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Wanda Robinson: Black Ivory; Nikki Giovanni: Truth Is On Its Way; The Last Poets: This Is Madness

Sheila Weller, Fusion, May 1972

THE BLACK cultural tradition has always depended for its survival on oral, rather than written, communication: from the chants of tribal Africa to the folk-tales of the forcedly-illiterate slaves to the gospel sermons. It is not surprising, then, that today's black poets should be enticed by the relationship of poetry to music and should attempt to explore it. Three recent albums document this experiment.

Total word count of piece: 640

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