Since when did poetry get this good?

Last Thursday I headed down to East London's finest arts center 'Rich Mix near Brick Lane for a night called 'Tongue Fu'. The premise was essentially a bill of poets/word smiths and all round lyrical masterminds performing their handy work accompanied by a band. OK - already this sounds like a pretty cool Thursday evening right? Well it gets better, the Tongue Fu band was band up of UNKLE & Nostalgia 77.

The best spoken word artists from around UK are invited to perform every month and the night has built up something of an underground following. The Tongue Fu band basically provide a continuous improvised soundtrack which is mostly influenced by funk/jazz and swing. Each poet gives the audience an intro to their piece and asks the band to provide a soundtrack in the theme of their work... this can be anything from Hip-Hop to Trance?! It's amazing to see a band adapt there music on the fly to the themes of the poem.

Its all totally improvised and unrehearsed and makes for some incredible entertainment.

 Jacob Sam-La Rose in action at Tongue Fu

The highlights for me were lyrical wizard Jacob Sam-La Rose who really pushes poetry to a new level. A genuine believer in his craft, his passion for this is clearly evident. A narrative unfolds at a rhyming pace and you cant help but just stand or sit in awe. Meanwhile the band are playing off each other, weaving baselines and drumbeats together to create a flowing soundtrack which perfectly cements the narrative to produce an atmosphere and almost hypnotic sound. 

Find out more about Jacob here - he maintains a wealth of websites that are crammed with incredible surprises, worth checking out.

Other stand out performances were from host and out and out words man Chris Redmond - his down to earth original poems have the power to make you laugh, sit up, stare and cry. Amazing talent, but don't just take my word for it - please spend some time checking this out, download or just listen:

TONGUE FU PODCAST

Chris Redmond laying down the lyrical vibes

“I do believe poetry changes the world: it changes the world by changing the way we think about the world.” - Kathleen Graber

Its nights like this that I imagine artists like Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip probably would have thrived before finding commercial success through their electro/dub step sounds. If you are not familiar with Dan Le Sac check this aptly named track 'Great Britain'. Lyrics can be powerful and potent and this is fine demonstration:

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Great Britain Remix by MarlowVsHallowell

Let's not forget the just who the band are - although the night wasn't about them UNKLE have continued to deliver some of the most incredible stirring music with their collaborations with Ian Brown. James Lavelle continues to graft away with UNKLE and the results always surprise and please me.

I'll leave you with my favorite UNKLE track - somewhat unrelated to the theme of this post - but it doesn't hurt, does it?

Unkle - Reign by Zulluhead

The next Tongue Fu is on March 24th at 8pm at the Rich Mix in Ol'London Town more info here:
http://www.richmix.org.uk/aandc_tonguefu2.htm

Andy in London