Anthony Joseph & the Spasm band on stage is a unique experience, halfway between Sun Ra, Gill Scott Heron, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari and the Last Poets. Spoken word or Slam doesn’t really define the sensibility of this true cosmic poet coming from Trinidad, “chanted word” is more appropriate. This teacher, musician, novelist and rapper offers unique live performances, drown by a solid Funk groove and a lot of musical improvisations giving a Free Jazz atmosphere. His conscious flow his guided by the Caribbean Voodoo.
Site : http://www.anthonyjoseph.co.uk/
Myspace : www.myspace.com/adjoseph
Bio
Anthony Joseph is one of the leading writers of his generation. Born in Trinidad, his experimental poetry, fiction, music and spoken word performances fuse Calypso rhythms with a postmodern eye, creating what he calls 'liquid textology'.
Joseph is the author of two poetry collections, Desafinado in 1994 and Teragaton in 1997) and the spoken-word CD Liquid Textology, in addition to releases featuring his Jazz Quartet The Spasm Band. He cites his main influences as Jazz, Calypso, the Spiritual Baptist rhythms of his childhood, the Trinidadian dialect, Surrealism and language poetry.
In September 2004, he was selected by the Arts Council England as one of 50 writers for the historic photo "A Great Day." as one of fifty Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. The event was instigated by Melanie Abrahams of renaissance one and took place at on the steps of the British Library in a homage to the famous Harlem Jazz photo of the same name.
In April 2005, Joseph served as the British Council's first poet-in-residence at California State University, Los Angeles. He has also read at The Chicago Humanities Festival, Festa International De La Literatura, Barcelona, Spain, UCLA, Howard University, Washington, Ilkley and Durham Literature Festivals and at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Joseph's debut novel, The African Origins of UFOs was published by Salt Publishing in November 2006. It has been described as an "afro-psychadelic-noir", a work of metafiction, mythology, Afro-futurism, and a future fiction classic. An excerpt from the novel was included in the critically acclaimed Time Warner anthology Dark Matter: A century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora.
Joseph is currently a PhD student at Goldsmiths with an interest in experimental Caribbean poetry and spoken arts. As a tutor/lecturer, Joseph has taught creative writing at University of Surrey Roehampton, and at University of North London, where he taught science fiction writing. He currently lectures in creative writing at Goldsmiths College and at Birkbeck College in London.
He is well known for his performances, often accompanied by The Spasm Band. His debut album with the band 'Leggo de Lion' was released April 2007 by Kindred Spirits, Amsterdam. The Spasm Band toured Europe and Morocco during much of 2007 in support of the album, appearing at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Les Eurockeennes, Belfort and the Blue Note Jazz Festival in Paris. In 2008 he played in Jazz Cafe / London, Festival Banlieues bleues / Paris (featured Joe Bowie) and will be this summer in Roskilde festival (Dk) , Sines (Port)…..
He just recorded his new album, with pretigious guest as Keziah Jones, Joe Bowie , which will be released this autumn.
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