BIRMINGHAM: Hit The Ode

Thursday, March 24th, 2011, 7.30pm, £5 on door only
The Victoria,
48 John Bright Street,
Birmingham
Info: bohdan@applesandsnakes.org

Hit The Ode
We’re only three nights in, and already it seems hard to imagine the Birmingham scene without Hit the Ode. For the fourth edition, the Victoria will welcome veteran dub poet Moqapi Selassie, multi-talented poet/musician Dizraeli, as well as L&D, the poetry team featuring two Dutch poetry slam champions, Ellen Deckwitz and Daan Doesborgh.

All this poetry goodness will be expertly punctuated with carefully selected tracks from our... resident DJ Soesmix.

And if you write and perform poetry yourself - there will be a (very) few open mic slots available, so get there early on the day to sign up!

Line-up:
From Birmingham: Moqapi Selassie
Moqapi is a Rastafari dub poet, born and raised in Birmingham. A veteran of the scene, he has been performing since 1984. He was a founding member of the Conscious Poets Society and the New October Poets Society. His poems were published in Five Birmingham Poets Book; he was part of the groundbreaking "Word Temple" directed by Amani Naphthal; he directed documentary entitled "Sumbrumpoets" featuring Martin Glynn, Birry, Mandisa and Kokumo. Aside from writing and sharing his poetry, Moqapi is also a radio presenter - you can catch his Word Sound Power on www.banturadio.com Fridays 6 to 8 Gmt.
Find out more: http://www.myspace.com/moqapiselassie

From Brighton: Dizraeli
Dizraeli is a BBC Slam Poetry Champion and Farrago UK Slam Champion, and also fronts the hiphop/folk band Dizraeli and the Small Gods. He has toured the world as a rapper and spoken word artist, performing in places ranging from the West Bank in Palestine to the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury. Described by Venue Magazine as "a true folk hero, capturing the truth of our times with groundlevel honesty", Dizraeli has written 3 hiphop plays, including the Edinburgh Fringe award-winning Rebel Cell.
Find out more: http://www.dizraeli.com/

From the Netherlands: L&D (Daan Doesborgh & Ellen Deckwitz)
Ellen Deckwitz is a rising star on the Dutch poetry scene. She won the National Poetry Slam Championships in 2009 and has taken her poetry from Berlin to Paris, from Antwerp to Warsaw. Her first collection of poetry will be published in April 2011. The duo’s other half, Daan Doesborgh started performing in 2005 at a local open mic, and hasn't stepped off the stage since. He has lectured on performance poetry at the universities of Warwick, Amsterdam and Turin, and performed his own work all over the Netherlands and across Europe. Winning the 2010 Dutch national championships crowned Daan's curriculum to date. He published a book of poetry in 2010 called De Venus Suikerspin (The Venus Cotton Candy).
Find out more: http://www.daandoesborgh.nl/
Ellen is working on a new website of her own - watch this space.