Word Travels and the Sydney Opera House Studio Present

THE NIGHT WORDS FESTIVAL

The Night Words Festival is Australia’s first spoken-word festival- a modern day camp–fire, a cosmopolitan coroboree. You are invited into the city-circle where stories are performed and songs are set alight. With politics gone mad, our climate off the scale, and war raging on- the time to speak up is now. With just a mic under a spotlight individual voices from across Australia step into the ring. The Studio will be packed with poetry, hip-hop, lyrics, monologues and music from un-earthed poetry slam winners to veterans like Tug Dumbly, Miles Merrill, Edwina Blush, Ghost Boy (Bris), Emily Zoe Baker (Melb) and more Over three very different nights Australia’s best versifiers are joined by celebrity songwriters, hip-hop artists and novelists like Kev Carmody, Steve Kilbey (The Church), Linda Jaivin and Ozi Batla (The Herd). Set to a live soundtrack by Entropic, Waiting for Guinness and Trevor Brown.

7:30pm every night March 6-8

Tickets selling fast! Book now 02 9250 7777 or

Click Here

Also Check out

Day Words

at the State Library Of NSW on Sat March 8th

THE NIGHT WORDS FESTIVAL

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Alana Hicks

Alana Hicks is a spoken word performance artist that has taken her words to pubs, theatres, the radio, internet and record stores across Australia. In particular, she is recognised for her hip hop style, where musical beats meet the rhythm of her rhymes. This new age funky poetry is gaining an avid following, seen to be breathing new life into poetry by the eyes of the youth. Having Papua New Guinean and Australian heritage, Hicks believes this has had a direct influence on the content of her work. Her most recent performance experience was at the Togetherness Art For Humanity Exhibition, 2007, and her first theatrical piece, “Oi La Lau Tau”, was produced as part of Carnivale’s 2003 Multicultural Arts Festival in the New Writers category.

Amanda Stewart

Amanda Stewart is a poet, writer and vocalist. She has created a variety of publications, performances, CDs and radio works in Australia, Europe, Japan and the US. From 1983-1993 she worked full time as a radio producer at the ABC in Sydney and in 1990 co-wrote and directed the award-winning film, Eclipse of the Man-Made Sun. Since then she has worked freelance. I/T: Selected Poems won the Anne Elder Poetry Prize in 1999 and in 2003 Stewart was elected a fellow of Stiftung Kulturfond, Berlin. 2007 publications include the short play, Solace in Beckett Pause, Sondersahl, Vienna and Dust, with Stephan Froleyks, 2007 New Chamber Music CD, WDR, Cologne.

Benito Di Fonzo

Born into an Irish-Italian family in Homebush, Sydney, Australia, Benito Di Fonzo has made a name for himself as a popular journalist, playwright, poet and performer and has been profiled by both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian.
Presently a regular Arts and Entertainment writer for several Fairfax publications including Metro, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun Herald, as well as completing a Masters Degree at UTS, Benito is currently working on a novel and has several plays in pre-production. He has written and performed in a weekly radio serial for FBI 94.5FM and played to a capacity crowd at The Studio at Sydney Opera House, and Melbourne’s VCA as part of “SHORTer & SWEETer.”
For many years he co-hosted with Tug Dumbly, Sydney’s longest running Spoken Word night Bardflys and has performed extensively, including shows in London, Edinburgh, and Australian festivals ‘The Big Day Out,’ ‘Carnivale,’ ‘Australian Poetry Festival,’ as well as Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals where he received four star reviews from The Adelaide Advertiser.

Bravo Child

Bravo Child is a spoken-word artist/ hip-hop artist and slam poet. His performances have been featured in the Sydney Festival, Woodford Festival, CrocFest, the Art Gallery of NSW and several international writer’s festivals. Bravo is as much a teacher as a writer/performer. His freestyle rap workshops have been going strong for over three years in youth and community centres around the country. He’s the winner of the State Library of NSW Sydney Poetry Slam 05.

Edwina Blush

“In a world of manufactured stars Edwina Blush is the real thing”, Sydney City Weekly.
"She purrs and growls until the audience is an adoring heap" Vogue Australia
Vocalist, songwriter, poet and provocateur, Blush writes pithy, catchy pieces that bring lightness to heavy issues. She is a three time winner of the National Poetry Debate and has graced the stage of national and international festivals such as Venice Biennale, Helsinki Amorph! Sydney Writers Festival and the National Folk Festival Of Australia. You can catch her jazz quartet live on Sundays at the Sydney Opera House’s forecourt.

Emilie Zoey Baker

Emilie Zoey Baker has been practising her work professionally for over ten years. Her confronting and witty words have led her to win the 2006 Performance Poetry World Cup and make numerous guest appearances at such festivals as the Big Day out, the Broken Hill Poetry Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Her poem, “Fannyism”, about feminism in our modern hyper-sexualised era, was put on the reading list for first-year literary students at Deakin University and has been made into a hip hop track. Another successful poem of hers, “Bratz Camp”, performed as part of the 2007 International Arts Festival, has been commissioned in high schools as part of cyber bullying awareness. August Hiland (editor M.A.G – USA), describes Bakers work as “fun to read and at the same time the content is very, very serious and makes for deep material to reflect upon”

Ghostboy

www.myspace.com/holyghostboy
Ghostboy has become one of Australia’s premier performance poets describing himself as a vile hybrid of performance poetry, spoken word theatre, and surrealist vaudeville. Ghostboy has performed his work live on ABC & Triple J radio and featured at a wide range of festivals. In 2006 Ghostboy released his first CD "If I was a Rock'N'Roll Girlfriend" (featuring collaborations with the likes of Brisbane 4 piece Golden Virtues, underground DJ Nefarius & Iceland’s enigmatic Bremen Town Musician). Ghostboy has a innate passion for the spoken word showcase that is poetry “slam” and operates as QLD's unofficial "slammaster" including the popular WordFood slam that he co-created with Miles Merrill as part of The Woodford Folk Festival and running the highly successful inaugural 2006 QLD State slam (as part of The QLD Poetry Festival) with his mentor and close friend Marc "So What" Smith (US) - the founder of the slam form. The State Library of Queensland contracted Ghostboy to coordinate and host seven heats as part of the QLD leg of the first Australian Poetry Slam 07.

Kev Carmody

www.kevcarmody.com.au
A pioneer in Australian music history, Kev Carmody produces powerful and provocative protest music. Many of Carmody's songs are written about social justice and Indigenous issues, in particular land rights. His messages are expressed through his grit-edged voice and fused with awe-inspiring guitar and a didgeridoo that create evocative sounds and textures. Releasing his first album, “Pillars Of Society” in 1983, the critics labelled him the black Bob Dylan of Australia. With the release of his following albums, he was dubbed a revolutionary in the Australian music scene.

Linda Jaivin and Fayssal Bazzi

Linda is the internationally published author of five novels, including the comic-erotic bestsellers Eat Me and The Infernal Optimist, as well as several plays, non-fiction, short stories, essays and translations. She lives in Sydney. Fayssal Bazzi is a theatre, television and film actor. The performance is a collaboration.

Miles Merrill

www.wordtravels.info
Miles Merrill combines poetry with theatre, experimental audio, hip-hop beats, stand-up and political confrontation, flinging words in a rapid-fire onslaught of versified emotion. Originally from Chicago, Merrill now resides in Sydney. Recently he opened for Saul Williams, jammed with Shane Koyczan, wrote and assistant-directed a show in the Sydney Arts Festival, performed solo at the Sydney Opera House and is Co-organiser of the national State Libraries’ sponsored Australian Poetry Slam.
Internationally, Merrill has performed in such places as Krakow’s Audio Art Festival and as a guest in Indonesia at the Ubud International Writer’s Fest. He is a facilitator and organiser of many poetry-based events and is the brain behind the Night Words Festival. Much of his work is available on the CD, “What Night Knows”, on his is DVD “Miles Merrill - The Reel”, and on his upcoming release, “Dirty Curly”, with Aussie hip-hop producer Morganics.

MORGANICS

Morganics is an award winning Sydney based Hip Hop artist, performer and director. He has performed from Bondi Beach to the Bronx, the Sydney Opera House to Long Bay Jail, Tanzania to Tokyo.Parallel to his career as an MC, Morganics is Australia's foremost Hip Hop Theatre practicioner. He has performed solo at The Cleveland International Performance Art Festival (1994) and Brisbane International Arts Festival (1996). His one man Hip Hop Theatre show "Crouching Bboy Hidden Dreadlocks" was a sell out and a critical success touring to The Perth International Arts Festival, The Studio at The Sydney Opera House, New York and the UK in 2006. His latest production "Survival Tactics" has toured Melbourne, Brisbane and The Sydney Opera House in 2007 to critical acclaim, sold out houses and standing ovations. Morganics has taught hip hop in jails, community centres and isolated Aboriginal communities all around Australia. In 2002 he released his solo album "invisible forces..." and "All You Mob!" featuring recordings of young Aboriginal Hip Hop from around Australia". This spawned the now famous track "Down River" by The Wilcannia Mob which won the Deadly for "Single of the Year". His new album/DVD "Hip Hop Is My Passport" is due out later this year.

Ozi Batla

Melodic beats splintered by profound poetic and politically charged rap, that’s Ozi Batla. Dispelling true blue realities, he is one of Australia’s best known MCs, fronting both The Herd and Astronomy Class. With songs that often spark national debate, his talent is best summarized in his tunes "77%", "Starship Troopers" and "A Bright Tomorrow". He earned his ‘battler’ tag through competing in MC battles and taking a number of titles, including Verbal Mechanics NSW champ and NSW Stealth Battle champ. Ozi Batla is not only musically inclined, but is a solider of social justice. For many years, Ozi Batla has conducted hip hop workshops for disadvantaged youths in aboriginal communities and the inner city. Using his talents as a tool of activism he is positively advancing social change and development on Australian shores.

Philip Norton aka Preacherman

Born in Chicago, Philip Norton is a writer, composer, performer and artist who now calls Melbourne home. Recognised primarily for his poetry, Norton was one of the winners of the first ever poetry slam series at the Greenmill in the US in the late 80’s, and upon his arrival in Australia, he went on to win the Sydney Writers Festival Poetry Gland Slam, the Glebe Books Poetry Sprint, and the Poetry Olympics. As a multimedia spoken word artist, he uniquely uses music and art to add flare to his poetic lines. He has had work commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria and during live performances he often has a backing track of fitting music to enhance the audience’s overall experience. Interestingly, his love of science has inspired his most recent poetry collection, “Teach Yourself Atomic Physics”, which was awarded a Special Commendation for Best Independently Published Poetry Book 2005.

Steve Kilbey

Renowned for lending a genuine artistry to all of his endeavours Steve Kilbey is a songwriter, singer, musician, and artist. Currently a singer/songwriter for the band, The Church, he has etched a unique and rarefied niche for himself. His recording career stretches back twenty three years - he has toured the world, had hit singles and lived the rock'n'roll dream. Yet all this he does in his own inimitable style, never bending to what the perceived mainstream public may want - he maintains his unique vision and, more importantly, his integrity.

Tara Resch

Tara Resch is an actor, poet and visual artist who has trained in Sydney (NIDA, ATYP, Julian Ashton Art School) and in New York (Atlantic Theatre Company). She mixes her eclectic art-forms into a vibrant fusion tapping into all her senses and revealing a deep inner-self to a variety of audiences. She brings to spoken-word a unique combination of her theatre and language training. “Tara Resch creates a three dimensional symphony with her songs, visual art and poems that draws people closer together"- Poet Chafik Ataya, winner of the Kahlil Gibran International Poetry Award”

Thomas Keily

Thomas Keily (a.k.a Thomas, Jack of Hearts) is a performance poet from the Northern Territory, now living in Sydney. He was the captain of the Word Wrestling Federation’s slam championship team, Housecat Havoc, and has performed across Australia. He has recently finished a recording project with Iranian musician Davood Tabrizi where he adapted the poetry of the 13th century mystic, Rumi, into his own slam poetry style.

Tug Dumbly

Some describe Tug Dumbly as a comic whose jokes rhyme or a poet whose rhymes are a joke sometimes. Whatever the case, Dumbly is arguably Australia’s most highly broadcast performance poet. Renowned for his satire, he regularly appears on ABC’s Triple-J and ABC’s Sydney 702 doing his weekly news and current affairs round-up “The Tug Report”. As well as being the back bone of Australia’s longest standing spoken-words night, Bardflys, at Sydney’s Friends in Hand Hotel he has also released two Cd’s through the ABC, “Junk Culture Lullabies” and “Idiom Savant”. In August 2007 he won the World Performance Poetry Cup in Nimbin and is currently writing a one-man show, “Dumbly Does the Bible”, which is an attempt at performing the entire Bible in just one hour.