My mate Raf has enlisted my help in rounding up some poets for a dub poetry event, happening 14 March at The Front. I’ve always wanted to find out more about dub poetry so I took this opportunity to do a bit of research.
The origins of dub poetry begin somewhere between the dancehalls of Kingston and London and the work of poets such as Kamau Brathwaite. Unlike traditional poetry, dub poetry emphasizes sound (repetition, rhyme, and word play) rather than sense (imagery, metaphor, simile) to convey themes of social (in)justice. Besides the subtle racism and class warfare that greeted their work, the earliest pioneers of dub poetry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Oku Onoura, Benjamin Zephaniah, Malachi Smith, Mutabaruka, and Mikey Smith, confronted resistance, especially in Jamaica, because it was thought that sense (imagery, metaphor, simile) was sacrificed to sound. However, in the best dub poetry there is a fusion of sound and sense that is emotionally stirring, and many who have been trained to mistrust their emotions often find these sensations uncomfortable. At its worst, there’s a monotonous obedience to sound that produces the same effect as poems that rely only on sense—boredom in the audience. In many ways, dub poetry resembles the chanting style of dancehall deejays, but whereas the deejay is bound to the riddim track, the dub poet experiments with words/sounds (almost like a jazz musician) and transcription to the page aims at reproducing the effect of the beat.
I also found a few videos that are pretty impressive (well, the poems are – the recordings: less so). First up: Oku Onuora. This is a very short but good example. I presume the piece he’s performing is ‘Wi a Come’.
Next: Lillian Allen’s ‘Riddim an’ Hardtimes’ (jump ahead two minutes to get the uninterrupted full piece) unfortunately you don’t get to see Allen in action but at least the sound is reasonably clear:
One last poem for now: Linton Kwesi Johnson’s ‘Inglan is a Bitch’. I would have liked to include a musical version, but the rhythm is so strong in this piece I think it stands very well on its own.
Hopefully this is has sufficiently piqued your interest to come and check out the RockSteady event:
Raf asked me to try and round up some performers, so if you want to the chance to perform your poetry at the event (with a DJ and drummer!) please let him or Joshua know:
I just thought I’d take a moment to reassure you all that Traverse poetry slams will be back at The Front this year. I’ve updated the events page of this site with all the dates for the 2010 slams, which (fingers crossed) won’t change.
The first slam at The Front for 2010 is on Thursday 25 February.
Meanwhile, I also wanted to let you know about a couple of interesting poetry websites I’ve been to recently. The first, myslam.net, is a slam community set up by Wolfgang, a German slammer, with excellent coverage of slams around the world, particularly ones in western Europe. I’ve done my bit and added the Traverse slam to the map (I’ll flesh out the details page soon). The site seems like it could be very useful for connecting slammers in Australia (particularly touring poets) so I recommend you join up and pass on the details on to other slammers.
The second site, Poetry, Pure Poetry, is more geared to online collaboration and has some very exciting features to assist in running poetry groups. It’s all very new and fresh at the moment but looks like it could be an excellent tool for the poetry community – check it out!
Lately I’ve been worried that I’ve been straining my voice, both in performing poetry and when running my monthly slams. Accordingly, I’ve done a bit of research (see links at the end of this post for the sources) and some trialling and have put together a quick vocal warm-up routine.
Let me know what works for you too.
Breathing
Start by taking lots of deep breaths, making sure you’re breathing from your diaphragm and not raising and lowering your shoulders. Rest a hand on your abdomen to help you focus on this. Now start make a hissing ‘s’ sound as you exhale until your lungs are empty.
Open your mouth
Put the heels of your hands under your cheek bones. Push in and move your hands downwards, letting your jaw fall open. Repeat.
Vocal exercises
With your mouth closed, produce a low humming sound, gradually building up to a loud ‘mah’ sound as you open your mouth (this one is good to do in the shower if you want to work it into a daily routine).
Put your lips together loosely and blow a steady stream of air to create a raspberry sound (a lip trill). Now try doing this as you make a ‘h’ and then ‘b’ sound. Gently move up and down the scales using both sounds, one at a time.
Diction: tongue twisters
Repeat the following phrases in a row: unique New York; round and down; red rubber baby buggy bumpers; eee-yaaa; red leather, yellow leather.
Hold a pencil or pen between your front top and bottom teeth and try some of the following tongue twisters. Also try to say lots of words with ‘s’, ‘v’, ‘f’ and ‘th’ sounds.
Drink a glass of warm water (actually, make sure you drink lots of water at all times, to keep your mouth and throat nicely lubricated) and say the following tongue twisters. Go nice and slow and try to enunciate each and every syllable.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Sally sells seashells by the seashore,
the shells Sally sells are surely from the sea.
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
The sixth sick Sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick
Betty Botter bought some butter.
‘But,’ she said, ‘the butter’s bitter,
if I put it in my batter
it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter
that would make my batter better.’
Final words
According to Jeff Davis’s vocal teacher, you should try not to cough or shout and to only speak in low tones before noon. This all sounds like a good idea, if only to ease pounding headaches created by attempts to write Jack Kerouac style.
These exercises were adapted from the following pages:
Despite what you might have heard, last week’s quiet poetry slam was not the last Traverse Poetry slam. The ACT Government grant that has supported this project will finish at the end of 2009, but slams will continue in 2010. The first slam for the year will be Thursday 25 February and then, from March, they’ll be back on the last Friday of each month.
So, we’ll be ending 2009 with an absolutely massive event at the National Museum of Australia: a water-themed poetry slam, to help launch the new exhibition, Water: H2O=Life.
Other than the theme, what’s so special about this event? We have an absolutely wonderful guest poet, from Sydney, called Sarah Mae. ACT poetry slam fans may remember her first set in Canberra back in 2007, when The Front slams were just getting started. Those who don’t know her work should be prepared for a jaw-dropping performance exploring identity, myths, fairy tales and everyday observation through spoken word, song and the rhythms of the subconscious.
Plus, we have the always delightful Cathy Petocz playing music, and huge prizes — $200 cash from Traverse Poetry and a $100 gift voucher from the Museum!
Poetry Splash!
12 December 7:30-10:30pm
Friends Lounge, National Museum of Australia
Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula
Free entry!
You must book a slot to perform: email poetry DOT slams AT gmail DOT com or phone 0403 885 873 – we’re very nearly at capacity for the night so if you want a shot at the prizes make sure you book now!
As in previous years, the range was quite a bit different from the monthly gigs at The Front, with a much stronger focus on hip hop. We also had some much younger poets (including one 11-year-old rapping about illegal street racing… hmm…) and a few more ‘random’ (for want of a better word) performers, in particular a guy reading some gorgeous haiku off an iPhone.
There were too few women performing again. I’m hoping next year’s slams (and perhaps another all-women night sometime in the year) will encourage some more ladies to get behind the mic – there’s so much talent in our town!
Last year’s overall winner, Omar Musa, also did a smashing performance of the piece he did with Hadley, Seung, Fenella and I at Corinbank earlier this year.
So, this month we have a more low-key event, not really a slam at all (let’s call it a ’sham slam’ shall we?) and more of an open mic:
Traverse Poetry Night
Friday 27 November
7.30pm-10.30pm
The Front Gallery and Cafe
Wattle Street, Lyneham
Free entry for everyone!
And, before I go, I need to plug the launch of issue 9 of Block journal, this week at Smiths:
Block 9 launch
Thursday 19 November
6.00pm-7.00pm
Smiths Alternative Bookshop
76 Aligna Street, Canberra City
As in previous years you’ll need to book a slot by calling the library on (02) 6262 1271.
For the benefit of those who haven’t attended an Australian Poetry Slam before, the rules are slightly different to the slams at The Front. The time limit is 2 minutes, not 3. Also, there will be five audience members judging you out of 10 with the highest and lowest scores disregarded. If there’s a draw (as there has been on the previous two occasions) we’ll get you to perform a second piece – so make sure you prepare for this possibility!
Meanwhile, you’ll be able to practice your pieces at the Halloween Slam next week:
Halloween Slam
30 October 7:30-11:30pm
The Front Gallery and Café
Wattle St, Lyneham
We’ll be doing some special fun things for this slam, including awarding a prize for the scariest poem of the night!
It’s possible that this month’s slam may be the last one at The Front for the year, given that the ACT heat is next month and December’s slam will take place at the National Museum of Australia (more on that later).
I’ll be gauging people’s interest in a November Front slam next Friday so speak up if you want it to happen! Note that if it does go ahead it will probably be quite a low-key event.
Another mega slam last night – thanks to everyone for coming out in the cold weather. We ended up with just under 20 poets performing in the slam, plus two big sets from the entertaining Randall Stephens.
Top three poets were:
CJ (with an amazing ‘party’ piece)
Jacinta (aided by a chorus of uncooperative Greek nonnas)
And now for… Judge Judy judging a poetry slam. No it’s not what you think it is (how cool/bizarre/intimidating would that be?) but, rather, a warning to producers of all spoken word events that you make sure you pay your poets!
Next slam is Friday 30 October so be prepared for some sort of Halloween (eve) silliness. Probably.
The workshop is happening with the generous support of Music For Everyone, on Sunday 20 September at Ainslie Arts Centre (not Gorman House) on Elouera Street in Braddon, 2-5pm. No experience or materials required!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also look forward to an internationally themed poetry slam next week, on Friday 25 September at The Front. This one is going to feature special guest poet Randall Stephens who I met earlier this year in Melbourne. He’s an highly entertaining poet with a marvellous beard to boot.
In the same week I discovered (thanks to this blog) that pogonology is the study of beards (or facial hair to be precise), I also found this amusing poem from Big Poppa E on Mongo’s livejournal.
Next up in Traverse Poetry’s exciting list of (seemingly) random events is Hip-Hop Shop: a free workshop for young people!
Hip-Hop Shop with D’Opus and Roshambo
Free workshop for people under 30 – but you must book through the ACT Writers Centre:
email admin@actwriters.org.au or phone (02) 6262 9191
20 September 2:00-5:00pm
Ainslie Arts Centre
Elouera Street, Braddon
In case you don’t know, D’Opus and Roshambo are some of the best hip-hop performers in Canberra. They’ve played just about every festival here (Trackside, Corinbank, Stonefest) and are getting a huge response overseas – in no small thanks to Triple J’s huge airplay of the track ‘Million Dollar Bill’. Consequently I’m ridiculously excited I’ve managed to get them to run this free workshop. If you’re even slightly interested in poetry and music you should give the ACT Writers Centre a ring on (02) 6262 9191 and book today!
And, just before I go, the winners of the Green Slam:
www.traversepoetry.org
