Kate Tempest at Apples & Snakes in Soho Oct 09 from Apples and Snakes on Vimeo.
kate tempest spoken word poetry is a whirlwind. harry and i went to see her at the albany last night in with a mix of other spoken word artists with the amazing applesandsnakes who i first came across at the big chill festival. last night i jotted down the themes touched on by poets
- justice
- racism
- poverty
- oppression
- freedom
- truth
- regaining the authentic voice of the poet where it has sold out
- peace
- warmongering
- relationships
- brokenness
- love
- mental health
- slavery
- homelessness
- consumerism
- identity
- dignity
- beauty of all people
poetry gets to the issues more than anything i know. i have never been in a church environment where there is the same level of truthful speech about the way things are. it's not that church isn't truthful. it's just that poetry is a different kind of speech. many of the poets remind me of that sense you get of the prophets like jeremiah who describes the word of god like a fire in his bones that he has to get out. kate tempest is like this (there was also a guy dean from bristol who was making his nervous debut who had exactly the same kind of compulsion to write and speak who i loved – don't know any more about him). this speech, this fire in her bones has to come pouring out as she turns 'oceans into paragraphs' and lives the 'life of a scribe'. it's raw, it's gutsy, it's passionate, it's very south london, it's absolutely beautiful. here's one movie i found of her in action reciting the poem 'revelation' i think. she has a limited edition box set cd – 300 copies only – it is really worth getting…
[oh and if you like your speech squeaky clean don't press play]
This is powerful. Thanks for posting it, Jonny. What talent.
Hopeful!! Though you say church doesn’t speak quite the same language as poetry, I like to think of poetry as one kind of church without walls. Probably there are others, yes? Every blessing for the new community of CMS, by the way.
Kate Tempest is awesome. Theres a fantastic interview with her, which was done recently…learned a lot of new things about her. Have a look if you’re a fan http://bit.ly/a0jBL5
thanks for the link – great to hear she has been signed to do an album with rob da bank’s label…
Very good stuff from such a young artist. Great interview with Kate Tempest at Rivmixx – http://bit.ly/beCeQp
Go to: http://www.soundofrum.com for more of Kate Tempest playing with her band Sound of Rum or visit http://www.myspace.com/katetempestwords for her on her own!