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lisa b. is a spoken word poet based in western Canada. She’s charmed and challenged audiences across Canada, in the United States, Spain, Britain and Germany, self-published 5 chapbooks, and recorded 2 full-length albums of spoken word poetry accompanied with music. She's opinionated, tender, occasionally raunchy, and frequently very funny.
In 2004 she worked with Glenna Garramone and members of Barley Wik and Po’Girl to record "salvaged music," a full-length cd of spoken word poetry accompanied by diverse acoustic instrumentation. Her debut album ranges from political commentary to children’s stories, from love poems to travel tales, roaming from a southern Ontario suburb to the Canadian prairies to a river in Northern Alberta.
“A powerful mix of music and voice, stories and insight, 'salvaged music' takes us to the top of a thick, green tree in BC, points to the world in all of its messed-up complexity, and says look, says close your eyes and listen…’salvaged music’ has the head nodding to the beat, to the heart of the matter, leaves the soul fed, the eyes focused and open.”
– Carla Atherton, editor of Cahoots Magazine, Saskatoon SK
In 2005 lisa became the first spoken word poet to tour across Canada, organizing, promoting and performing 20 well-attended shows in 15 big cities and small towns from coast to coast with very little advice and even less funding. She made connection with elderly ladies in rural Saskatchewan and too-cool-to-crack-a-smile urban queers in Toronto.
(The Canada Council for the Arts has cautioned her about being overly ambitious.)
In June 2007 lisa moved across the Atlantic ocean to leap into the UK performance poetry world with a large splash.
"Ladyfest was great except for that offensive Canadian girl."
– audience member at Ladyfest Manchester UK
England embraced her; she won several poetry slam competitions across Britain as soon as she arrived. lisa quickly became a sought-after guest poet, performing extensively around Manchester and the Northwest. As Rhythm and Word Artist in Residence at Manchester’s Contact Theatre she collaborated with photographer and graphic designer Wyndi Palmer to create Wildcrafted, an hour-long show of spoken word poetry and projected imagery on the theme of life at a fire lookout in northern Canada.
“What an amazing feast of words and images…exceptionally delivered.”
– Michael Upton, Manchester UK
Not everyone enjoys lisa’s performance. She writes with uncompromising honesty of the impacts of violence, sexism and homophobia in her life, as well as her experience of racial and class privilege as a middle-class white woman. On occasion, such directness raises hackles in audience members.
"I do hope as you mature you lose a little bit of your anger, and shift from such very personal, autobiographical stuff."
– Billie S., northern Alberta
"I grew up white and middle class and I think that the white middle class has nothing to feel ashamed of and I think you make sweeping generalizations and I feel aggrieved."
– Rachel C.
lisa co facilitated a series of writing and performance workshops with 20+ community members cumulating in an experimental queer poetry play, Crow of Murders, which enjoyed a sell out run at Manchester’s Contact Theatre. In 2008 she was awarded a placement in Incubate, an artistic development project with Apples & Snakes, doing additional artist residencies at the Birmingham Rep Theatre, and the Battersea Arts Centre in London.
“It’s hard to make the English emote, but you’ve done it...not a dry eye in the house.”
– Gerry Potter, playwright and creator of Chloe Poems, Manchester UK
Maybe it was the urban soundscape of life in Britain that pulled this queer Canadian banjo-loving poet towards the electrosonic spectrum. The accompaniment on lisa b.’s second album, "resonant frequencies," differs greatly from her debut CD; the poetry is brought into focus in a new way. Pulses, heavy beats and synthetic notes shimmy up to and swirl around base guitar and clarinet. lisa chose to work with Manchester-based electronic meistress and recording engineer caro snatch to create her second album. lisa and caro combined their sensitive ears, feminist sensibilities, mischievousness, grit and growl to create a unique recording of 12 tracks of spoken word poetry enhanced by electronic music, vocals, and atmospherics. caro recorded lisa’s voice and responded with an experimental, playful and resonant array of accompaniment, including a hummingbird impersonation and a synthetic orchestral arrangement.
This is a demanding listen, and worth the attention. lisa’s achingly honest piece “reflections on growing up white and middle-class” exposes the complex lessons girls absorb from the women around them. (“to hate these women/ is to hate myself.”) caro accompanies her on a Boss DR 770 drum machine, to riveting effect.
The tone gets unapologetically naughty with “110 again,” rolling along with a solid bass guitar riff in a 1982 station wagon on a highway in northern Canada, (“she knows by now/to keep a small bottle of lube in the glove box on road trips with me.”)
The album ends with a short but poignant poem, “ditch daisies,” about clarity discovered inside solitude, carried with simple piano and air synth.
Anorakism was the logical platform for the fruit of this very juicy collaboration, as the Leeds-based label exists to stand for innovative, experimental and thought-provoking art: “for the head, heart and haunches.” The loving attention to quality and detail extends to the handmade brown cardstock sleeves, individually sewn with red thread.
"resonant frequencies" is the slow food of spoken word poetry. There are no easy answers here; chew before swallowing.
lisa launched "resonant frequencies" with caro in berlin early in 2009 before returning home to Canada. She’s spending summer of 2009 on a 4-month writing retreat at a fire lookout in northern Alberta.
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