Pages

Sunday 26 June 2011

EVENT: Kat's Got Your Tongue


Theatre Royal Stratford East
in association with
Zupakat Productions presents...



Kat's Got Your Tongue



Sunday 10th & Monday 11th July 2011


Award winning Performance Poet, Playwright, and former World Slam Poetry Champion, Kat Francois, turns her hand to comedy.



Following a 2010, sold out run of Kat's Got Your Tongue, in the Theatre Royal Stratford East's studio space and after six years of hosting live music and poetry events, Kat is ready to jump in the fire and put her funny bone on the line, this time, on the main stage.


Join Kat as she introduces you to her unique and hilarious take on the world, including Grenadian Granny, why she hates bus drivers, wheelchair adventures, angry vaginas, the emotional scars of puberty, and much, much more!



"I have been a big fan of Kat's work for years, a great writer and performer, extremely versatile and absolutely funny!" - Angie Le Mar



Sunday 10th & Monday 11th July 2011

Time: 7:30pm - 10:30pm

Theatre Royal Stratford East

Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford, London E15 1BN


(Transport: Stratford | Central/Jubilee Lines/Overground)


Tickets: £12 (Conc. £10 )


Box Office: 020 8534 0310 | Mon - Sat 10am -7pm | Online Tickets



EVENT: Leaders of the Old Skool





MANDiNKA and ONiT! PR



present


Leaders


of the


Old Skool


Beyond 2000,

A Return to the UK's Roots



Sunday 3rd July 2011


Plan B, Brixton | 6:30pm



Every scene has its originators and Spoken Word is no different.

New and emerging artists constantly sprout from a genre which some believe to be just a few years old, but look beneath the surface, and you'll find an array of poets, lyricists, spoken word artists and story-tellers who've set the scene and paved the way for generations to come...


...meet the


Leaders of the Old Skool


7 of the UK's Pioneering artists who've carved and moulded a

sub-culture of entertainment that speaks to generations



Compere


Kat Francois

Kat Francois - B&W



Guests



Best Kept Secret

BKS

[AmeN NoiR | OneNess | ShaKaRa | TuggS.t.a.r]



Beyonder

Beyonder (Photography by Lucy Williams)



David J the Pugilist

David J



Inua Ellams

Inua Ellams



Tshaka Campbell

Tshaka Campbell



Zena Edwards

Zena Edwards



Prepare yourself for greatness as these trailblazers

remind you of where spoken word came from,

introduce you to how far it's reached and

show you why its possibilities are endless.



Leaders of the Old Skool



Sunday 3rd July 2011



Doors: 6:30pm

Show: 7:30pm

Music til 11pm



Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, LONDON SW9 7AY



Tickets: £7 in advance / £10 on the door


MANDiNKA: 07873 813 466 / ONiT! PR: 07971 481 956



Get your ticket sharpish, this show will be a roadblock!



Saturday 11 June 2011

NEWS: MANDiNKA (CLOSE UP) meets ONiT! PR


MANDiNKA (CLOSE UP) and ONiT! PR present their first collaborative project


A night of live entertainment for the discerning Spoken Word lover!


Imagine, if you will, a selection of the finest lyricists, spoken word artists and story-tellers to come out of the UK...

Imagine a stage, filled with such premier talent, that you don’t know what to do with yourself...

Imagine experiencing such excitement that you gasp, watch in awe, clap, click your fingers, stomp your feet or scream at the top of your lungs, as each headline artist graces the stage...

And finally, imagine that collectively, these 8 pioneering artistes are going to blow your mind with words, rhythm, power and sound...

...this ain’t new... we’re taking you back... back to the early days...

...back to when passion was currency and creativity the motive... when poetry was always powerful, stood for a cause and moved you... when art was love and love was art...

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, fellow creatives and lovers of words, we present to you Leaders of the Old Skool.


Date: Sunday 3rd July 2011 | Time: Doors: 6:30pm | Show: 7:30pm | Music: til midnight

Venue: Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, LONDON SW9 7AY


Tickets: £7 in advance / £10 on the door | In Person from ONiT! PR & MANDiNKA


**Full details to be released on Sunday 12 June – stay tuned!**

Wednesday 1 June 2011

INTERVIEW: FLOetic Lara

Short.
Sharp.
Facts!

Name: FLOetic Lara
Repping: NLT Collective
Birthplace: South London
Lives: On me Jack Jones in Bricky (Brixton)
Poetry Debut: Brixton Art Gallery, 2001

Awards/Accomplishments:
UK Youth Ambassador at the age of 18. Shipped to America to shadow Colin Powell. Musically, I supported and opened the show for artists Jaguar Wright and Dwele. In 2005, I won Best Poet at Kojo’s Comedy Rooms. Also, having Omar produce one of my tracks for my first CD project - that was lovely, and having Don-E produce a track for me was a blessing too.

Q&A

Here at ONiT! PR, we're excited to know that you're having an album launch concert on Sunday 5th June, and because we're eager [laughs], we thought we'd touch base with you before hand to get a little insight into the lady that is FLOetic Lara, so.....let's go!


Describe FLOectic Lara in 5 words...

• Vibrant
• Passionate
• Revolutionary
• Funky
• Creative

Are you a night owl or a morning person?
I am a moon baby (so yes, Night owl).

What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Oh bloody hell… [laughs] ermm… The chicken, the chicken.

Favourite Colour?
I like purple , green and gold.

If you were a fruit what fruit would you be and why?
I know this one, I am a mango! Because I am juicy, I am exotic, suckable (am I allowed to say that? [laughs]) and I’m large, and large mangoes are nice…

We understand that you recorded your album ‘For Lovers Of...’ at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica. Tell us about your experience of recording in a space that Bob (Marley) and so many other influential reggae artists have used?
It was amazing! It was good to have that ancestral energy, seeing all the medals and platinum records was definitely inspirational and I felt homered to be there.

What can we expect to hear on this album?
You can expect to hear my usual soul, eclectic mix of Jazz and hip hop but it’s fused with a reggae undertone and it was recorded with a full, live band.

You’re well known in the industry as a Singer/Songwriter as well as a Poet. Do you have a preference of the two?
Oh boy, boy, boy [laughs] No I don’t have a preference, no. I’m a Poet, who likes to use sound I suppose. I’ve always loved messing about vocally, but yeah, I can’t say I have a preference.

What inspired you to start performing and actually pursue it as a career?
Initially, it was just about sharing some of my creativity and I suppose what inspired me, was seeing some of the other artists on the scene doing their thing and making it their career. I didn’t really know Poets could be so, powerful. It made a big impact on me – especially the spoken word scene. As for singing, I was 11 years old when my favourite artist (Erykah Badu) bought out her first album, Baduizum. I played it non-stop and I just loved it, so I suppose it had quite an impact on me.

Describe your style…
I’d say its thought provoking, passionate, youthful, cheeky but with an underlying message from an old soul.

Do you have any pre-performance rituals that you like to do before a show?
Before I get on stage, I like to prep myself up by visualizing what I’m going to do, I like to give thanks that I’m about to go up there and do my thing, and tell myself to breathe and not to worry [laughs] because sometimes, I can get quite nervous.

Who are your greatest influences?
Erykah Badu, I like Busta Rhymes because of his energy, I’ve always loved Busta. I’d also claim AmeN NoiR as one of my influences; he’s a spoken word artist from the London scene. I just think he’s amazingly powerful and has a great stage presence, so yeah. Also, sorry I can’t forget my jazz influences, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday - love them.

If you could collaborate on a track with any other singer, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Dead or alive? Erm.. Fundamentally I would like to do something with Erykah Badu but for someone that’s passed I’d like to do something with Billie Holiday because her pain was immense, and really came through in her sound and her tone, so yeah, I’d work with her.

Is there an artist or performance that you’ve recently seen that blew you away?
I saw Damian Marley not too long ago and he was tight, really good.

We know you’ve performed internationally, from New York to the Far East (Jealous!) What’s been your greatest performance experience that you’ve had outside of the UK?
Once, I was in New York and, because I do a lot of youth work as well, I mix music with youth work, I performed for a school of supposedly 'naughty' under privileged youths, and they went off their heads saying “oh woooow you should be on American Idol” and so on, so that was nice, definitely. Mostly, because they’re children.

Musically I’d say Bangkok - I performed with Thailand’s top Saxophonist (sorry, I can’t remember his name). He was amazing and the vibe that we had was just incredible because we both shared a deep appreciation for Jazz, which was nice.

What do you do in your spare time to relax when you’re not hard at work?
I like to hold a juice, kick back, light candles and enjoy a hot bath, using some of my Naturally Divine Oils from my own product range [laughs], and just chilling with my bredrins. We like to talk over good food, discuss a good book and so on.

What can we expect from your Album Launch at Plan B on the 5th of June?
Ooooh some exciting surprises! Expect me to utilise my creativity in various styles of art, put it that way… (hint, hint, hint – I’m not giving anything away [laughs])

Where can fans buy your album?
Firstly it will be available at the launch, following that, on FLOeticlara.com, also, it will soon be available on iTunes.

Outside of the stage, where can we find you?
Twitter: @FLOeticlara


You can see and hear the enigmatic and vivacious FLOetic Lara perform tracks from her latest album, 'For Lovers Of...' at her launch concert at Plan B, 418 Brixton Road, LONDON SW9 7AY on Sunday 5th June.

FLO will be supported by guest artists AmeN Noir (Best Kept Secret), Comfort - Art without Apology, LeeN, Mandisa and Mikel Ameen. This live extravaganza will be compered by the hilarious Kat Francois (Kat's Got Your Tongue, Word4Word, INTIMATES)

Tickets: £10 in advance from TicketWeb or in person, from the following outlets:

North - Every Bodies Music
261 High Road, N15 4RR | 020 8802 0146

East - Direct Impact Music
158 Hoe Street, E17 4QH | 07939 315 928

South Blacker Dread Music
406 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LF | 020 7274 5095

More on the door, on the night.

This is one not to be missed!

Words by: Shorntay Allen