I think this is the greatest compliment I could give to a spoken word album, to be honest: that it can be listened to and that it can also just be heard. It doesn't demand close difficult attention, but invites it. It is music that is as lovely to listen to as any folk music I tend to want to hear on a lazy Saturday afternoon. And it is also storytelling, as rewarding as any novel.
Read MoreShauntay Grant 'Say Sumthin'
Say Sumthin - released in June - is a beautiful mix of spoken word deeply rooted in soul.
Read MoreKaie Kellough 'creole continuum'
Drawn from linguistics studies of the 1960s, the title creole continuum refers to the degrees of language shift between speakers from the dominant language to Creole. Kaie explores from this point, the social and racial distinctions brought about through colonialism of person and language. Reaching far back to his African origins, he draws out the drums of voice.
Read MoreTitilope Sonuga 'Hide and Seek'
A spoken word song for lost children, for lost adults counting, losing count, for a world connected and disconnected, watching, turning away, hoping, losing hope. A poetic call to arms, a communication direct from a fearless heart.
Read MoreShane Koyczan 'To This Day'
Please take some moments to watch this. This is more than spoken word ‘artistry’ – though there is such artistry in this, such command of the art of storytelling by this Canadian poet and such incredible animated emotion by many different artists. But this is more than art. This is the best example of why storytelling is one of our most necessary crafts, as well as one of our most powerful healers…
Read MoreIvy 'Va faire ta guerre'
Va faire ta guerre (Go make your war) was written in 2011 for Amnesty International project Partners for Peace. A letter to the fat cats, to the warmongers, to “M. le Grassouillet / Le Souillé / Le Suprême de Poulet”.....
Read MoreEmoticon Dawn 'Jump'
Aw, now. I’m not a big one for Valentine’s Day [as sponsored by Hallmark] but I’m no love grinch either. So here is a beautiful love poem, a quiet elegy, a sad and exquisite ode to joy.
The first single off Canadian duo Emoticon Dawn‘s upcoming EP, Jump: “If you had one last chance to talk to the person you love the most, what would you say?”
Emoticon Dawn is musician/composer Arlen Yanch and poet Ian Keteku. Out of Toronto, they describe themselves as a conversation between the classic and contemporary. Marrying hip hop with orchestral moods. Arlen’s roots in Ghana West Africa infuse the music. Keteku is a classy wordsmith, 2010 World Poetry Slam Champion and maker of this fine album Lessons From Planet Earth (Re-Evolution) back in 2011.
Romantic, unashamedly. No flowers required. Perhaps a rose in the pocket.
