What’s up Europe? Spoken Beat Night

What does it mean to be European? And what does it mean to grow up in Britain in the post-Brexit Era? When are you perceived as ‘European’ and when are you not?

We will explore these questions during a special edition of Spoken Beat Night with spoken word artist Jeannine Valeriano, drummer Onno Govaert and two talented spoken word artists from across the Channel: Madi Maxwell-Libby & Jacob Sam-La Rose.

At a time when discontent and rivalry seem to dominate the European project, instead of its original aims of peace and international solidarity, we will get to the core of European identity in 2018 during an interdisciplinary concert. How do different generations from Britain and across the continent imagine a shared European future?

Spoken Beat Night is an initiative of singer, writer & spoken word artist Jeannine Valeriano who plays with language and turns words into music, revealing the sensuality of language. The aim is to establish harmony out of diversity and create an ideal, albeit just for one evening. Spoken Beat Night combines music, spoken word and live animation into unique concerts that speak to head and heart. Valeriano and musical director Maarten Ornstein will compose a special European concert for the Forum.

Madi Maxwell-Libby is a comedy-performer, spoken word artist and Roundhouse Poetry Slam Champion. Maxwell-Libby was commissioned by the BBC One to write a piece on Brexit. She is currently working on her first solo show MASSIVE SENSE OF URGENCY in which she tries to understand our economic system, the neoliberal agenda, and why she doesn’t have a copy.

Jacob Sam-La Rose is a writer and poet of British-Guyanese heritage, born and raised in England. La-Rose is a leading figure within the UK’s youth slam poetry movement, passionately communicating his belief in the power of poetry to change people’s lives. His work Breaking Silence collects poetry that is … “fresh, vivid and masterly in its evocation of contemporary Britain.”

Onno Govaert studied jazz drums and graduated cum laude from the Conservatorium of Amsterdam in 2009. His playing has variously been described as ‘innovative’, ‘spectacular’, ‘relentless’, ‘possessed by the devil’ and ‘post Jim Black’.