Elombe Pt  1
Channel: Anthony J. Sloan
Date: 2014-06-03

On the occasion of the transition of our Brother -- Elombe Brath

There have be many times since the 1980's that I have been in the presence of the great Pan Africanist, Elombe Brath; Audio recording community forums for his Patrice Lumumba Coalition when he and the late great Samori Marksman spoke truth to power; and engineering for him at his radio program on Pacifica Radio, wbai-fm, in New York.

I marveled at his Jazz record collection and knowledge of the music. 
Elombe was the person who introduced me to Southern African music. 

Elombe has passed during this time of celebration for the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity. His work on the Mother continent, and his work in his communities of choice, brought us all closer to the goal(s) of Uhuru.

In honor of the great man -- the unrelenting brother for our freedom... I offer a poem -- a Kwansaba.
The "kwansaba" a 49-word poem of seven lines with seven words per line; each word containing no more than seven letters (exception: proper names)

Kwansaba is an African American verse form of praise. 
The Kwansaba, (Swahili: kwan - first fruit / saba - principle). 
Created in 1995 by Eugene B. Redmond -- (East St. Louis Poet Laureate and Emeritus Professor of English at Southern Illinois University - East St. Louis.) 

The form was developed in honor of the celebration of Kwanzaa. 
The poetic form adopts the number 7, from Kwanzaa's Nguzo Saba (7 principles), also embraces roots in the Southern African tradition of the Praise Poem. 

On the occasion of his passing, here is a Kwansaba for Brother Elombe Brath (1936 -- 2014):

Elombe Kwansaba
By thePoet_Anthony 

Uhuru was never enough for African you,
and Cooks and Malcolm and Marksman too.
Black Beauty: Your call to our nation.
Our African voices mark your praise oration.
Your African thought guiding many a minds
toward the fertile music of our times
now wails through heights of our sublime.


Peace and blessing to us all, 

Brother Anthony Sloan
Alice, Easter Cape
Republic of South Africa
June, 2014


Note: the Cooks in the Kwansaba refers to Carlos Cooks, and Marksman refers to Samori Marksman. 
Much to these African freedom fighters chagrin, we sometimes called this dynamic duo liberation of Elombe and Samori as the Batman & Robin of the movement.


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