spoken word record label & events
poet, educator & activist.
This month’s column looks back at Matt Abbott‘s career trajectory over the 2010s; reflecting the huge growth of the UK spoken word scene in general. Click here to read it.
Our second regional ‘LIVEwire’ event saw us team up with Raise The Bar to put on a storming night at Arnolfini. Sets from Salena Godden, Jess Green and Kevin P. Gilday made a truly amazing night, as captured by Alex Sheppard in these photos.
We’ve also got this brilliant highlights video, courtesy of Raise The Bar! The video is available to view on our YouTube channel (embedded below) as well as our Facebook page, IGTV channel and Twitter account, so please give it a share. Ta.
Welcome to Roaring 20s Radio: a brand new programme on Soho Radio created to amplify the best of art, culture, books, poetry and activism as we roar into the next decade. Roaring 20s Radio is presented by Salena Godden, Amah-Rose Abrams and Matt Abbott. Our first episode will be broadcast on Soho Radio on Saturday 16 November 2019 at 2pm, featuring special guest Rookes talking about her incredible new EP with a live interview in the studio. Following this first broadcast, we air at 2pm on the third Saturday of each month.
Our monthly residency will celebrate and champion the people that are roaring in the face of adversity. Each episode will feature exciting live studio guests, round-ups from our specialist fields and the Roaring ‘20s quiz. Plus we’ll play some of our favourite tunes and chat our way through the political turbulence that dominates the world. The Roaring ‘20s quiz involves sharing a series of extraordinary quotes, facts and news items from past and present and discussing and guessing who said it and which decade it was from: proving no matter how far back we go, there’s always been resistance in the shape of formidable literature, powerful art movements and people of courage fighting apathy and inspiring us all to ROAR more!
This month’s spoken word poetry column for The State of the Arts looks at the political poets to take us through these dark days, and the importance of political poetry in general.
Matt looks at the work of Jess Green and Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, as well as sharing videos from our very own Kevin P. Gilday and Luke Wright. You can read it here.
As part of a project with BBC Arts, Salena Godden responded to one of the internet’s most asked questions: ‘is there anybody out there?’
The video was filmed in a storage warehouse and deserted space in East London, with Salena exploring what it might be like “round the back of the internet”. You can watch the video here.
The project also involved teaming up with Google Arts & Culture. There’s an interview and some ace pics on their dedicated page. Have a butcher’s!
