrocities, the triumphs, and the work still to be done."

The River Speaks of Thirst is a bold, challenging collection of poetry set to supportive and often startling sonic accompaniment. Its resonant ambience is a perfect match to the focused ferocity and tenderness of the performances. Engineered, arranged, and produced by Alec Ferrell at Clearly Records in Durham, NC, and Executive Produced by Phil Venable, the full-length features incendiary anthems from Jaki and featured guests including featuring Shirlette Ammons on "A Litany for the Possessed" and Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon in a haunting call-and- response on the title track."-Soul City Sounds


Artist Biographies

"Jaki Shelton Green, ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. She is a 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment, 2003 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature. Jaki Shelton Green teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University Center for Documentary Studies and was appointed the 2021 Frank B. Hanes Writer in Residence at UNC Chapel Hill. Additionally, she received the George School Outstanding Alumni Award in 2021. Her publications include: Dead on Arrival, Masks, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, published by Blair Publishers. Feeding the Light, i want to undie you published by Jacar Press, i want to undie you English /Italian bilingual edition published by Lebeg Publishers. On Juneteenth 2020, she released her first LP, poetry album, The River Speaks of Thirst, produced by Soul City Sounds and Clearly Records. Jaki Shelton Green is the owner of SistaWRITE providing writing retreats for women writers in Sedona Arizona, Martha's Vineyard, Ocracoke North Carolina, Northern Morocco, and Tullamore Ireland."

-Jaki Shelton Green Website (https://jakisheltongreen.com/about-jaki/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. This I Know For Sure (Featuring Jennifer Evans) 6:04

2. Madwoman 4:06

3. The Communion Of White Dresses 5:17

4. Letter From The Other Daughter Of The Confederacy 5:48

5. A Litany For The Possessed (Featuring Shirlette Ammons) 3:48

6. DJinn 0:16

7. I Wanted To Ask The Trees 5:38

8. Oh My Brother 6:14

9. No Poetry (Featuring Cj Suitt) 3:53

10. The River Speaks Of Thirst (Featuring Nnenna Freelon) 8:18

11. A Litany For The Possessed (Featuring Shirlette Ammons - Radio Edit) 3:48

Related Categories of Interest:


Spoken Word
Electro-Acoustic
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Soul City Sounds.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Green, Jaki Shelton
The River Speaks of Thirst
(Soul City Sounds)
A collection of poems written by and read by ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the first African American and third woman to hold the title--Jaki Shelton GreenŠ-presenting 11 texts with experimental sound work arranged by Shirlette Ammons, a fascinating set of observations and an insightful selection of "political statement, cultural commentary, and an aesthetic milestone".
Green, Jaki Shelton
I Want to Undie You [CD EP]
(Soul City Sounds)
A CD EP from North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, the first African American and third woman to receive the appointment, persenting her work "I Want to Undie You" expressing her sorrow at the unexpected death of her daughter Imani and a celebration of her life, with audio arrangements by Alec Ferrel, plus versions of the text and music only.
Other Recommended Releases:
Star City Survivor
Wilderness
(Soul City Sounds)
The follow-up to their debut album, Orbital Decay, finds guitarist Phil Venable and drummer Tommy Jackson delving deeper into their free duo referencing free jazz, ambient, no wave, and other forms of experimental and avant-garde music, their often turbulent dialog inspired by a desire to find hope in the world despite a contemporary period of death and injustice.
Venable, Phil / Jphono1
Nowhere Beacons Everywhere
(Soul City Sounds)
Jphono1, aka guitarist John Harrison, working with Carboro, NC improvising guitarist and Soul City Sounds label leader Phil Venable, along with input from John Crouch and Ken Moshesh for drum & percussion input, release this experimental album of strange drones, grooves and ambient electronic sounds, beautifully paced with a expansive breadth of concept.
Venable, Phil
Bringing The Light [CD EP]
(Soul City Sounds)
A new Free Jazz album inspired by Pharoah Sanders' Karma, from the North Carolina ensemble led by upright bassist, guitarist and Soul City Sounds label-leader Phil Venable with Crowmeat Bob on saxophone, Ken Moshesh on percussion and Tommy Jackson on drums, plus a work for spoken word with NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and a song inspired by BLM with vocalist Jennifer Evans.
Star City Survivor
Orbital Decay
(Soul City Sounds)
Electric free improvisation with a caustic edge, stellar burns with titles like "Broken Navigation" or "The Sun is a Ball of Hate", from the North Carolina duo of guitarist Phil Venable (Tragic Assembly) and NY/NC drummer Tommy Jackson, who explore the atmospheric drag on their far-reaching dialogs through propulsive energy burns and moments of dark stellar voids.
Green, Jaki Shelton
The River Speaks of Thirst [VINYL]
(Soul City Sounds)
A collection of poems written by and read by ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the first African American and third woman to hold the title--Jaki Shelton GreenŠ-presenting 11 texts with experimental sound work arranged by Shirlette Ammons, a fascinating set of observations and an insightful selection of "political statement, cultural commentary, and an aesthetic milestone".
Green, Jaki Shelton
I Want to Undie You [CD EP]
(Soul City Sounds)
A CD EP from North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, the first African American and third woman to receive the appointment, persenting her work "I Want to Undie You" expressing her sorrow at the unexpected death of her daughter Imani and a celebration of her life, with audio arrangements by Alec Ferrel, plus versions of the text and music only.
Baldwin, Nat
The Red Barn [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Tripticks Tapes)
A short book of fiction depicting dark scenes from the ambience of extraordinary normalcy, descriptive texts insinuating horror from everyday occurrence, written by double bassist Nat Baldwin and published by Calamari Press in 2017, here in an audio version of excerpts narrated by Baldwin himself, performing on double bass through two panned tracks of unusual improvisations.
Physique (Sam Scranton / Neil Quigley)
Curve Tote
(Amalgam)
Creating soundscapes from homemade instruments, Text-To-Speech, AI voices, lap steel guitar, found objects, field recording, &c., the duo of sound artists Sam Scranton from Chicago and Neil Quigley from Kilkenny, Ireland, present six unusually unfolding compositions of deceptively relaxed environments layered with mysterious elements and a sly sense of humor.
Venable, Phil / Paul Swest Duo
Kaolin
(Soul City Sounds)
Phil Venable, the Chapel Hill, North Carolina bass player known for his work in the free jazz outfit Tragic Assembly, pairs up with Tragic Assembly drummer Charles Chace for an excursion into the outer limits of improvisation, the album title a reference to a medicinal clay and a riff off of the Charles Mingus song "Moanin".
Armaroli, Sergio / Steve Piccolo / Elliott Sharp
What Went Wrong
(Leo Records)
The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.
Carter, Daniel / Evan Strauss / 5-Track / Sheridan Riley
The Uproar In Bursts Of Sound And Silence
(577 Records)
A collage of styles and experimentation developed over several years by bassist and multi-instrumentalist Evan Strauss, using long-form graphically notated conceptual compositions based on bird calls along with thematic material from Ursula K. Le Guin, expanded with narration and poetry from Daniel Carter and titled from an excerpt by Virginia Woolf.
Heroes Are Gang Leaders
LeAutoRoiOgraphy [BLACK VINYL]
(577 Records)
Led by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, this 12-piece ensemble of pointed and ecstatic free jazz and spoken word are heard at the 2019 Sons D'Hiver Festival in Paris, 2019, their sound influenced by chamber elements and sharpened through insightful and demanding observations and the influence of Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones).
Golden, Barbara
Not Dead Yet [CD+ 10 Postcards]
(fo'c'sle)
[Bonus Edition] Bay Area experimental music scene legend and multi-disciplinary artist Barabara Golden celebrates her 80th birthday presents works created between 1980-2020, including performances by Robert Ashley, Maggi Payne, Chris Brown, WIGband with Johanna Poethig, George Lewis, William Winant, Mary Oliver and texts by Melody Sumner Carnahan.
Chaton, Anne-James / Andy Moor
Transfer
(Unsounds)
A collection of guitar, electronic and voice pieces from Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor, originally released as a series of four seven inch singles here combined into a single CD with 3 bonus tracks.
Williams, Emmett
Poems 1950-2003 [VINYL]
(Edition Rz)
Fluxus originator & member of the "Darmstadt Circle" of concrete poetry, Emmett Williams in a beatiful picture disc of poems written from 1950-2003 and recorded from 2000-2003.
Kyriakides, Yannis
Wordless
(Unsounds)
Taylor, Rae
Black Grace
(RD)



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC