Zena E Headlining @ Supa Fine Spoken Word and Music on 26th Jan ’12

On 26th Jan, I’ll be headling at SUPA FINE – a night of Spoken Word and Music accompanied by Jon Speedy from JSB, the soulful, dynamic, conscious poet Oness Sankara and the beautiful vocals of Bianca Rose. If you don’t know these ladies, it time to get to know, they’re some of London’s best female artists in their field. Click names for vibrant more info…

The venue The Hideaway (in North London) has high quality Italian food too, so you can book a table and enjoy the soul food of Poetry and great Italian grub

It’s £5 on the door but there’s a £3 concessions guest list, so drop me an email and I’ll put you down if you fancy it. This

“Raising Game EP Xtra” – My Poetry and Music Compilation

It became too much. I started to hang my head in shame. The last request on how to get hold of some of my work got me saying to myself, ‘the energy behind your fans asking for cd’s or books straight after a gig is perhaps the most significant factor in you continuing to push on through when things get tough, Zena, especially when the industry ‘ain’t showin no love’ and promoters are too broke to pay you too.”
So, with the digital age in full effect, I have put together a body of work in one place, available for download on Bandcamp, naming it “Raising Game EP Xtra”.

This is a selection of my favourite spoken word and music collaborations over time . I’m proud of them all and thought it was time to have them compiled so I  look back on them as a  personal legacy  as I move into 2012. I’m have some brilliant collaborations in the pipeline so I’m  very excited. The title “Raising Game” is to remind myself that I although this is a selection I am proud of, I expect much more from my creativity in the near future. I feel I have more to offer. Enjoy!

To get your copy of “Raising Game EP Xtra”, you can go to Bandcamp have a listen and download 9 quality tracks for £7 or download individual tracks for your selective listening pleasure. Your feedback is most welcome  so please email at conversationsvid@gmail.com  to leave feedback  and to get on the mailing lists for all my performances and creative projects as well as other links to poetry and music  blogs that really float my boat.

Poet Storytellers to conquer Theatre? My take…

IN 2009 I performed “Security“, my first one woman show in Amsterdam’s prestigious venue Podium Mozaiek. In march 2012, I shall be returning again to perform “Travelling Light”. Both shows have challenged me to stretch my appreciation of Spoken Word and Poetry in the world of theatre and how extended works  such as these are ‘cultural vehicles’ exploring poetic language in performance, or literature made ‘live’.

Interview: Performance poet Zena Edwards in Amsterdam

With a fusion of poetry, the spoken word and rhythm, Zena Edwards’ new performance piece ‘Security’ straddles the gap between generations as she takes storytelling into the twenty-first century. Amsterdam, Podium Mozaiek, 20 February (English language).

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How would you describe your own performances?

Image Credit: Rob Sloetry

‘As a performance poet, I focus on both crafts individually and then fuse them.  The craft of performance and the craft of poetry.  I feel poetry has all the drama, pace and power right there in the text and it is there to be discovered and brought to life through performance.  Over the years I have developed a performance style that pays homage to the musicality and emotion in the language.  I try to keep my style conversational as this type of language is dynamic, rhythmic, with so many shades, colours and tones.  So I work hard to find these.  I enjoy singing so I include this too.

For the solo show though, it is another experience.  There are four characters, each with their own rhythms and voices, body language.  When I perform them it’s like a child’s adventure playground for me because I play in each of their