https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/a2cd993d9e5b5d266f57e81ea45b247d.pdf 23d5c7db0b343b698e2ce714b6e60ae2 PDF Text Text SCRIPT ADAPTATION OF DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OP AFROAMERI CAN POErRY (a' crftical history ) by Eugene B. Redmond For Presentation at Book Party October 3, 1976: 3 p.mo to 6 p .m., Redwood Room, University Uni on California State University Sacramento •'I ., / �MOVEMENT If I Narrator: the poemJ I Chorus: We are the poemi ½_,\ Narrator: And the poem is mei Chorus: And the poem is usi , o Narrator: ~ ma 1'110 pus• ans I ca.me before pen or pencil or paper or printing pressJ I cupped and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum-bosoms of ·ecstaJ7• ·, Chorus: DRUMFEET ON THE SOIL, ON THE SANDROADS OF THE MIND I FLESH-PISTONS PRANCING, THE EARI'H'S ENGINE! IT IS A COMING FORl'H, rrHE NIGHT WITHIN US COMING FORI'H I ~HE NIGHT WITHIN US COMING FORJ'HI) ~ -~ FEET BEATING, BEATING, BEATING SEEDS INTO THE SOILI Narrator: to Jll;J. magnificent and reliable archives. I return Chorus: ( "° That love we can depend on I (over) �Voice (singing): Chorus: Onoborobo I Vo i ce: OnoboroboJ Chorus: Onoborobo I Vo i ce: Onoborobo J Chorus : Onoborobol "'. Na rrato r : In my depen dable cultura l vault is th e Idea-gram of my totem-family, the living-dead, the breathing, the unborn. I run the poetic flesh-temple with many formJJf the poem in motion. Dancer: Rudimentary movements and other ele:)nents or traditional African and Afro-American dance: i solation, use of pelvis and torso, leaps, twirls, pulls, yanvalou, vigorous stretches and thrusts.(Drum accompaniment) Narrator: I am the Blaok and Unknown Barlf:!!:.erica put. on a conveyor belt lllOving in two different directions at the aame time. My African Jubilance turned 1 to anger and a song of sabatage. L-- • As a poem, I became part o!- what and dreamed on these shores (ove r) saw �Voice: . h· ( 7er f'eed m..y cow? Chorus: Ms.ml Ye Voice: y--'6) Will yer tell o..> me how? Chorus : Ye Ms.ml Voice: Oh w•at did yer give •er? ~orus: Calm an hay I Voice: \ ' , Oh w' at did yer give 'e r. Chorus: Cum. an hay I • Voice: 1. Bvahwh~. I , whuh.__look dis ma.wnin, Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. Voice: I gott ,, ~~inbow, tied all ro\lll mah shoulder, ~n gonna rain, ain gonna rain. Chorus: l>1 a is de hammer ) nlt John Henr,-1 1 , (over) �Voice: kill me, baby, Twon 1 t kill me. ho.:rus : Take dis ham.mer, ~" \_, Carry it to de captain; Voice: Tell him I'm gone, baby, Tell him I'm gone. Chorus: I got a rainbow ~ Tied )roun my shoulder, Ain~t gonna rain, baby, ) /in 1 t gonna rain. Voice: Dis ole hammer--huh, Ring lak silver- huh, Shine lak gold--huh • .J Chorus: Ain' t gonna rain, , A.in ' t gonna rain. Voice t female): M.--,~ I'm a big fat mamma , got the meat shaking on mah bones, I•m a big !at m.amma, got the meat shaking on mah bones, And evecy time I shakes, somo skinny &irl loses huh home. y es; Narrator : , .. A· cotton-picker, as lanjo-player, as preacher )l,aarebellion leader, I emerged -,I a· new part o! the old. (over) ~--- - - --- --- ---- - -------·---- ,.., . �Voice: p, Moses, ~ t " Way down in Egyptland; r r <. 1 •--> Chorus: Tell old Pharaoh let To my people go • •• 1 ---------home Deep River, my I...., \cY .,cPeep ( . Voice: is over Jordan; )~ Chorus: River, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. +cd Voice: And yes, I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot. Chorus: f?wing low, sweet chariot, Coming tor to carry me home, ) Swing low, sweet chariot, I\ tor to carry Comin me home. Voice: Green trees a-bending, I Po' sinner stands a-trembling I I The trumpet sounds within-a-my soul} Chorus: I ain 1 t got long to stay here. ~ (over) �Voice: You namea me: Lucy Terry i Voice: Gustavas Vassat W ~~ Voic e: Britton & Jupit er Hammon. Voice: Coon 'IB~t-.! ·,~ '"' ' fivf Voice: -~gi~ Phyllis Wheatleyt Juad I mastered ·G?Pee~, L&tip. &I\d ' English in my teens. ¼A-fri;cOM Lonely whom the muses befriended 6 ~ -;... • • • • • •~ • , •• ,. - - - - - ----- __)!_ • VoiceJ Should you, rrry Lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love or Freedom sprung, Whence flow\ these wishes for the common good, ) By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate, Was snatc.hJd from Afric•s fanoy 1 d happy seat; What pangs excruciating mus t molest, \ W};iat sorrows labour in my parents• br ast? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov 1 d That from a father seiz• d his babe belov.• d: \\ A Such, auch~my cas~ And can I then but pray - Others may never feel tyrannic sway? Narrator: YQu named me George Mose s Horton. I did not like the injustice of the double standard. (over) 1. �7 11 called me 'fue Slave." Chorus: The Slave. J- l\.., Voice: Because the brood-sow 1 s left side pigs were black, Whose sable tincture was by nature st ruck, We re you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suckY Chorus: Runagatei Runagatel Runagatel Runagat e l Runagatel ~' ,,I Narrator : , \ l l\..\,A~'--' 1. " rIr;,'\ ,.. My mother cured ills andAfather worked roots. . • ----·- - .- ,,:, > ."' ,tiie poem became juju-man,· the lace hidden by the ✓ Amb;luous minstrel smile. Voice: We have fashioned laughter > c.., Out or u ~ tears and pain; Chorus: But the moment after-- Voice: Pain and tears again. Voice:.. . : Forgive these erring people, Lord; Voice: Who lynch at home and love abroad. _..,, Narrator a Still I yrote--this ~ just like I talked• I could only produce heart-rhythms. (over) - --·--·-- . ;;-.;;; ---- ··---- - ............... _ -- �Voice: D Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, 0 chillen, run, de Cunja.h man! Chorus: 0 chillen, run, de Cun'juh man l Voice: Him mouf ez beeg ez fryin' pan; Voice: Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid, Him hab no toof een him ol' haid, Him hab him roots, h im wu 'k him trick, Hi m roll him eye, him mek you sick-- De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, O chillen, run, de Cunjah man ~ 0 t;; ~ 1 ' )v~ ' Narrator : j.._ I ~ I knew my ri ghts, my rough-timeiand my remedies. Voice: Blue-mass, laud-nwn, liver ~ills, ~ "Sixty-six, fo I fever an1 chills , ~ 11 l Ready Re lie f, an' A. B. C. , An' half a bottle of X.Y .Z. --~ Narrator•• I..., L' r-, You named me .Frances Ellen Watkin, Ha..rper~- James Edwin Campbell, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar-- in several kinds of English. Voice: {;_,.n' .,,'--.__ I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, (Over) �wing is bruised and his bosom sore-bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his h eart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird singsl Narrator: .., :, . ·,; Above~ song exudes from me. My song is my sword. Voicez Lift every voice and singl Till ear t h and heaven ring! Ring with the harmonies of liberty! 0 Voice: i- 'T L c; Till our rejoicings · rls·e High as the listening skiesJ Narrator: )( f I forge pure flames of rhythms without books. And I love to hear Malindy sing. Voicez ~ "? O'way an• quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-- Put dat music book away; What's de use to keep on tryin•? Ef you practise twell you're gray, You cain•t sta 1 t no notes a-flyin 1 Lak de ones dat rants and rings From de kitchell to de big woods When Malindy sings. (over) �iWaa,. J 1u12gb fJJI foJ.1sa to aelil:M; _ Icc'6ii.R 1 a- do lines er! dots, Wtaen doy 8Ji.~ An' ;;.e,, eP£Lki n da alltaht, efflne§ aence in, :tu But fur reel molctt30,u1 wu:,ig, - Pet je&• eiJ:rilliefi Jee· 110a atM' an' i 57 spo.4'8 J m yo 1 bea't and clings, Iis cen 'dhen Mtt!lnd3 sln!!;o, W'if roe - - A1n 1 t you nevah hyeahd Malindy? Blessed soul, tek up de cross I Look hyeah, ain't you jokin 1 ,honey? Well, you don 1 t know -whut you los•. Y 1 ought to hyeah dat gal a-wa I blin·•, Robbins, la•ks, an 1 all dem things, Heish dey moufs an• hides dey face When Malindy sings. (over) �11 • . -y-Y~J\.\.' Narrator: ?- .' ✓ fr 'Y~ ~ Riverboats, river towns, chaingangs~ bar-room toughs, hard-hearted Hanna, Stagolee, ••• they all knew me. Voice: Hard-hearted Hanna-Voice: From ..Savannah, GEE A. ~ , Voice: She was so cold, yall-Chorus: Wasn't she-- ~ Voice: She'd poor water on a drowing manJ ~ ~ Voice: It was early one mornin', When I heard my bulldog bark; MI er Stagolee and Billy Lyons Was lquablin 1 in the dark. Chorus: Shine, shine, shine, ••• save po' Narrator: You heard me coming from the swollen lips of the bugle, French horn, trumpet, clarinet and saxophone • . Horn: A series or short riffs exemplary of various forms of music played bt,t\reen the advent of the spirituals and the blues-ragtime period. ( ovo r) -. -- ..... ....------~·----· ~ �12 rarrator: --•• the "Oakewalk" the "poetry of motion. 11 Dancer: Executes a series of movements representing such dances as the Ca~ewalk, ~.1 ... Charleston, Jitterbug and the Bop. Elements ~est Indian dances should flavor the movements. Narrator: ~ I blue horns, shot guns in your war, danced dances and came home to face the Iui:·, Kl ux IClan, , Southern Sheriffs and Jim Orow. I got angry; And defiant. But I was relativelV cool. Voice: Into the furnace let me go alone; Stay you without in terror of the heat. i will go naked in--for thus 'tis sweet-- H ,)! I r Into the weird depths o:f the hottest zone. Voice: , I will come out, back to your -world of tears, A stronger soul within a finer frame. ~ Narrator: ,~\.._.) After race riots in several American cities# I lifted my voice into a earing shaft of discontent. O kinsmenl we must meet the common foe! fe J.ku.__ 7 Voice: A Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pr ssed to the wall, a;.ing, but .fighting backJ (3/P) (o ver) t,~J \VJv,r~y �Narrator: Still, still my past pulled on me. • Some Arri can sense kept tugging, tugging at my truncated roots ·. z b t lg Sf■ Voice: Pour O pour that parting soul in song, 0 pour it in the sawdust glow of night , Into the velvet pine-smoke air to-night, ••• qhoruss • And let the valley carry it along. And let the valley carcy it alorig. Narrator: As the poem, I emerged convoluted and wholly new, only to retreat to a• some-other-time refrain. Egypt , Ghana, Madagasoar, the Pyramids-Voodoo Ceremonies--what did they all mean to met Voice: Come with a blast of trumpets, Jesusl ~ Voice: And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burne in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain. Chorus a Sweet silver trumpets, Jesus I Voice: Well, son, I• 11 tell you: ~ Lit for me ain't been no crystal stair. (over) -r, " ) �Narrator: x blur of the veil was always relieved ~y song, • dance, ~ boolt..J--')._ , ill ill er C lX--- looking forward to t:t\e day when Americans• • would grow up. • We grew stronger, and DX>re beautiful, in the words of Langston Hughes, as we re-embraced our rituals. Chorus: Shake your .b rown feet, honey, Shake your brown feet, chile, Shake your brown feet, honey, Shake •em swift and wil' -- I Voice: Set way back, honey, Do that low-down step. Walk on over, darling, Nowl Come out ~i th your left. Narrator: y X )< - 1/-- I went to war, as$ soldier and cook and shining knight of Democracy• The Swastika, ~.7e 'A The Rising Sun, The Hammer & .iickle_,~ I was told, & a g eal enemy. e Do ♦son and I became a witness to the Meanwhile you had named me 0'1{ ..J:.!~l!t1e~~of neighborly enemies. Those who caused unnatural deaths. r Voice: l 1 Wake up, boy, and tell me how you died: I. What sense was alert last, Wha~ immediate intuition about us (over) -~· .•. ---- - - - - --------------~-- - - - - -- -· _ ______ .. .._, �clutched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your yellow palm. And that map the fortunetellers read Chorus: (this line for money, this for love) ~ J "') Voice: Childish again and smeared •••• Chorus: Wake up,boy, ••• ~A...::. Voice : (' " ••• I go to death tomorrow, ,: Tell me what road you took, •• • {. Chorus: What hour in the day is luckiest? .' I''t f>s\ , c~.) \ I _I Voice: Did your Adams apple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry heart? Chorus: O wake ••• Narrator: ._ sometiaes a tattered poem in the thirties, forties and fifites. But I was a poem anyway: gracious, noble, fundamental, fiery, ~ LJ, · Voice: For L my pe~~le everywhe:r~ singing their s ~ songs repeat- dly: heir dirges and their ditties and their blueaj.,s:L and jubilees\ mown J/~ rayin~- ~heir ~;,_;.,.. ,,~1gbt1y to ~ 1:,,., god_J)bending their knees humbly t o an (ov r) an:;_\~ ~ 1/ ' unl•••-: power0) 1 ) �Voice: my playmates in the ~ tor playhouse and concert and store and hair an d Miss Choomby and company; Vo ice: Let a new earth :{?.,e:~r-~,·•t , ri s e.~...__ ~ Chorus: Let another world be born. Let · a bloody peace be written in the sky. p,-1-~, 0) Voice: Let a race of m,~ / now rise and take control. Narrator: ~, I' Frank Marshall Davis, ,Melvin Beaunorous Tolson, Sterling Brown, ~ //'J/D ."" \J Jr , I (P 1\ t .Robert Hayden, ~Gwendolyn 1Brooks--these are names by which m:y · vo1ce is known. Some even call me by the name of HISTORY. Chorus: tii o(,tJ, r "- 11 ·History, history, history& Runagate, RunagatelRunagateJ Voice: ~ ~.t.-t.--. Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness and the darlmese thicketed with shapes ot terror and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing and the blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going •• •• Chorus: ~'\t . ) (. Runagatel Runagatel Runagatel (over) �Narrator: ~) (~ I wormed into and won hearts and minds. In 1950, A:iD.erica · gaT · me the Pulitzer Prize. I talked about a jewel named Satin-Legs Smith. Voice1 He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat Tawny, reluctant, •royal. He is fat And fine this morning. Definite. Reimbursed. He waits a momeat, he designs his reign, That no performance may be plain or vain. Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice: Let us proceed. Let us inspect, together With his meticulous and serious love, The innards of this closet. Which is vault Whose glory is not diamonds, not pearls, Not silver plate with just) enough dull shine. But wonder-suits in yellow and in wine, Sarcastic green and zebra-striped cobalt. ~1th shoulder padding that is wide And cocky and determined as his pride; Ballooning pants that taper off to ends Scheduled to choke precisely•- - - - - - - - . 1 / y___ (vver) �tor: ap l s: Amenl I am t he the powe l /rG~ Amen t Vo - and make it two-- Ba rtender, e (pointing ): {_1 On e me • e (po inting ): V • • • and o the n you. Na rrator: I became the Be Bo pper; U!.efot-suiter; I put on dark gl a sses and conk ed my hair · -1-j.., a s I sped North to f Wright 'i---. AIIIP the Promised Land. I and Ii tf'Baldwin cried for ne. John Oliver Killens He a rd the thunder andllillllllir E111son called me Invisible. Black, I left a white country , to fight yellow men in Korea. Ella, Miles, Monk, Billie, Pr ~s,~Chano Pozo, Ornet t e, Coltrane--they went to war with me. Chorus : Good morning heartachel ~ ~~ How do you do? M (over) �Hom: Brier medley of sounds and tunes reminiscent of the period. ~.' . J Narrator: Or ,.' • Beholdl The Strolll The Ks.naas City 81opl The Madiaonl The Twia~1 ~·T.he Funky Chicken I The Karate-Boogalool They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet. Poetingl Poetingl Narrator: J\. I ~r,~ V And took it all back to ~~andstand and other countries. Voice: There's a thrill upon the hill. Chorus: Let's go, let's go, let•s go~ ~ I .;:;;-e~from kDrea to Narrator: ~ntgomerJ, ~ they wouldn't let my mother sit down on a bus. Chorus: d Montgomery, Montgomery, I remember Montgomery• . • Voice: And Birmingbam--the three 11 ttle girls. ~~~ ­ Voice: And Selma I (j?---,(, Voice: And Philadelphia, Mississippi! ~ e Voice: I recollect &nmett Tilll Voice: ~ And W ttsl (over) C --f- �' Narrator: My nan,.e was Conrad Kent Ri v e r s . ~ became a poem called -Watts~·•.hoping that in su ch disguise I could .ti~d --my ,w y out ot this daily nightmare. Voice : Must I shoot the white man dea<!,___---~ ~ to tree the nigger in his head?._ _ __ _ ----- to head? Voice: And Newark l Voice: And Harlem! Narrator: My color felt good to me. X- At rally, I tumed into a voice on the podium shouting. Chorus: WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEOPLE! Voice: For all things black and beautiful, The brown faces you loved so well and long, the endless roads leading back to Ha rlem. {over) " �Chorus: Kulu Se Mama I Kulu Se Mama I cere Voice: the strin as some umbil cal jazz, r perhaps, long lost b in som ody cross, steel aalva • bleed, m some jazzm tea.rs 's rom lost My My mother~.s Chorus a love, lite . Narrator: • In the spit and dart of my new self, there (over) �anoes I had to make, blood-thoughts I had to share. . • I needed to take a X hand and stand and speak the trut~ Ch.6rua: Speak the truth to the peopiel ~ Voice: It is not necessary to green the heart Only to identify the enemy It is not ne cessary to blow the mind Only to free the mind •••• Chorus: It is the total black! Voice: It is the total black, being spoken From the earth's inside. . _~ n There are many kinds of open.) I ~ How a diamond comes into a knot of flame)S~ How a sound comes into a word, colored By who pays what ·c~eit speaking ••• • Chorus: Love is another kind of open-- J Voice: As a diamond comes into a !mot of f l a m e ~ . ,,l/ ~o~ I am black because I come from the earth's i n ~ Take my word for jewel in your open light. Narrator: I am the ecstasy of NOW. I return, even in the alarm; even in the shadow-body I am often forced to wear. But enough, enough; I beg you, my dear associates, look Now on our,1~h~Sfny~:~__;nEF¼ 111<.,,., Jr•'-- • (over) ..... liiPiF • ...- - - - - -..... -::=..-=-: -::-.-=--=--··-' .. ---- ..· - - - ~. . ~-------•-•--:--~ ffil fJlr �Voice(and Dan~er): . I am a black woman the music of my song ome sweet arpeggio of tears is written in a minor key and I can be heard humming in the ni gp.~ ~ r""",yVCV ~~ · . -- Chorus: HUms first line of "Nobody luJ.ows fhe ::'frouble I See 11 Voioe: :: 1, I saw my mate leap screaming J;o the sea -. i-'. • · and Vwith .. ' ,-, .. ·. these hands/cupped the lifebreath ''. . trom my issue in the canebrake ·.-: -J'.i}o.-..t-liat s 1 swinging body in a rain _of tearJ ;:. ··,,t'b\t ·l ·heard my son aoream all the way from Atu~io ,. .... , . ., •· '. ·.( f'-or' Peace he never knew. • • ~ I '~:: ,-. ... ~ ' - • ' ' J ' .learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill in anguish N~~ ~-; r.rry nostrils know the gas · and these triggered tire/d fingers . __1.~, . , \ ~ seek the softness in;Garrior 1 s beard ' .I ' . am a black woman tall as a cypress a_trong (over) \ �still and time and circumstance assailed impervious indestructible Look on me and be renewed. Chorus: Look on me and be renewed. - - - -30- - -- ---- ----- - . - - ---··· -- - ------------ ----- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_33_02 Title A name given to the resource Second draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976 Description An account of the resource Second draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976. For presentation at book party on October 3, 1976: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Redwood Room, University Union, California State University, Sacramento. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976