The January edition of the monthly gathering of arts lovers, Artmosphere
held at The Well Bar and Café, Nustreams Conference and Culture Centre,
Ibadan, Oyo State on Saturday enlivened memories of the late American
activist-poet, Amiri Baraka.
Baraka, whose funeral at Newark Symphony
Hall, US, coincided with the event, died on January 9, 2014 at age 79.
Born Everett LeRoi Jones, he wrote under the pen names; LeRoi Jones and
Imamu Amear Baraka.
Some of his poems interrogating issues
such as racism, escapism, multi-culturalism, Africannnes, development
and nationalism as they affect black American and Africans were
discussed.
Ibadan-based legal practitioner and
poet, Tade Ipadeola who was the winner of the 2013 Nigeria Liquified
Natural Gas Prize for Literature and the 2012 winner of the Caine Prize
for African Writing, Rotimi Babatunde, were among those on hand to pep
up the event.
