La Danza Poetica

Opening with the beautiful Song For Elijah (Wrap Our Arms Around You), dedicated to the memory of a young life tragically lost in Australia, and also a call for all to help the family in difficult times. La Danza Poetica #58 is “A Call To Arms”. As it’s the end of a tumultuous year, I’ve created a tumultuous mix featuring some favourite tracks of 2017 that I haven’t been able to include in the radio show so far. Covering a lot of ground, from wild upbeat global bass to Latin hip hop, Los Angeles and New York City poetry and rap, Native American fire, French orchestral beats, very intelligent downbeat soul, and songs for the end of everything.

Chile – between the mountains and the sea, the poets and musicians sing of the land and the heart. This month’s mix features poets Vicente Huidobro, Pablo Neruda, and Nicanor Parra, plus a focus on the expressionistic poetics of Cecilia Vicuña, Como Asesinar a Felipes, and Kali Mutsa, and the delicate, fierce, Violeta Parra. Also some favourite folktronic producers including Lata / MMNI, Matanza, and Australia’s Galambo. 

Poesía y música, Española. A mix of all new music, joyful and uplifting, anchored by the voices of our “honoured ghosts”, poets of 20th Century Latin America, exploring the political and social importance of poetry, nature, and the nature of our desires.

A meditative, contemplative edition of the global dance poetic. Dedicated to guitarist Mayara Amaral who was murdered in Brazil last month. #NiUnaMenos – #NemUmaAMenos – #NotAWomanLess 

Pieces of the Puzzle takes its title from a poem by English spoken word artist Salena Godden – the poem that closes the show. From Australia to Costa Rica, to Colombia, to Argentina, to Italy, Portugal, Germany, America, Chile, England, France, Japan, Ghana, Mozambique … all these pieces are part of our big, beautiful jigsaw puzzle of thought, emotion, word, and music. 

On La Danza Poetica this month, surfing the poetic radio waves: une fête de la musique et de la poésie! A smooth and cool mix of new French abstract hip hop, alt-rap, spoken word, trip hop and jazz. Downtempo melodic beats and spoken word. 

Diving deeper into the dancehall – mixing the poetry of MC Zulu, Chicago’s most profound dancehall vocalist and electro-reggae producer with conscious beats old and new. Concerned that we listen as we dance, learn as we excite, and have a real conversation with the music, Zulu has been presenting some of his lyrics in spoken word recitations. This month, we are seriously dancing to poetry! Are you listening?

A special show focused on telling one, captivating story. A live mix recorded this summer at Renaissance Festival in Australia, featuring Thomas Keily’s story A Beautiful Surrender, based on Sufi teaching stories, woven into Turkish and Turkish-inspired music and poetry. 

My 50th show for Groovalizacion Radio, and my first for the year 2017. Starting us off right on this journey around the sun, I’ve mixed up poetry from an inspiring organisation out of Los Angeles, and music from an inspiring record and film company out of Buenos Aires. A musical mix for the southern hemisphere summer – come dive into the lovely warm ocean of sound of Latin American folktronic rhythms and Los Angeles poetic medicine. 

Curated by Kwame Write Aidoo, and produced by Inkfluent, the Vocal Portraits albums feature many talented poets, storytellers and musicians from Africa, Europe and North America. 

This month, we travel light. Returning to Canada—because of course, at this moment in time, we had to. 

This month on La Danza Poetica, the spirit runs deep. Featuring the brilliant new album from Canada’s Tanya Evanson, debut EP from Australia’s Mirrah, and a poetic release from USA’s Solange. Alongside, the smooth spirituals of Canadian/American soul sisters: Cris Derksen and Jennifer Kreisberg, Marianne Verville, Sunni Patterson, Shauntay Grant, Queen Ka. And soulful brothers from Canada: Ivy, Ian Kamau, and Shane Koyczan collaborating with the inspirational sister of all activist poets, Ani Difranco.

A special collaboration between La Danza Poética and La Rebelde Academia de la Música Latinoamericana (RAMULA)! Colombian poet Gustavo Gómez Giraldo, aka Juaco, recorded in Brussels by Joaldo Domínguez. Mixed with music from Mateo Kingman, Nicola Cruz, Sentidor, and Negro Dub.

This month’s mix opens with One Sixth’s fierce poem ‘Labyrinth’ - in which he calls for compassion, for understanding, and above all, for listening. So we listen. Hip hop is the voice as music, poetry as rhythm, storytelling with the drum beats of the heart. In the hands of these artists, hip hop gets closest to the truth. Featuring Xolisa (Canada), Akua Naru (USA), Omar Musa (Australia), A Tribe Called Red (Canada), Brandon Wint (Canada), FOKN Bois (Ghana), Mateo Kingman (Ecuador), Aja Monet (USA), GANGAMix (France), One Sixth (Australia).

A multi-layered mix of poetry, rhythm, melody en français, exploring the strong voices of la Négritude movement in France, a movement influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Our honoured ghosts, Langston Hughes, and les trois pères (the three fathers) of la Négritude: Aime Cesare, Léon-Gontran Damas, and Léopold Sédar Senghor. Their eloquent descendants, Nikki Giovanni, Youssoupha, Sunni Patterson. Voices flow through a mix of deep electronic beats, abstract French hip hop and shimmering Haitian/American folk. Featuring Leyla McCalla, Caro C, Christine and the Queens (with Tunji Ige), Fauve, Odezenne, brome, Bleu éther. Très éclectique, très fort!

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet’s collaboration with poet Lemn Sissay is one of the deepest word/music journeys you can take - expressive, cinematic, arresting. Robert Frost’s 1920s poem “Fire and Ice” observes the end of the world with the cool objectivity of someone who is part of, not just observing, the changes of seasons. There is a goal! So, let’s become the rain...

Adventurous spirits journey within and without, communing with tradition, home, self, and other. This month on the global dance poetic, a world of new releases that share an adventurous spirit of experimentation and connection. 

Paseo Mental - a walk through the mind, through the various voices in our heads, both our own and the voices of the honoured ghosts and ancestors who walk with us. Performance poetry from Segovia, Spain, from an installation by Andrés Sánchez, plus new tracks, collaborations and remixes out of South America, Mexico, USA, Algeria, and Europe.

In February La Danza Poetica crosses lines and walls, real and imagined, through the eastern Mediterranean and Levant, from Persia to Palestine, from ancient to modern. Rafeef Ziadah, Milagro Acustico Ensemble, Fawda, Abdalak, Katibeh Khamseh, A-Wa, La Mirza & Rayess Bek, Suheir Hammed, and readings of the poetry of Ashram Fayadh, on death row in Saudi Arabia over charges of apostasy. Dedicated to the silent poet.

Pausing for reflection in January 2016, a mix of tracks that I couldn’t include in the feature shows of ’15, that are still on high rotation in my mind.

For the Kulin Nation, Melbourne has always been an important meeting place. And it continues to be a place of connection for people from all around the world.

Collaborative poetic jazz, organic electronics. From New Orleans to New York; France to Brazil; Poland to Trinidad; Mali to Cape Town; Portugal to Suriname. Stretching and tensing, sincopando.

Sung poetry, the oral tradition, passed down from generation to generation, continuing today, no break in the chain…

Rêver en français… storytelling of emotion and delirium of loops, Being in transit in between times and places, in a woozy mood, a loose mix from a recent live set. No explanation, no reason, no solution. Just the enlightened, unapologetic emotion of French poets, under the spell of delirious analysis. From Saul Williams to Anaïs Nin, let’s hallucinate Napoléon Bonaparte together, la danse poétique!

This month I am presenting for you an excerpt of a special mix for Chimeres Radio and Circe:the Black Cut, performed live in Athens on 4 July at Kreuzberg bar, the eve of the referendum of 5 July. 

Eclectic electronic, folk and poetic wavelengths from Greece. Featuring electronica pioneers Lena Platonos and Stereo Nova, fascinating composers and bands Carte Postale, Imam Baildi, ION, Anna Stereopoulou, and May Roosevelt (mixing the poetry of Dinos Christianopoulos), hip hop / low bap from Active Member with Luka Lesson, and Poetic [Low Bap], a new album from Savina Yannatou, postcards from the multicultural history of Thessaloniki, and honoured ghosts, rebetika singers Stella Haskil and Sotiria Bellou, who are the waves beneath all of our boats. 

Australia is, on the ground and in the streets, a place of amazing diversity. We celebrate the multitude of voices speaking up. Two new spoken word LPs from Joel McKerrow and Adam Gibson, and a new compilation from Melbourne Spoken Word. Poets Sean M Whelan, Andrew Galan, Randall Stephens, Eleanor Jackson, Sista Zai, Ebony MonCrief, Jacky T, Common Ground Collective (L-Fresh the Lion, Nayana Bhandari), REMI, NYUON, Cazeaux O.S.L.O. Diverse musical threads woven into the fabric of a still-evolving Australian identity - from Iran to Oz, Amin Payne; from Punjab to Caribbean to Oz, Sikander; from soul to Oz soul, Hiatus Kaiyote; from Tatarstan-Udmurtia to the Universe, Starship Z! And from the absolute heart, Jimblah re-calls Yothu Yindi’s anthem for Aboriginal sovereignty. This is Australia, a land of many cultures, beholden to one.

Following on from #6, Northern Soul dives into the deep, orchestral spaces and provocative political and social stories of Canada.

"Words can be bullets or butterflies. The truth uplifts, while lies destroy. So, say what you mean and mean what you say."—Piri Thomas

A trip around the world with the passionate voices and melodies of the Romani folk tradition, the travelling heart of humanity. Featuring Click Here's latest album Balkandalucia and new recordings from the great Taraf de Haïdouks. Following the music and the poetry from Andalusia to Bulgaria, Hungary to Slovakia, Romania to Greece. Argentinian/Bulgarian crossover from Kosta Kostov, Andalusian grooves from Thomas Blondet & Carol C., Balkan beats from the Forty Thieves Orkestar, Balkan Criminals, DJ Tomasc, Romani song and story from Esma Redzepova, Slovakia's Sabrosa, Greece's Alexandros Wilhelm Hatzis, and UK traveller Damian LeBas. Honoured ghosts, Hungarian poets Szabó Lőrinc and Berda József and the archival recordings of Bari Károly.

From the 15th until the 21st of December 2014 a series of events were held in various spaces and venues in the city of Athens, beginning with the release on 15th December of the album 'Vuelo Libre' - a “family work” album of nine tracks composed by sound artists and musicians from ten countries. This edition of the podcast is the one-hour mix I made of the album for this exhibition. Modern electronic classical music, organic sounds and poetics in six languages.

Following on from the 1st, and the 15th edition of the podcast, we return to Italy’s songs and stories. From north to south, from folk to modern electronic dance. All rooted in the varied storytelling and dance traditions of the peninsula. 

The power of the drum, the storytelling of music. Honouring The Spaceape, oscillating with the dark and the light in between the drum beats and breaths, exploring Creole, the language of rhythm and time.

Entering my third year at Groovalizacion - happy birthday to La Danza Poetica! The 24th edition is intercontinental, transnational - a world of poetics, mainly new releases, ranging far and wide in the spirit of the dance. 

In August 2008 the great poet Mahmoud Darwish left forever. But his voice is still here, more heartbreaking than ever. Now I ask myself to stop, turn off the newsfeed, clear my mind of prejudice, and listen. This is a mix of the amazing diversity of poetic expression from Palestine and the diaspora. 

Raining sounds and stories across the planet. Many honoured ghosts this month, including the poets Rumi, Federico García Lorca, TS Elliott, Badr Shākir as-Sayyāb, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda. Ambient folkloric beats, Afro Latin jazz and soul, hip hop and spoken word poetry, from Ecuador to Barcelona to Melbourne, from New York to New Zealand to Rapa Nui, from Campodia to the Czech Republic to the rainy streets of Paris and London.

Many cultures, languages, religions, rhythms make up the continent and the neighbouring islands of the oceans of Australia. This is a rich tapestry of a place. Enjoy some of the threads...

The continuing inspiration of the rhythm poets in the Jamaican Year of Poetree. Following the lineage of the griots, voicing the Rastafari philosophy of freedom of expression and resistance, connection and protection. A mix of dub, soul and Afrobeat poets from Africa to Jamaica to Trinidad, to the UK, the USA, and Canada. The future of reggae in the electronic crossover, the global dance poetic.

Through the forests and cities of story... Explore the bright Northern and Eastern European lights of poetry and music, the 19th dance poetic.

The dance of the soul - in this month's podcast we have some dream collaborations, new soul poetry and a sampling of Australia's global music festival WOMADelaide.

Hip hop. The voice is the drum. The voice is rhythm, melody and story as one. From Australia to Latin America to the Caribbean to Africa, this is where poetry really dances.

Start 2014 with some conscious dance! Mixing passionate, compassionate dance releases from 2013 together with the hearts and voices of indigenous resistance in South America, and some truly powerful spoken word. Music and story as uniting and empowering force - the word, the silence, the global dance poetic.

In this December edition of La Danza Poetica we travel through poetry, song, hip hop and folk traditions down the peninsula of Italy through the Magna Graecia and the Griko culture of Greek settlers on the Italian coast.

Recorded on the weekend of el Día de los Muertos, raising honoured ghosts and calling on their descendents to speak the border ... la poesía y la música de la frontera, Mejicano, Americano, Chicano, the word and the silence.

LDP 013, ‘Poetree Caan Nyam’, aims to go deeper into the dub poetry groove. I wanted to really get into a poetic dancewith this one. And if any poetry can be danced to, it’s this! We dive into the deep dub seas of Jamaica, and sail around the worldwide ocean of reggae dub poetry. From Africa to the Caribbean, via the States, France, Canada, and the UK, with those poets who speak of identity, history, love, struggle, politics, belief, and society.

Through the voices of poets and musicians, those who have sought asylum, and those who speak up on their behalf, this edition of La Danza Poetica is a prayer for compassion to prevail in all countries’ treatment of those who arrive desperate on our shores. Mostly in English this month, voices from Australia, America, England, Africa, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Palestine, Syria ... Across borders, through bars and wires, defying attempts to divide us, we are all united by creativity, love, and story.

Ideas arrive late in the night, explode in passionate flame, burn out fast. Passion that consumes itself, but does not destroy the structure. Like forests that need to burn to burst the tree seeds. What is left is a deeper inspiration and beautiful - perhaps a little sad, even a little dehydrated, but unquestionably beautiful, as experience, and wisdom, and soulful living is beautiful. It's in the music, too, and in the poetry, of Spain, all Latin countries. Fire is at the heart of it all.

Coming from the Chilli Rooms studios on the island of Ibiza, La Danza Poetica 10 is a chilled hour of of music and poetry from various corners of the globe.

Solidarity with Istanbul. Spirit and poetics from Turkey.

Music and poetry - creative acts of resistance. Voices from the revolution of feeling. Take your heart and mind to Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran. This month's show crossed political and cultural borders and boundaries, as well as centuries. From medieval Sufi poetry and folk song, traditional Arabic revolutionary poetry, through modern fusions of jazz and electronics, today's hip hop underground, and poetic diaspora. Voices that emerged in the Arab Spring, enlightening our world with calls for peace and justice.

This month's Groovalizacion dance takes us into the heart of mother Africa. Voices beating the skin of the drum, calling it jazz, hip hop and afrobeat rhythms, poets calling from the heart of the heart

The sixth dance for Radio Groovalizacion covers a bit of ground in the great northern american landmass we know as Canada. Français Canadien, Québécois, Acadien, English, Inuit, Huron, Algonquin, Métis, Cree ... the French and English heritage, the African heritage, the Inuit and the First Nations heritage - this is the rich turmoil of Canadian cultures.

The February podcast of La Danza Poetica focuses on Brazil, em Português. New spoken word from the Ponte Aérea Elétrica project (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro), Rio hip hop, São Paulo poetas, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, the folk/song traditions of the Nordeste, and the avant-pop-mangue-folk Tropicália of now! The father of poesia concreta, Augusto De Campos features, and our honoured ghost is 'O Poetinha', Vinícius de Moraes.

La Danza Poetica 004 sails on the wind instruments of drum, string and voice, pausing to dive into the stories of griots and musicians from Ethiopia, Ghana, Botswana, the Sudan, Zimbabwe and Jamaica. 

On a tropical contact high, the voices of Barbados, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, poems of love and war, to and from the Caribbean.

On Groovalizacion, La Danza Poetica 002 trips through the Paris underground, or underbelly. Á voix basse, the poetry and melody of Français, Occitan, and English, to the tune of recordings made on my many travels on the Métro last month. New spoken word from France, and some honoured ghosts.

Happy to announce a new monthly podcast for Groovalizacion Radio! Beginning October, La Danza Poetica streams on the first Sunday of every month.