Poetry with a hip-hop groove

Performance poet Zena Edwards returns to OPEN Ealing this Saturday (22nd November) to present another beguiling evening of words, movement and music.

Hailing from Tottenham in north London, Zena delves into her Afro-Caribbean heritage to find inspiration for her poems and stories. And she enhances them in performance with traditional African intruments, such as the kalimba and the kora, plus backing musicians.

It's a powerful, dynamic and entrancing combination. Zena made a big impression on OPEN audiences a couple of years back with her monologue The Three Furies, which reached into Greek mythology to provide a focus for women's anger in the 12st century. She also performed parts of that show at London's Royal Festival Hall where she shared a stage with South African trumpeter Hugh Masakela.

She was recently Resident Poet at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, and shortlisted for the first Arts Foundation Award for Performance Poetry. .

Read what others have said:
"Effortlessly melds hip-hop grooves with a worldly Afro-centric wisdom" – Time Out.
"A poet of consummate skill, whose career as an artist is going from strength to strength" - The Guardian.

Here's just one video example of her work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmscE1Buz0g

This will be the second of a series of appearances by Zena at OPEN, which form part of the autumn season of Performance Saturdays.

14th November 2014