Amiri Baraka's "Dope" on PennSound

PennSound has three versions of Amiri Baraka reading his poem "Dope." I've been blogging about Baraka and that poem for years -- in 2011, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and September 2024.

The PennSound site includes recordings of Baraka: reading

"Dope" at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado on July 26, 1978.

"Dope" at the Just Buffalo Literary Center in Buffalo, New York, on December 8, 1978.

"Dope" at a Before Columbus Foundation event in Oakland, California in 1980.

That last one isn't attributed on PennSound, but I recognized the recording from elsewhere. I first discovered Baraka doing that Oakland in 1999, when I encountered the recording on the CD that accompanied Call & Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition (1997). 

Another version of "Dope" appears on New Music-New Poetry (1982), where Baraka reads his poetry, while backed by drummer Steve McCall and saxophonist David Murray. 

Something about the energy and pace of the Oakland reading, and the audience responses to some of Baraka's lines, make that version really stick with me. It's one of my favorite poetry performances. 

I'm pleased that PennSound includes these three versions and that I have access to the New Music-New Poetry version. It's fascinating hearing Baraka re-reading the poem in different contexts during a somewhat concentrated period of time.

Related:

• A Notebook on Black Poets on PennSound