4/27/2011 Echo Chamber

Tonight the Echo Chamber presented the annual "Word Beat I Powa" dub poetry, beat poetry, and spoken word special to celebrate National Poetry Month. Of course, it was dub poetry that set the foundation of the show, featuring poets Oku Onoura, Mutabaruka, Jean Binta Breeze, Jazzmin Tutum, Kaysha Lee & Ras Takura, Malachi Smith, Glenville Bryan, Lady Dawn, and of course, the incomparable Linton Kwesi Johnson. Another fun piece of dub poetry was the excellent track "Dilly Dally" from Everton Sylvester and the Brooklyn Funk Essentials. But there was much more than dub poetry... From the beat camp we had poems and fragments from Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and from the hip-hop side of the house we had poems from Tommy Lee Soul, El Guante, and e.g. bailey (with his excellent "American Afrikan"). Other voices included: LXR featuring Omar Ben Hassan, Brain Damage featuring Black Sifichi and Suzanne Thoma, JEN, CoolHipNoise featuring the Last Poets, Lee Scratch Perry, Parliament, and the DJs U-Roy, Big Youth, Sir Lord Comic, and Judge Dread. DJ Baby Swiss even mixed a comedy routines from Stiller & Meara on top of The Herbalizer Band and The Slackers. A great night of spoken word fun...