WORDSLAM 3 with a new PHASE

At the beginning of the this movement, sometime last year (July 5,2008), Culture Advocates Caucus with its partner, Goethe-Institut, promised to take the initiative tagged: WordSlam...A Feast of Poetic Flights, to the street by making it a quarterly event. Then, the maiden edition which, featured poets such as Akeem Lasisi, Iquo Eke, Edaoto, Jumoke Verissimo, Sage Has.son, Cornerstone, Muri Amulegboja, Awoko and Dagga Tolar was held within the premises of Goethe-Institut — the German Cultural Centre on the Victoria Island. Even though the rains threatened to drive the enthusiastic audience off their seats, the sonorous voices of the chanters, the irrepressible messages of the poets and the heavy musicality of the live bands glued them to their seats, not minding whether their clothes got wet or not. The first edition of WordSlam was an amazing success as was attested by the scores of media reports that trailed it, and the resounding applause it
generated from the audience – applause that reverberated long after the light had gone out and far away from the venue of that maiden edition.

The Second edition held on September 13th, 2008, fulfilled the promise of the CAC and Goethe-Institut by putting poetry back on the streets of Nigeria and Africa in general. It held in a carnivalesque ambience of the open air of the Sarmakand Tree at the National Theatre. Again, there was rain, but the feast was just too robust and delicious to be abandoned by the audience that even came from as far as Ibadan in Oyo State and Ile Ife in Osun State. Thus the feast of poetic flights had in so short a time wormed its way into the heart of the Lagos literary circle.

This edition, the third ritual of the WordSlam, is here to consolidate on the gains of the past two editions, and to impress it on the public that Poetry can indeed leap out of the cold pages of the print and become a delicacy in the mental palate of the audience. It will parade five artistes from the maiden edition, and also introduce six artistes selected from the OPEN MIND & MIC SESSION of the past second edition. These artistes include Sage Has.son, Edaoto, Dagga Tolar, Cornerstone, Awoko; Iquo Eke, Jumoke Verissimo, Ayodeji Akinpelu, Uche Nwadinachi, Segun Eluyemi, Michael etc. There will also be a much rebranded OPEN MIND & MIC session – designed to fish out new, vibrant voices that will go into the next stage.

Goethe-Institut and Culture Advocates Caucus have perfected plans to take WordSlam brand of poetry to schools in the spirit of catch-them-young and building the voices of the future. “Education is primary to the WordSlam and its projections, says a spokesman for the CAC.

To start in this new direction, this edition of the project experimented with a 2-day Poetry Workshop, which had its participants drawn major-ly from departments of Literature and English in higher institutions as well as young poets ambitious of making a mark in the genre. Veteran actor, life poetry exponent, Lari Williams, and the Germany-based popular literary musician, whose music draws heavily on poetic chants, Ade Bantu, ran the Workshop.

The organizers also plan that excelling poets from the WordSlam project will eventually be deployed to schools to assist with grooming the students in the art of life poetry performances.

While the dream flowers, you are welcome to yet another feast of poetic flights.

Aderemi Adegbite
Stage Manager,
WORDSLAM