Song of the Shank

Then one day, several people passing on foot along the street heard big windows unlock with a clang above them and looked up to see the Negro plunge out onto the balcony and lean over the railing with his head cocked at some sound. After a minute or two, he went back inside. The big windows shut, and he was seen no more that day, or any other day that anyone can remember. But once he was back inside the apartment, they recall hearing piano music, a tune that none of them recognized. Soon thereafter, the music stopped. And no one ever heard it again.

May 31, 2013

Zanzibar

Acknowledgments

Here, I wish to acknowledge some of the people who uplifted me in more ways than one during the many years it took me to write this novel. Thanks and praise to Myrtle Jones, Binyavanga Wainaina, Lore Segal, Joe Cuomo, David Mills, Reginald Young, Bayo Ojikutu, Duriel Harris, Jacqueline Johnson, Randy Levin, Tucker Hyde, Steven Varni, and Terese Svoboda — dear friends who I trust with my life.

Special thanks to Robert Polito, Michael Anania, Beatriz Badikian, Elizabeth Borque, Fernando Ruiz Lorenzo, Doreen Baingana, Wanjiru June Wainaina, Ed Pavlic, Calvin Baker, Junot Díaz, Edwidge Danticat, Caryl Phillips, Grandmaster Masese, Zanele Ndolvu, Tyehimba Jess, Sandra Goodridge, Fran Gordon, Pamela Fletcher, Randolyn Zinn, Scott Dahlie, Grant Jones, Dr. Brenda Greene, Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Malaika Adero, Mikhail Iossel, Ramon Garcia, Josephine Ishmon, Kitso Kgaboesele, Matthew Sharpe, Laura Pegram, Josip Novakovich, Jennifer Baker, Sherwin Bitsui, Aleksandar Hemon, Ishmael Reed, Colin Channer, Paula Kling, Elisheba Hagg-Stevens, Shalini Gidoomal, Suhaila Cross, Aldon Nielsen, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for their love, support, and encouragement.

Special thanks to Martin Donoff, Rene Steinke, David Daniel, and the entire Fairleigh Dickinson crew.

I am grateful for the guidance of my elders, fathers by another name, for the wisdom in their words and ways: John Wideman, Sterling Plumpp, Quincy Troupe, Arthur Flowers, David Henderson, Keorapetse Kgositsile, and Stanley Crouch.

Thanks to my agent Cynthia Cannell and all the good folk at Graywolf Press, especially Fiona McCrae and Ethan Nosowsky, for their book smarts.

Thanks to Creative Capital, the Dorothy L. and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, the Whiting Foundation, the Ernest J. Gaines Foundation, and the Norman Mailer Center for their patronage.

A very special thanks to my wonderful kids, Elijah, Jewel, and James, who are a daily source of joy and inspiration and who make me eternally proud. And to the source, my mother, Alice Allen, who taught me how to keep on keeping on and how to make a way out of no way.

Last, this novel would not be possible without the music of the usual suspects (Jimi, Miles, Bob Marley, Trane, Bird, Muddy, and Mahalia), but also the music of some recent discoveries, namely Oumou Sangare (the world’s greatest singer), Soriba Kouyate, Ayub Ogada, Cesaria Evora, Dawda Jobareth, Miriam Makeba, Richard Bona, Tool, and last but not least Blind Tom, whose life and music transformed me. The circle shall not be broken. Into light, into history …

Illustration & Epigraph Credits

Carved Door in Darkness (page 4) is from Sally Price & Richard Price, Maroon Arts, Beacon Press, 1999 (Les arts des Marrons, Vents d’ailleurs, 2005). Reproduced with permission.

Ancient Dhow (page 100) reproduced courtesy of Robert Barnett Photography.

“Path of a Hunted Bird” (page 158) is from African Fractals; reproduced courtesy of Ron Eglash.

Blind Tom and Lerche (page 218) is from Ladies Home Journal, September 1898.

Harp (page 350), MO.0.0.30371, is from the collection of RMCA Tervuren; photo by J. Van de Vyver, RMCA Tervuren. Reproduced with permission.

Newspaper advertisement (page 341) is from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Concert Program cover, special note, and overview (pages 342–344) are from the Library of Congress, Daniel A. P. Murray pamphlet collection, ML417.B3 M3.

Concert Program (pages 345–347) is from Music and Some Highly Musical People by James M. Trotter, Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1878.

Dominican Abbey, Ibadan (page 366) reproduced courtesy of Victor Ehikhamenor.

Harmonograph (page 482) created using www.subblue.com/projects/harmonograph.

Long Exposure of Ocean Waves at the Beach (page 504) by Joyce Vincent; reproduced courtesy 123RF.

Carved Door in Light (page 542) from Sally Price & Richard Price, Maroon Arts, Beacon Press, 1999 (Les arts des Marrons, Vents d’ailleurs, 2005).