A joyful noise unto - yourself! The December podcast is up now on Mixcloud.

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.