Singers of Daybreak + Carl Hancock Rux: Spoken Word Comes of Age

Singers of Daybreak + Carl Hancock Rux: Spoken Word Comes of Age
by Lydia Howell

Through hip-hop, poetry and the many strands of oral traditions, have permeated pop culture. Minneapolis is ground zero for the first national symposium of spoken word performance, SINGERS OF DAYBREAK. The two-day conference is a whirlwind of dialogue, jams, workshops, video, and film showings, capped by an exhilarating evening of performances.

“Spoken Word is a long-practiced form, most recognized in the griot tradition of Africa, the bardic tradition of Europe and the Middle East, Tamil poets of India, and the cantos singers of South America,” says e.g. bailey, co-founder of the Minnesota Spoken Word Association, initiating the historical weekend of events. “Spoken Word today grows out of these traditions, an American prodigy: from the Harlem Renaissance and Blues singers, the Beat Generation poets of the 50s rebelling against conformity to poets of the Black Artist Movement of the 60s. The art from married Jazz in the 50s and gave birth to hip-hop, continuing to evolve in the 80s and 90s.”

bailey knows his stuff, as former co-producer of KFAI’s Write On RaDio! program and various performance groups including Arkology. SINGERS OF DAYBREAK continues his mission to create opportunities for emerging and established artists to explore and express themselves in a fully empowered way. The conference features a myriad of workshops for developing skills, taught by local artists with a body of work. SINGERS OF DAYBREAK is the outgrowth of the Spoken Word community over the last five years.

The artists leading dialogues and teaching workshops will also perform at First Avenue, Sunday August 19, at First Avenue. Truthmaze gives an Introduction to Spoken Word, with bailey; novelist Alexs Pate explores Writing and Publishing; J. Otis Powell! (who premiered his poetic-performance piece STIGMATISM at Intermedia Arts last month) explores Spoken Word and Music. Sha Cage, Minnesota Spoken Word Association co-founder, and co-creator of Mama Mosaic theatre group, teaches career development with the astounding Desdamona and Frank Sentwali.

You can get in the groove at an open-mic performance Saturday evening at 7pm at Sabathani Community Center. Closing out day-one of the event is an outdoor dusk showing of the feature film SLAM, which follows the open mic.

“We’re looking for participation from youth to long-time performers,” said Sha Cage. “This is a community-building event.” (Scholarships are available).

Leading a master class workshop and headlining the Sunday, First Avenue concert (backed by the local jazz group Moveable Feast) will be NYC luminary Carl Hancock Rux. This Bronx-born performer has toured from Paris to Africa, blowing minds along the way. His debut CD, RUX REVUE, included Rux jamming with singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon, and shatters boundaries: Delta blues meets hip-hop and the frontiers of Jazz as does his live performance.

Spin Magazine observed that Rux’s “baritone bends like a willow switch.” The NY Times called him a “secular preacher and hip-hop provocateur.” To this writer’s ears, he is an urgent whisper, an authentic shout of the unbound spirit. He expresses a tender lyricism with gritty truths. His performance is a don’t miss event. Slam champion, local poet Bao Phi, will perform pieces from his new fiery CD, FLARES. Congo transplant, Sister Mimi; dancer Leah Nelson; singer and founder of Java Noire Café, Anika, and spoken word collectives Edupoetic Enterbrainment and The Poet Tree, among others, join Rux for a spellbinding night.

For complete schedule: www.mnspokenword.org. 612-288-9491. Sat. Aug. 18: 10am-4pm Opening Ceremony & Panel Discussion, Workshops; 7pm Open Mic, Screening of SLAM at dusk. Sun. Aug. 19: Noon-4pm Master Class, Workshops at SABATHANI Community Center, 310 E. 38th St., Mpls. (Check website for details and prices)

Carl Hancock Rux and Twin Cities performers, Sun. Aug. 19 6pm ($10) First Avenue, Mpls.

First published in 2001 in The Twin Cities Pulse

 

Singers of Daybreak 2001 featuring Carl Hancock Rux

Press Release:

July, 27, 2001

Contact:
Rachel Joyce
612.874.7931

MINNESOTA SPOKEN WORD ASSOCIATION PRESENTS
THE FIRST SPOKEN WORD SYMPOSIUM: SINGERS OF DAYBREAK
TWO DAY DIALOGUE TO FEATURE SONY SPOKEN WORD RECORDING
ARTIST CARL HANCOCK RUX

The art of spoken word is an ancient art form rooted in the oral tradition recognized in the griot tradition of Africa, the bardic tradition of Europe and the Middle East, the itinerant Tamil poets of India and the cantos singers of South America. Spoken word as it is practiced today is a rhythmically based performance of poetry that is steeped in influence of these traditions. Recognizing the rise of spoken word as an art form in the community in the last 10 years, the Minnesota Spoken Word Association presents the Twin Cities first symposium dedicated to the art of spoken word.This two-day dialogue, August 18 &19, will feature panel discussions, workshops, screenings of spoken word films and videos, and youth activities. The event concludes with Carl Hancock Rux headlining an evening of spoken word, music and dance in First Avenue’s Mainroom. Featuring two stages, the evening will include a performance by jazz group Moveable Feast, spoken word collectives Edupoetic Enterbrainment, The Poet Tree Collective, the Brutist, a performance by rising hip hop artist Slug (of Atmosphere) and along solo spoken word artists including J. Otis Powell!, Bao Phi, Divine Words, Doug Kearney, Sister Mimi, Toki Wright, choreographer Leah Nelson, and others. The evening will culminate with a performance by Carl Hancock Rux.

Selected by The New York Times Magazine as “One of Thirty Artists Under the Age of Thirty Most Likely to Influence Culture Over the Next Thirty Years” (New York Times-1994) and featured on the cover of The Village Voice as one of “Eight Writers on the Verge of Impacting The Literary Landscape…” (Village Voice-June 1998), poet/performer Carl Hancock Rux crosses the disciplines of poetry, music, dance and theater. Having recently published an experimental collection of poetry and prose, Pagan Operetta (Fly By Night Press), Rux has also published poetry, fiction and experimental dramas in numerous journals and anthologies internationally. Musically, Rux has performed his work in collaboration with a variety of artists, including Vernon Reid, Mark Batson, Toshi Reagon, Nona Hendryx, as well as alternative rock bands, trip-hop DJ’s, Latin orchestras, and West African drumming ensembles. Rux has also performed on world stages with The Alvin Alley American Dance Theater (with Jamaican multi-percussionist Junior Gabbu Wedderburn), The Urban Bush Women (featuring an original composition by the avante-garde jazz musician David Murray), and Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater (with Tony award nominated choreographer of “Rent”, Marlies Yearby). He has also performed his work throughout the U.S., Europe, West Africa, Indonesia and Scandinavia. Rux’s debut album, Rux Revue (Sony/550 Music), pairs the artist with some of popular-alternative music’s most inventive composers to date, including Beck/Beastie Boys producers, The Dust Brothers, Elliot Smith producers, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, newcomer Alan Elliot, and acclaimed folk rock singer/songwriter, Toshi Reagon. Rux Revue is available now.

The reputation of the Twin Cities as a rising spoken word community was recently acknowledged by the naming of Minneapolis as the location of the 2002 National Slam Competition. The community has fostered the talents of several nationally acknowledged performers including Bao Phi who has won at the Nuyorican slam competition (one of the strongest in the country) twice. He has also placed highly at the National Slam Competition two years in a row. And the local performance community is poised for international acclaim with the upcoming release of a CD featuring the spoken word of Desdamona produced by legendary Jamaican producers Sly & Robbie. Additionally, Village Blues, the spoken word film by spoken word artist e.g. bailey and filmmaker Ayesha Adu has been shown in several festival and venues including the Juneteenth Film Festival, MMAAC First Film Festival, and MNTV, a showcase of Minnesota independent films. And it received a silver award at the Worldfest Flagstaff International Film and Video Festival. A group of Minnesota spoken word artists including Mankwe Ndosi, Truthmaze, Sister Mimi, Desdamona performed Sleeping God at the first Hip Hop Theatre Festival in New York under the direction of dancer and choreographer Leah Nelson. Edupoetic Enterbrainment has performed regionally at various venues, and member Tiyo Siyolo placed in top 10 (out of 120) at the Def Jam Slam Competitions in Chicago.

The mission of MN Spoken Word Association is to foster and support the community of spoken word artists in Minnesota, and to facilitate programs and events that will further the work of the artists and advance the art of Spoken Word. MnSWA creates programs and workshops for spoken word artists, develop and facilitate grants, and promote their work. It would also serve as a center for information and networking within the spoken word community.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) from an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature. Also funded in part by the Jerome Foundation.

Singers of the Daybreak is co-sponsored by SASE: The Write Place, Intermedia Arts, KFAI, The Loft, Flatland Gallery, Ricochet Kitchen, Rhymesayers Entertainment, First Avenue, World Beat Video, Borders Book Stores, Insight News, Radio K, Pangea World Theatre, Sgt. Preston’s, Sound Unseen/Undercinema, Ashe & Spencer, The Archie Givens Sr. Collection, The Givens Foundation, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, First Fridays, Sabathani Community Center, Pillsbury House Theatre and Backdrop Productions.

Artist biographies and a complete schedule of symposium events follows. For more complete information about Singers of Daybreak or MN Spoken Word Association, please check our website www.mnspokenword.org.