A night with…Ursula

A few years ago, I accidentally came across a Def Poetry Jam video, I remember it being Erykah Badu’s “Friends, Fans, Artists” and the way she recited that poem that could easily have turned into a rap song had it been accompanied by a beat, the way the audience responded, the cvasi prop she used for effect, everything was in place and moving fast, at the same time. She was performing it with her whole body, giving it almost a physical shape. I had absolutely no idea you could play with sounds in such a palpable way.

I couldn’t explain what I was witnessing. And I know that, to some, this thing she did might not seem like something wonderfully poetic, or wonderfully anything, as almost anyone who isn’t a stranger to drama, given a subject and a little bit of time, could easily find enough words in their vocabulary to make up a similar word dance and engage some acolytes…right?

Terribly wrong. I dare you to try it.

 

 

In the blink of an eye, I found myself wrapped up around this art form called “spoken word” and decided I would like to try this at home sometimes, but first, I’d have to understand what it is, where it came from, how it’s done and in how many different ways. And like any other form of expression, I found out that it too is incredibly personal and unique and comes in a multitude of shapes and tags such as slam poetry, jazz poetry, prose monologues, comedy acts, hip hop and most of it’s effect is given by the voice’s inflections and intonation.

Spoken word could be universal and socially moralising such as Lauryn Hill’s “Motives and thoughts”, direct and terror driven as Suheir Hammad’s slam poem about 9/11, brutally honest as Taylor Mali’s “What teachers make” or humorously deja-vu-ish as Thea Monyee’s “Woman to woman”.

And it’s wonderful to witness the evolution of those who have been doing it for as long as they can remember, as in Sarah Key’s case, who appeared on the Def Jam Poetry stage when she was only eighteen and playfully performed “Hands”, later moving on to the TED stage with a more mature but equally heart warming approach to spoken word poetry, in “If I should have a daughter” and today, a thirty-one-year-old Sarah continuing to bring light into the world with “A bird made of birds”.

 

But a little different from all the above is Ursula Rucker.

Her message could be considered solely feministic, but it’s more of a universal cry and demand for acceptance, reconciliation, understanding, equality, love and freedom for all beings. She hypnotizes her audience by using both music and spoken word, alternating them, playing with notions, finding a rhythm and moving around it’s limits.

And the way she delivered her liberating, uplifting message last night felt as if the whole experience had been created on the spot, from a broken soul still in the process of learning and healing itself and the heavenly, eerie sounds of a violin accentuating the important passages of every verse, moving us to the core, bringing peace over our small, unimportant struggle, finding common ground between all of us present and the universe in an intimate monologue, taking us to her most beautiful and vulnerable self.

Her whole appearance seemed natural and not overly rehearsed, which brought even more credibility to the artistic act.

Dylema Collective, an English band with a little different approach to spoken word and music started the evening and took us on a journey of raw sexuality, forgiveness, lust and linger with an intricate mingle of harmonies and smooth grooves, then followed Cleveland Watkiss, an incredibly chameleonic English singer who feels comfortable  performing in an impressive range of genres, having collaborated with great musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Bjork, Maxi Priest, Goldie, Talvin Singh, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams, Bobby McFerrin, Branford Marsalis, Sugar Minott, the Royal Phillarmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, The Who, Coldcut, Lisa Stansfield among many others.

  

But there to make all that emotion of Ursula’s words and the changing moods almost palpable was Alice Zawadski – vocalist (and what a voice she has!), songwriter, composer, but most of all, an enormously talented violinist, with an artistically rich background of New Orleans jazz and gospel, classical music, improvisation, poetry and folk music – some of which, invented.

All those remarkable artists playfully stole the show from each other, improvised, created new kinds of beauty before our eyes, left us thinking “What just happened?” and wishing that the night would never end.

And this is what magic is all about.

Green Eyed Kisses,