What is “Spoken Word”?

The practice of spoken word comprises poetry performance, storytelling, text-based performance, rap and dub poetry*, and slam poetry. The Festival Voix d’Amériques expands that definition by also inviting singers who engage with text in a personal way and improv musicians tuned in to the power of words. The oral tradition is one of the oldest in the world. Throughout history, on every continent, there have been storytellers and poets who have performed before an audience. The term spoken word comes to us from the United States and is inspired by the jazz, soul and blues traditions and the Beat Generation as symbolized by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. In recent years, spoken word has literally exploded in North America and in Montreal in particular.

Spoken word is text performed live before an audience by its author. Although spoken word uses written material as its point of departure, the words are reworked to take rhythm and sonority into account. This often leads performers to use a direct, accessible language that makes the words move and brings them to life, sometimes resulting in improvisation. Spoken word also explores verbal and non-verbal expression and on occasion incorporates elements of theatre and new technologies.

Spoken word is a live experience that happens between the poet-performer and the audience. Spoken-word artists accept that audiences engage with and have an impact on their acts and sometimes even their texts. The performance will vary depending on whether the artist is slated at the start or the end of an evening, whether the club is packed or half-empty, how the audience reacts. This obliges the artist to demonstrate a certain flexibility, an awareness of the environment, and a good grasp of the situation. Unlike most theatre actors, spoken-word performers write their own texts. Even if they may play a character, incorporate music or use a theatrical setting, they are more concerned with speaking to an audience than with acting before that audience.

Spoken word shows are presented in the form of cabarets during which each performer creates a personal world. These cabarets are vibrant and eclectic, featuring a wide range of voices and styles, and the performances are often done to music. Spoken word goes beyond the traditional poetry recital or literary evening to become a truly multidisciplinary show.

Another characteristic of this practice is that it often involves an element of activism (political, social, sexual) on the part of the artist in relation to his or her community. These evenings tend to feature a high proportion of minorities (gay, lesbian, black, anarchist). The spoken-word community thus reaches diverse audiences. Spoken word is democratic and gives plenty of space to new and emerging performers, whatever their age, through open-mic events and poetry slams. As well, in the past few years we have witnessed a coming together of the English and French scenes through bilingual evenings.

Montreal has developed an original culture, unique in North America, which draws from the energy of its numerous communities. The spoken-word movement, with its desire to break rules and take risks, is part of that exuberant, alternative, activist trend.

* Dub poetry is a form of poetry set to music that uses the Jamaican language, a blend of African dialects and English. Dub poetry has a strong sense of rhythm and often speaks of poverty and social outcasts. Rap is more well known because of its popularity among young people; basically, it consists of verse chanted over hip-hop music. Slam poetry is performed in a competitive environment in which audience members judge the performances. [ii-04; translion: Christine York]