Sometimes the instruments and I fight for attention
A YEAR later than planned, Jasmine Gardosi’s music / verse work Dancing To Music You Hate finally premieres at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on October 26-27.
Postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic, the show sees the Birmingham-raised slam champion combine multiple genres and artforms to explore contemporary themes of identity.
“Dancing To Music You Hate is a show that fuses music, spoken word poetry and beatboxing, but not quite as you might think,” says Jasmine.
‘‘Don’t expect the instruments to always be an accompaniment to me as the poet – sometimes we converse, sometimes we bounce off each other, sometimes we argue, sometimes we plain fight and try to drown each other out.
‘‘This is not quite a narrative piece – more a music set with a theatrical soul. A gig with a beating heart.
“The show explores gender identity and being genderqueer, but really, at its heart, it’s a set about self-expression,” she continues.
“Struggling to express myself – whether as an anxiety-ridden kid, a teenager unable to accept their sexuality, a poet trying to find the words, or a partner trying to communicate honestly in relationships – is a common theme in my life, and the show moves through all of these.
“You don’t have to be trans or gender-questioning to see or enjoy the show – this is for anyone else who’s also wrestled with self-expression. ie. Everyone!”
She adds: “For a while now I’ve been curious about pushing the performance element of poetry to its limits. In the past I’ve incorporated breath-work, dance and martial arts into my poetry in order to elevate it.
‘‘Beatboxing came around because I wanted to learn the kickdrum – a relatively simple sound – so I could combine it with words to simulate a heartbeat. That was my first beatbox poem, and it turned out pretty well. It makes an appearance in the show.”
A previous BBC Arts Young Creative, Jasmine was also a Birmingham Poet Laureate finalist, and her print debut, Hurtz, was published in 2019, and she’s since gone on to win the Out-Spoken Prize For Poetry 2020’s Performance Prize and main Prize For Poetry. Jasmine’s forthcoming Coventry appearance is part of From The Source, a run of shows featuring artists whose work references jazz, but takes it in new directions by incorporating other influences. Other artists appearing include Sarathy Korwar (Oct 29), Quinton’s rising hip hop star Kofi Stone (Oct 30), MOBO-nominated Camilla George (Oct 31), and trip-hop pioneer Tricky (Nov 3).
Jasmine will be joined by DJ / producer / musicians C@ In The H@ (aka Richard Shawcross) and drummer Damo Wilding (who’ve both performed with Brum collective Alternative Dubstep Orchestra), multi-instrumentalist Jobe Baker-Sullivan, trumpeter Sam Wooster and – for one night – West Midlands award-laden jazz wunderkind Xhosa Cole.
“I met Xhosa not long after he became BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 2018,” says Jasmine, who lives in the Jewellery Quarter. “We performed together as part of jazz / poetry event Funkenteleky and I was chuffed that he felt and was into what I was doing.
‘‘As a warm person and an unbelievable musician I knew I had to work with him again, and it makes me so happy that he’s joining us for
the Tuesday show.”
Explaining the title of the show, Jasmine says: “Dancing To Music You Hate is one of the poems featured in the show. It’s about being gay while surrounded by your straight friends in an uber-straight nightclub on Broad Street in Birmingham, pretending to love where you are but just not feeling like you belong.
‘‘The show is about grappling with sexuality and gender identity, which is why it felt suitable as a title. But don’t worry, you won’t hate the music. The music’s actually pretty rad.”
I’ve been curious about pushing the performance element of poetry to its limits