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Raise the Bar brings together students, non-students, and local writers of all ages, backgrounds and lyrical styles to provide a platform for artists to showcase and perform their work, as well as providing the very best entertainment for poetry fans. They are hugely invested in talent development and offer an open mic each month, which you can sign up for on a first come first serve basis by emailing rtbspokenword@gmail.com or alternatively messaging their Facebook page www.facebook.com/uobraisethebar
Hosted by Danny Pandolfi and Tim Ledwitch.
Featuring
Jean 'Binta' Breeze
Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze is an award winning poet and performer of international standing, and one of the most important, influential poets of the past few decades. A popular Jamaican Dub poet whose powerful performances have frequently been called a ‘one-woman festival’, Jean received a NESTA Award in 2003 and an MBE in 2012 for services to literature, and is now an Honorary Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Leicester. She has performed her work worldwide including tours of North America, Europe, South East Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Her poetry collections include the books Ryddim Ravings (1988), Spring Cleaning (1992), The Arrival of Brighteye and Other Poems (2000) and most recently Third World Girl (2011). She also wrote the script for the film Hallelujah Anyhow, screened at the British Film Festival in 1990. Jean grew up in rural Jamaica and then moved to Kingston, soon becoming established as a key performer and recording artist through her rhythms and reverberations of reggae, and subsequently studied at the Jamaican School of Drama where she was instrumental in the formation of the renowned women’s theatre company, before being encouraged to come to Britain by Linton Kwesi Johnson. Jean is an actress, dancer, choreographer and theatrical director, a performance background which brings her poetry to life through her striking stage presence, has worked as a director and scriptwriter for theatre, television and film, and is joint-editor of Critical Quarterly in London where she works as a lecturer and performance poet. Her poems are Caribbean songs of innocence and experience, of love and conflict. They use personal stories and historical narratives to explore social injustice and the psychological dimensions of black women's experience. Striking evocations of childhood in the hills of Jamaica give way to explorations of the perils and delights of growth and change - through sex, emigration, motherhood and age.
Polarbear
Born and raised in the city of Birmingham, Polarbear accidentally fell into spoken word from a hip-hop background due to a P.A. system fail, and has since developed into a fully-fledged spoken word artist well renowned for his incredible storytelling ability and vividly real depictions of life through poetic cadence and rhyme schemes. A hugely influential figure, Polarbear is one of the originators of the modern blend between poetry and performance, hip-hop and spoken word, and can use approaches of comedy, romance and seriousness to equal effect and brilliance. Polarbear has performed at a number of huge festivals including Glastonbury, Shamabala, Warwick Words, Radio 4’s Bespoken Word, OneTaste, and has toured a number of shows all over the UK, producing a variety of both plays and one-man-shows. He is also a spoken word educator who has worked closely with organizations such as Roundhouse in mentoring emerging artists and guiding them in developing their own style, and has mentored artists like Harry Baker who have gone on to achieve acclaim. It is a great pleasure to welcome Polarbear to Bristol, a set of brilliant performance poetry you don’t want to miss!
Plus OPEN MIC, which you can sign up for on the door on a first come first serve basis. Please arrive at 7.30pm to sign up for the open mic.
If extenuating circumstances will prevent you from arriving early to sign up then please email [email protected], as we reserve 1-2 slots in advance to ensure everybody has an opportunity to perform.
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