Speaking our minds
CONTIRIBUTED
March 25, 2010 9:00 AM
Spoken word, while a form of poetry, falls into a genre all its own. It is poetry that is meant to be performed, not bound into a book.
It is a way for poets to play with the sounds they use, to feed off of their audience, to read aloud their thoughts in a way that feels natural to them.
On Tuesday, March 16, CFXU hosted the Spoken Word Night at the StFX Art Gallery, featuring Tanya Davis.
Poetry readings are stereotypically lofty and pretentious, but this evening of expression was wonderfully down to earth.
It is difficult to follow up the evening with an adequate description. It is incredible how much power words have to affect emotions, and how many emotions the audience went through over the course of the performances. People laughed, cried, and were stunned into silence.
First on the program were a few students and members of the community who volunteered to share original poems or works written by others.
Gregor Boyle began with a selection of poetry by Canadian Alden Nowlan. He was followed by Russell Welsh, Brendan Scott, and Brendan Ahern performing works they had written. Their pieces were all very different, but each made a striking performance.
The feature presentation was Tanya Davis, a quirky and endearingly sweet poet/singer/songwriter from PEI. She seemed a little shy at first, as though unsure what reaction she would elicit from the audience.
She need not have worried. The cozy venue was packed full with eager listeners, sharing a common open-mindedness and readiness to be impressed with what they heard. And impressive it was.
Davis’ words were thoughtful and insightful. She had an ability to speak about typical song/poem topics while utterly avoiding clichés and being truly original.
Her pieces sometimes drew out the audience’s feelings subtly, as in her piece about life in a small town that seemed uncannily like Antigonish; others struck resounding chords, such as the piece about what life would be like if one were dying of cancer.
While much of her program was poetry, Davis occasionally added her soft, breathy singing voice to the mix.
The lyrics were still the clear focus, but the infusion of music brought another dimension to the performance.
She also accompanied some of her pieces with a bass guitar and a harmonium (a miniature piano that sounds somewhat like an accordion).
The final portion of the night was an open mic for any audience members to share their verses and prose.
Throughout the event, each performer made him or herself entirely vulnerable. It was a refreshingly different experience.
Each concert CFXU has presented this year has been of high quality, and has introduced many musicians that many students may not have otherwise come across.
May performances like this continue for Xaverians in the years to come.
