Listening to Poets Loudly

If you didn’t make it out to the Art Gallery of Hamilton for the Voice Will be Voice installment of the Something Else! Creative Music Series… you missed out. And many did miss out. Whether it was the sunny sky, the fact that March Break was concluding, or the marginalized seat poetry and poetics finds itself relegated, the crowd was lite–but, no less appreciative for it.

As organizer Cem Zafir confirmed as he introduced the event, the amount of talent in the room for the show was astonishing. First up was the trio GEEBEEGEEBEEDEELEE which consists of poets/writers/musicians Gregory Betts, Gary Barwin, and David Lee. The set consisted, instrumentally, of a typewriter, cello & bass, sax, and voice.

Following GEEBEEGEEBEEDEELEE was the percussive duo: Paul Dutton (voice) and Joe Sorbara (percussion). To simply say voice and percussion hardly gives the reader an idea of the range of textures, moods, and noises which found their way into the air twisted from Dutton’s body and the friction of Sorbara against drum set.

Though I don’t have a recording of the night’s sonic environment, this excerpt on soundcloud from Dutton and Sorbara called Mawcussion should give you a good idea of what was vibrating in the room. You can also listen to performances on PennSound by Dutton and the iconic Canadian sound poetry group of the 70’s and 80’s The Four Horsemen of which he was a member.

Enjoy!