Ngoma Hill in Conversation with Thomas Fucaloro
Ngoma Hill is a performance poet, multi-instrumentalist, singer / songwriter, and paradigm shifter, who for over fifty years has used culture as a tool to raise socio-political and spiritual consciousness through work that encourages critical thought. A former member of Amiri Baraka’s The Spirit House Movers and Players and the contemporary freedom song duo Serious Bizness, he weaves poetry and song that raise contradictions and searches for a solution to a just and peaceful world. Ngoma was selected as the Beat Poet Laureate of New York for 2017 by The National Beat Poetry Foundation. Conversation with Esu, his latest CD, features poetry, jazz, funk, reggae, and blues. His poem “USDA Certified Nutracide” is included in Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea.
“It’s dangerous amongst the meat eaters
devourers of ground dead cow carcass ”
Thomas Fucaloro: One thing that you can’t help but notice when reading your work on the page is the musicality in your poetry. It’s not only the content that is so profound but the notes you hit. Can you talk about what goes into crafting one of your pieces? What notes are you trying to hit and how does it help when crafting the content?
Ngoma Hill: Music is my first language. Poetry the second. Unlike many poets, I didn't write my first poem until I was twenty-three and was an infantryman in Vietnam. On the other hand, I began violin at age seven. I can play about twelve instruments but am only proficient in about nine. Also I don't own all of the instruments that I can play. As far as my writing process is concerned, first one would have to consider the purpose. I'm not an art for art's sake person. In the African tradition all art has purpose. My work has a purpose and that is to raise socio-political and spiritual consciousness. I am an initiated Priest of Obatala in the If a Spiritual tradition. I follow the African griot or Djeli tradition. One of the reasons that I began writing so late in life is because it took that long before I felt that I had anything of value to say. I feel that if one has the opportunity to address an audience that you should have something relevant to say. Amiri Baraka taught me that writing is like filling a pitcher and pouring it out. If you don't fill the pitcher, you can't empty it. So, I am an avid reader. I gobble history like a convict’s last supper. I'm also a news junkie and an ethnomusicologist. A lot of my poetry is also based on my day-to-day observances and general participation in life. I learn a lot from participating as well as observance. I am an artivist. So, I fill my pitcher and pour it out in your ear or on the page. Most of my work is based on the rhythm and flow of the poem as opposed to the note. I leave the notes to the music.
TF: One of my favorite lines in this poem is “Oh conspicuous victim of /consumer killture disguised as culture.” It says so much in such a small space, hitting extraordinary notes up and down the throat. What does your editing process look like? Do you edit with a fine-tuned comb or do you let the pieces fall where they may? Do you find yourself editing more for the page or the stage? Is there a difference in either of the two?
NH: I write primarily for the stage because I am a performer. If I'm performing it I don't have to be concerned about whether you read it or not. I also make use of rhythms, tones and flow to keep your attention. I like the use of word play and I try to make the work informational as well as entertaining. I write poems for your inner attainment. I think my work functions well for the stage or the page due to the phrasing. I edit as I write and seldom re-write pieces. In the jazz tradition there is no thing as a wrong note. When I think the piece is finished, I read it out loud to see how it works. Then I try to find a way to present it.
TF: When you read the title Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea, what do you think of? What comes to mind?
NH: My immediate thought was of whales washed up on the shore, ecology or climate change, and how humans are so destructive to the planet.
TF: Every year you host the Dr. Martin Luther King Festival of Social and Environmental Justice at Yale University. Can you tell us about it? What you have learned from it? What you have been able to offer the festival? What we can do to help?
NH: I have curated and hosted a poetry slam for the Dr. Martin Luther King Family Festival of Environmental and Social Justice at the Yale/Peabody Museum since 1994.The festival takes place on the Monday that we are given to celebrate Dr. King. I curate and host the slam. In other words, it's by invitation. One can't just sign up for it. I scout venues and choose poets to participate. Poets are chosen based on subject matter and quality of performance. The poems have to be about social and environmental justice issues. Most of the poets have been winners of regional and national poetry slams, so the slam is quite competitive. Poets that predominately perform work that fit my criteria are not in the majority, so finding them is somewhat of a chore. I try to find them and give them a platform to exhibit their work. I also strive to expose the audience to poets and poetry that they may not have heard. You can help by assisting me in finding poets that meet my criteria. I have to experience the poets work in order for them to be considered. You may also help to sponsor the slam so that we can increase the prize amounts.
TF: Finally, what’s next for Ngoma Hill?
NH: I have been writing poems since 1968 and have amassed quite a collection. I'm in the process of choosing work that I would like to have published. If you know any publishers that are interested, please have them contact me!
Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea is an exhilarating collection of contemporary poetry and short fiction from established and emerging writers across the United States and beyond. The anthology also contains an interview with musician/artist Walter Steding.
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