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. 

Say Sumthin - released in June - is a beautiful mix of spoken word deeply rooted in soul.

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.

The art of the storyteller is to stop the chatter, focus the listener, bypass the propaganda and the politics and reveal the story of the heart.

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.

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”.....

If you want a global update on the hottest women Hip Hop artists right now, check this generous mixtape from Nomadic Wax.

Cher danseurs, you of refined and intelligent style, you who love to dance at the pace of the beat of your heart, you earnest folk who like to smile, with only a small delay I suggest to you this:

Out of Vancouver, Tanya Evanson brings her third ‘spoken wor.l.d’ music album exploring concepts of family, mythology, dialect, silence & technology…