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Lexically Dumb, Damn Word Smart
An interview with VINCENT TINGUELY, co-author of Impure, Reinventing
the Word, a massive book about the theory, practice and history of
spoken word.
by
NATH
G. MOORE
ART,
03/11/01: INTERVIEW
The Night and Day Rise and Rising of Spoken Word Publishing...
Conundrum Press
has launched Impure, Reinventing the Word, a massive book
about the theory, practice and history of spoken word.
New book
spreads the word on the words that get said. Never has a medium meant
so much to such a specific group of people. If that sounds confusing your
likely reading something about the small press world in Canada, a world
which by and large is run by showstoppers, beautifully minded books and
book art, CD's or live art, and now a little bit of both. Conundrum Press
has published what could be the defining stance on Spoken Word. If you
are a lowlife and don't know what spoken word is and are saying 'you mean
its just talking right?' you are likely sitting in a pool of bad taste
somewhere. Probably watching television and talking on the phone. I'm
just trying to weed out the idiots please. Okay so listen. Vince Tinguely
and Victoria Stanton had the unenviable task of putting together the verdict
on spoken word, particularly in Montreal. What happened was this: interviews,
essays, etc. Maybe it wasn't unenviable.
I'm a
poet. I also used to play hockey. Poetry and identity are closely
stitched. On the same arm. Poetry on its own has an identity in the literary
community; any literary community. Poetry is old. Why it is written and
how has been documented in sterile and clinical ways for centuries. It's
changed.
The art of
spoken word is perhaps the most unknown yet potent of all literary forms.
Its an instant hit, a well calculated incision on the performance of word
art, the performance of something written down prior to its performance.
Sometimes. I had a chance to pick the brain of one of Montreal's spoken
word guardians, Vincent Tinguely, co-author (with Victoria Stanton)
of a new book that documents this medium in book form. Feedback. Clear
throat. Technicians and wait staff disappears. The words come.
NGM: Originally
when you sat down with this idea, how involved did you think you'd become?
(include what was involved, who you definitely needed words from and why,
etc...behind the scenes)
Vince: The
idea sort of sat down with us, rather than us sitting down with the idea.
Hal Niedzviecki
suggested or requested an article about spoken word in Montreal in the
summer of 1997. We quickly interviewed 18 people we knew from our own
involvement as spoken word performers, and the more we talked with folks,
the more we realized the real depth (in time) and breadth (in various
communities practicing spoken word) of the whole scene in Montreal. We
ended up with so much more research material than we could use in the
original article, that people started suggesting we do a book. So, a year
and a bit later, when we got the grant and started doing interviews, we
had an idea that it would be
huge. We did over seventy interviews, and there were still a good number
of people we missed out on. People that we thought we really should talk
to, who we didn't get around to due to circumstances, or because they
weren't into it. As it is, we got to talk to a huge number of folks, and
got a fairly good sense of spoken word activity in Montreal since the
sixties. Everything we found out about the francophone, Quebecois scene
was news to me, I'm really glad we interviewed those francophone performers
and got them translated, I think other English-speaking Canadians will
be interested in what they've got to say. Much of what we learned about
the seventies and eighties was also a learning experience. All I knew
about, before we started this project, was the scene I was personally
involved in, in the mid-nineties, and the people I encountered in that
scene. The rest of it was a great discovery. So, we weren't totally sure,
to begin with, who we needed to speak to. We just started interviews,
and names would come up here and there, and we'd interview them, more
names, more interviews, until we were completely
exhausted.
How is
Montreal different for Spoken Word than other cities?
One reason
we did our book about the Montreal scene, is because we actually know
something about it. We don't know anything, really, about other cities.
Both Toronto and Vancouver have scenes, with some similarities (Vancouver
got into Slam in a big way, for instance, while Toronto has a nice dub
poetry and hip-hop poetry scene). One difference is the language thing,
of course - there's two quite different poetry / performance traditions
happening in parallel here, and it still amazes me how little English
people check out French things and vice-versa. I mean, English people
who live here! One aspect of the Montreal spoken word scene was that it
managed to break down those barriers. French and English, black and white,
queer and straight, men and women performers were all thrown together
in a wordy melange. It's an ideal to aim for. It makes shit happen.
What bugs
you the most about Spoken Word's reputation, is a lack there of?(e.g.
the annoying guy who says what is that? and points like a goblin)
Vince: We
hashed this out pretty thoroughly in the book, in a section called 'Is
Spoken Word Literature?' I guess what annoys me is the implication that
it doesn't take any talent to get onstage and talk about stuff. But anybody
who does it - whether reading a page of their book, or doing handstands
while shouting philosophical epithets - knows how tough it is.
Do you
hope this book will encourage people to visit Montreal for these sort
of venues?
That'd be
nice, but we're more interested in people reading the book and getting
their own spoken word scenes going. (More than half of the book is basically
a 'how-to' guide to doing spoken word, from the ground up). Then we can
all have venues to book when we feel like touring around the country.
As it stands, the communication between different scenes in different
cities is still really rudimentary. I think the history / chronology section
might give Montreal a certain mythic quality, and deservedly so.
To order
IMPURE: Reinventing the Word, Send $20 to Conundrum Press 266 Fairmount
West, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 2G3.
½
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