November 4, 5, 6

(First published in Mosaic, May 2011)

We only just said goodbye to the 2010 Words Aloud Festival in the March issue of Mosaic in which Ruth Mittelholtz reviewed a toe-tapping, ear-snapping encore performance by C.R. Avery, and we’re already back pawing at the gates eager to usher in the eighth festival this November. Are we putting the coffee on too early? Certainly not, since the preparations have been percolating for at least seven months. We’re bubbling over with enthusiasm and information to relay.

Words Aloud remains loyal to its tradition of showcasing a diverse assortment of unique talents, genres and performance styles, gathering together voices from regions across Canada and beyond. And although the festival bills itself as a ‘spoken word’ event, there is a lot more than just speaking that goes on!

In spoken word, we never know what pastiche of different voices we will be treated to. The sky is the limit when it comes to the possibilities of conveying language through voicing. The piece might be yelled out, murmured, hissed ...or an artist might sing or tongue tap with percussive beat boxing. A voice can be ornamented and enhanced by accompanying instruments or puppets. We’ve seen stuffed animals and costumes, drums, recorders and slide shows. The artists may slam, dub or hip hop their creations to us. We could be treated to small skits or the two step shuffle. Or, our attention may be quietly drawn to a single voice sharing the beautiful bones of a poem.

For those of us unaccustomed to spoken word events or poetry, we may be initially perplexed by some of what we’re seeing and hearing. When we venture into unfamiliar arenas of art forms, or even new experiences for that matter, it’s helpful – albeit very difficult – to hang our hats up onto the hooks of ‘liking and disliking’. When we form knee-jerk opinions the moment we observe an art piece, we slam the door shut on gaining new experiences. We instantly close down the possibilities of the artwork, dead-ending it in the cul-de-sacs of ‘nice or not nice’, ‘good or bad’.

The challenge is to temporarily vacate these confining offices where our “Minister of Judgments” presides, where we limit ourselves with laws and statutes and governances all based on what’s customary, safe and familiar. We don’t like what we don’t know. The unfamiliar threatens our assumptions about the world, each other, and ourselves. Can we pluck up our courage to explore unconventional realms and surrender our senses and mind to the unknown, open ourselves to curiosity and inquiry, where new experiences and insights may be spawned? Words Aloud promises to pause the metronome of our routine governed lives and treat us to a highly original and exciting tableau of experiences and voices. It takes courage to do this! We hope you’ll take the leap, if you haven’t already.

The hooks have been cast into the ocean of literary talent, and Artistic Director Liz Zetlin is reeling in some phenomenal performers. The impressive stamp Durham’s already made on the map of spoken word festival destinations is only getting bigger with this year’s emerging line-up, even more so with the well known ‘big catches’ we’ve made!

To whet your appetite, here’s a sampler sized introduction to the line-up confirmed so far. We’ll update you as the year ticks on. We invite you to look up the authors on the internet to get acquainted with them.

First we introduce Anne Simpson, who’s an award winning poet and novelist based in Nova Scotia. Following Anne, we say hello to Ontario based Lillian Allen, who’s known to rouse audiences out of their seats with her dub poetry. Perhaps you’ve heard of her landmark album “Revolutionary Party.”

We then swivel our attention in another direction entirely and welcome Ayub Nuri, who’s originally from Iraq. Perhaps he’ll escort us to his home country briefly through his journalist writings. Next we usher in Ariel Gordon, an emerging poet from Manitoba, who’ll tempt us with refreshing writings.

And speaking of “Gordon”, can you guess the name of the well known and loved singer- songwriter who’s hopping the fence from Guelph to join us? None other than James Gordon himself, who will be treating us to songs of social justice, our heritage and the environment.

Also joining this talented team is Steven Heighton, who many of you may already be familiar with. Let’s give this prolific and acclaimed author of 20 novels and books of poetry a warm reception! We also welcome Marilyn Dumont, a poet with Métis and Cree ancestry whose work is filtered through multi-cultural lenses, encouraging us to look beyond our cultural short- sightedness.

Finally, we announce with enormous pleasure the special appearance of a legendary performer who has been in the ‘biz’ for decades, who almost single-handedly changed the way poetry is performed and regarded, who is a veteran of the countercultural beat generation and is still going strong; please give a very warm hello to New York based John Giorno as he joins us on his 75th Birthday Tour.

As if this wasn’t enough, Words Aloud will shift its focus away from the Durham Art Gallery stage just long enough to feature spoken word satellite events throughout the area. We will be combining efforts with partnering organizations and venues to host events like the International Festival of Authors, which draws more than 100 authors from 25 countries for a series of readings and on-stage interviews. Most IFOA events are located at Harbourfront, Toronto, but Owen Sound will also showcase internationally acclaimed authors.
Once again, Dyan Jones of the South Grey Bruce Youth Literary Council will coordinate an amazing production by the Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre. This theatre company offers an increasingly rare opportunity to sidestep the virtual world and participate in a living breathing and lively puppet production of “Wind in the Willows.” The company is known for aesthetically beautiful and intimate effects which encourage imagination and new ways of telling stories. And of course we’ll once again be cheering on the verbal calisthenics of slam poets as they compete against each other with pumped muses and high spirits at the Williamsford Mill and local high schools.

There’s still so much more to ‘speak’ about! Keep checking in with every issue of Mosaic until the grand event. We’ll continue to provide you with in-depth information about the festival while also introducing the concepts and history of spoken word and poetry in general. But, you can see why we started talking about all this so early! We’ll see you next month.