Charitable funds raised: £316 for the Restless Beings’s Street Children’s Orphanage
Total attendees: 64½ wonderful people (the ½ is our youngest attendee of 9 years old)
Hope n Mic December 2013 was hosted by the very cool Rikki Livermore. Here’s his breakdown of how the night went:
DAMN that night’s gotten good! Right?! Some heavy hitters from the scene reppin’ spoken word to the fullest tonight – my open mic list was heaving with 25 folks gracing the stage! Thank you to all for 1) being so talented and 2) being respectful of time on the mic which meant we got through the evening with enough time spare to not feel rushed, take “emotional breaks”, have a nice chat and really enjoy the feast of words on offer!
It was that good that I genuinely remember each act! So if you wana look ’em up – they’re listed below .
Iam Archetype – dude who did the piece called “Revolution” and contaminated my drink
Caspa Artist – guy who forced us into an early interval for an “emotional break”
Stuart Birnie – aka Itsa Bit Loud Boy – the fella who’s gona be on Bangla Radio this Sunday
Jen Titi-Lola Da Sweetnezz – lady with the crazy cool red and black hair and sang about “the city that never sleeps”
Bruce Cadogan – he lived in his skin and proved it!!!
Mizan ThePoet – you know him… come on – you do!
Edward Unique – the man who reminded us to “write everyday!”
Kass Man – our rapping soldier of the evening.
Roxy Azari – that crazy good lady from NYC – coulda easily taken an “emotional break” after that piece too!
Julian Balcikonis – told us the facts about men
Rukea M. Azougaye – the lady with the incredible voice, accompanied by some beautiful guitar work (please know, i REALLY wanted to get you back on later – so sorry you had to leave!!!)
Caroline Teague – teague rhymes with league – the girl who needed a wee
Abdulhai Dawood – he went on quite early in the night and had some hard hiphop bars!
Stephen Ross – “creaming” and “gushing” – that’s all i’m saying…
Mell B. Nyoko – she told us all about her mirror on the wall.
Emma Ako – little lady with the big voice, on the fast train. Ya know, the one who hosts that event “Poetry Meets Art” on 14th January…
Yola Vassilatos – we all shut our eyes for her and walked on battery acid.
Rilzy – one of our many goddesses sharing pride of her womanhood tonight!
Johnny Bang Reilly – angel with an afro
Melissa Melo – she walked onto the stage so nonchalantly singing away, then proceeded to smash it; breathing words of fire, before nonchalantly walking off again like it was nothing… it wasn’t nothing!!!
Umar Atallah Khan – the sing along fella, with the guitar.
Errol McGlashan – who??? 😉
Rachel McGlashan – the daughter of the proudest father in the room – said she hadn’t sung in front of people for like a year or something?! Talent right there!
Congrats to the ladies running things on the door tonight too – Sulthana Begum (yeh she performed as well, despite being ill!), Tammana Bee and Asmaa Fitzroy.
And love to the main man behind it all (even though he couldn’t be there in person tonight – he was certainly there in spirit!) – Salam Jones
Hope n Mic thanks our wonderful host Rikki who also performed his beautiful piece Father Figure on demand from the audience, all the attendees, performers and volunteers for making this event happen and to the Kobi Nazrul Centre for having us at your venue.
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Feedback from the event:
Had a great night at the Hope N Mic yesterday. It was the first time I took the initiative to sing outside my usual space – Rumi’s Cave – and it was great. It was also the first time after years that my Mother Karin Paustian and sisterAtika Azougaye heard me sing. Really happy to have met new people and to receive such good feedback and so much positivity and and friendliness. Many more to come, God willing
There is something very special and unique about a night out in Brick Lane.
It’s where great artists congregate and create pure poetry all under one roof at the Hope n Mic monthly event- Sulthana Bea, Iam Archetype, Errol McGlashan,Mell B. Nyoko, Kass Man and Emma Ako.
It’s also a place where you will have seen four excited young people who live 5 minutes away from Brick Lane and yet have never been to a spoken words event on their door step.
Next event will be Friday 31st January 2014. Till then, have a fantastic break and a happy new year!
♥ The Hope n Mic Team
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