Grand Slam: Wicked Wordsmith Omar Musa At the BILF
Is the 27-year-old Malaysian Australian Omar Musa a rapper with the heart of a poet, or a poet with the heart of a rapper? No matter, we're lucky enough to see him do both as he weaves his words through Beijing crowds at this year's BILF. Read on and get to know the wordster, then find out details for his performance tonight at 2 Kolegas.
If when I say “poetry,” you still think of boring iambic pentameter, you haven’t been to a poetry a slam. And you haven’t heard Omar Musa, whose verse about the early exploration of the Pacific begins: “The sea is a highway of spume, its shifting brow, festooned by pulverized stars and moons.”
This is slam poetry – its content not quite hip-hop, yet its lilt so rhythmic it’s hard to sit still while reading. Poetry slams give people a chance to perform an age-old form in a way that better engages a modern-day audience. Musa would know; he’s a skilled slam poet with an Australian national title to prove it.
His love for poetry began at an early age, and rap was his main avenue for writing and performing. “To me, rap is the most important form of poetry in the world. It gets young people into expressing interesting ideas and stories through words, rhythm and rhyme, without even realizing that they are writing poetry.”
Poetry slams took him by complete surprise. “I had been doing club shows and toiling away in the hip-hop scene for a few years when someone asked me to do a rap at a poetry slam because they didn’t have enough participants.” Musa won, and he was hooked. “I immediately fell in love with slams because it makes accessible an art form which young people often consider boring and pretentious.”
Musa’s burning desire to pass on this form found some relief in his workshop at the BILF. “I try to get people to leave the page behind and focus on thinking of reading poetry as a dramatic performance. I like to get participants moving and experimenting with performance styles. It's a lot of fun.”
Musa has a new rap project in the works, where he teams up with rapper Mighty Joe ("I don't wanna be a playa no mo'...") under the name MoneyKat. “Life is a bit of a blur at the moment,” he says, “but I am taking it all as it comes!” To get a taste of Musa’s own performance style, check out his website at www.obmmusic.com.
Tonight (Mar 12), Omar Musa faces off against fellow Australian slam poet Kelly-lee Hickey and hip-hop artist Lil Ray in a one-off throwdown at 2 Kolegas in conjunction with the BILF and JUE Festival. 50rmb. 8pm. For ticket info contact The Bookworm.
