Biography
Hailing from Harlem, Sekou Sundiata ranked among New York’s most incisive and talented voices shaping poetry around African-American identity. While holding a post teaching English literature at the New School for Social Research, he also carved out a stage presence by fronting a band for regular club engagements that echoed the styles of June Jordan, Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones), and Quincy Troupe. Turning toward musical theater, he unveiled The Mystery of Love in 1994 after enlisting Doug Booth for songwriting assistance. The pair later collaborated on Sundiata’s first record, The Blue Oneness of Dreams, where Booth supplied both material and his own soulful vocals; Polygram issued the album in 1997. Early 2000 brought the follow-up A Long Story Short. The next year Sundiata appeared alongside Ani DiFranco on the “Rhythm and News” tour even as he maintained his faculty role in the New School’s writing program. Heart failure claimed his life in July 2007.
Albums