Slam as the kind of modern American urban culture

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Н.І. Лепьошкіна

The article is the compressed exposition of such an interesting phenomenon as Poetry Slam. Slam poetry has found popularity as a form of self-expression. We think it would be useful to acquaint students with such an interesting form of poetry because its language is original, the real speaking English. We consider it as an interesting kind of modern urban poetry.

Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman, Gary Mex Glazner, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Michael Salinger and many others have stydied this kind of poetry. There is no single point of view. Is this a kind of modern art or may be it does not worth to be discussed? Academic responses to slam are varied. In an interview published in the Paris Review, literary critic Harold Bloom called the movement “the death of art”.

In my previous article [1] I have already made an analysis of the role of Slam in urban French culture. The task of this article to focus on the history of its origin, the reasons of its popularity in the USA.

According to Patricia Smith an American poet, spoken-word performer, playwright, author, writing teacher, and former journalist “...the very word “poetry” repels people. Why is that? Because of what schools have done to it. The slam gives it back to the people We need people to talk poetry to each other. That's how we communicate our values, our hearts, the things that we've learned that make us who we are.” [2]

John S. Hall emphasizes inherently competitive nature of slam and its lack of stylistic diversity. In his 2005 interview in “Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam”, he recalls seeing his first slam, at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe: “...I hated it. And it made me really uncomfortable and... it was very much like a sport, and I was interested in poetry in large part because it was like the antithesis of sports....It seemed to me like a very macho, masculine form of poetry and not at all what I was interested in”[3]

What is Poetry Slam? A competitive spoken word performance in which poets read or recite original work, the participants have three minutes on the mic to prove themselves to five judges who have just been randomly selected from the audience. Billed as “the competitive art of performance poetry,” Slam was invented in Chicago in July 1986 by Marc Smith, a construction worker-turned-poet at an uptown watering hole once frequented by Al Capone. By the late 80s, Slam had spread beyond Chicago to San Francisco, Boston, New York, and Ann Arbor. Then the slam moved to its permanent home, the Green Mill Jazz Club. In 1990, the first National Poetry Slam took place in Fort Mason, San Francisco, involving a team from Chicago, a team from San Francisco, and an individual poet from New York. By 2010, the National Poetry Slam has grown and currently features approximately 80 certified teams each year, culminating in five days of competition.

Лепьошкіна Н. І. Слем як різновид сучасної американської урбаністичної культури

У пропонованій статті автор розглядає роль слему в урбаністичній культурі США, історію його виникнення, причини його популярності в цій країні. Автор визначає цей вид мистецтва як поетичну битву і виставу одночасно, під час якої учасникам треба за три хвилини завоювати прихильність журі, яке було тільки що обране з глядачів. Це одночасно і шоу і змагання майстрів слова, в якому учасники мають три хвилини перед мікрофоном, щоб проявити себе перед п'ятьма суддями, які тільки що були випадково вибрані з слухачів. Слем ще називають „змаганням в мистецтві виконання поезії”. Вперше він з'явився в Чикаго в липні 1986 року. Засновником вважається Марк Сміт, будівельний робітник, який став поетом. До кінця 80-х років слем поширився за межі Чикаго, в Сан- Франциско, Бостоні, Нью-Йорку. У 1989 році 1-й щорічний турнір з національної поезії слему відбувся в Сан-Франциско.

Рух слему посіяв насіння по карті до кінця тисячоліття. В 2000 році він мав вже рекордну кількість виконавців, постійно зростаючу аудиторію, а також зростала кількість міст, де відбувалися змагання. З'являється слем і в Європі. Поезія слему спрямована на слухачів. Вони реагують на самі вірші, вони оцінюють промовця. Це висока культура, шоу, і спорт - все в одному. Аудиторія може тупотіти ногами, плескати, кричати, стрибати. Якщо їм не подобається те, що поет говорить, вони можуть реагувати. Те ж саме відноситься і до оцінок. А для виступаючого головне - бути почутим, не залишатися на самоті з думками.

Ключові слова: слем, слемер, вистава, поезія, хвилини.

Лепешкина H. И. Слэм как разновидность современной американской урбанистической культуры

В предложенной статье автор рассматривает роль слэма в урбанистической культуре США, историю его возникновения, причины его популярности в этой стране. Автор определяет этот вид искусства как поэтическую битву и представление одновременно, на котором участникам надо за три минуты покорить жюри, только что случайно выбранное из зрителей. Это одновременно и шоу и соревнование мастеров слова, в котором участники имеют три минуты, чтобы проявить себя перед пятью судьями только что случайно выбранными из зрителей. Слэм еще называют „соревнованием в искусстве чтения стихов”. Впервые он появился в Чикаго в июле 1986 года. Основателем считается Марк Смит, строитель по профессии, который стал поэтом. К концу 80-х слэм распространился за пределы Чикаго, в Сан-Франциско, в Бостоне, Нью-Йорке. В 1989 году первый ежегодный турнир национальной поэзии слэма состоялся в Сан-Франциско.

Движение слэмеров к концу тысячелетия распространилось по всему миру. В 2000 году оно имело уже рекордное число исполнителей и зрителей, а также городов, где проходили соревнования. Появился слэм и в Европе. Поэзия слэма ориентирована на слушателей. Они реагируют на стихи и оценивают чтеца. Аудитория может кричать, хлопать, прыгать. Если им не нравится то, что они слышат, они могут реагировать. Это касается и оценок. А для исполнителя главное - быть услышанным, не оставаться наедине со своими мыслями.

Ключевые слова: слэм, слэмер, представление, поэзия, минуты.

Lepyoshkina N. I. Slam as the kind of modern American urban culture

In the following article the author examines the role of slam in urban culture, the history of its origin, the reasons of its popularity in the USA. The author determines this kind of art as a competitive spoken word performance in which participants have three on the mic to prove themselves to five judges who have just been randomly selected from the audience. Billed as “the competitive art of performance poetry”, slam was invented in Chicago in July 1986 by Marc Smith, a construction worker-turned-poet. By the late "80s, Slam had spread beyond Chicago to San Francisco, Boston, New York. In 1989, the 1st annual National Poetry Slam took place in San Francisco.

The Slam movement had sown seeds across the map by the end of the millennium. By 2000, the Slam movement exploded to include a record number of performers, ever-growing audiences, and an exponential increase in the number of cities staging Slam events. A number of teams appear in Europe. Poetry Slam is all about the audience. The audience is encouraged to respond to every element of the Slam - from the poetry to the score it receives. This is one of the things that makes Slam so great. This is high culture, a show, and a sport - all in one. The audience may hiss, stomp, snap, clap, yell, buckle over in their chair and fall to the floor, stand up and/or jump up and down. The same applies to the scores. High scores are cheered, low scores are booed. The poet needs to be heard. This is the most important for him.

Key words: slam, slammaster, performance, poetry, minutes.

Стаття надійшла до редакції 29.01.2014 р.

Прийнято до друку 28.03.2014 р.

Рецензент - к. філол. н., доц. Зверева М. А.

УДК 821.161.2 (100): 82.09

Slams have spread all over the world, with slam scenes in Hawaii, Ireland, Nepal, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Bosnia, Denmark, Latvia, South Korea, Japan, India, Greece, Spain, Mexico, France and Azerbaijan.

After each poet performs, each judge awards a score to that poem. Scores generally range between zero and ten. The highest and lowest score are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and thirty points.

Additionally, most slams enforce a time limit of three minutes (and a grace period of ten seconds), after which a poet's score may be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the limit.

The audience is encouraged to respond to every element of the Slam - from the poetry to the score it receives. This is one of the things that makes Slam so great. There's nothing stuffy about it. This is high culture, a show, and a sport - all in one. The audience may hiss, stomp, snap, clap, yell, buckle over in their chair and fall to the floor, stand up and/or jump up and down. Whether these reactions are praising or blasting the poem, it's all ok - so long as it doesn't blatantly affect the audience's ability to hear and enjoy the poem. When a poet says a zinger of a line, you'll know it. The crowd will gasp or give a huge collective “Oooooo” or “OOOH!!!” or some similar response. If they don't like what a poet is saying they may hiss or boo. The same applies to the scores. High scores are cheered, low scores are booed. urban culture slam

In an “Open Slam”, the most common slam type, competition is open to all who wish to compete, given the number of slots available. In an “Invitational Slam”, by contrast, only those invited to do so may compete.

Poetry Slam Incorporated (PSI) is the official non-profit organization charged with overseeing the international coalition of poetry slams. The mission of Poetry Slam Incorporated is to promote the performance and creation of poetry while cultivating literary activities and spoken word events in order to build audience participation, stimulate creativity, awaken minds, foster education, inspire mentoring, encourage artistic statement and engage communities worldwide in the revelry of language.

PSI holds several National and World Poetry Slams, including the Individual World Poetry Slam, The National Poetry Team Slam and The Women of the World Poetry Slam. The IWPS champion is Ed Mabrey (in 2012). The National Poetry Slam Team champions are Slam New Orleans (SNO) (in 2013), who have won the competition for the second year in a row. The Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion is Denice Frohman (in 2013).

These are some names of Finalists at National Poetry Slams: Danny Sherrard, Anis Mojgani, Jenean Livingston, Sonya Renee, Mighty Mike Mc Gee, Secou tha Misfit, Shane Koyczan, Roger Bonair-Agard and others.

A “Theme Slam” is one in which all performances must conform to a specified theme, genre, or formal constraint. In theme slams, poets can sometimes be allowed to break “traditional” slam rules. For instance, they sometimes allow performance of work by another poet (e.g. the “Dead Poet Slam”, in which all work must be by a deceased poet). They can also allow changes on the restrictions on costumes or props (e.g. the Swedish “Triathlon” slams that allow for a poet, musician, and dancer to all take the stage at the same time), changing the judging structure (e.g. having a specific guest judge), or changing the time limits (e.g. a “1-2-3” slam with three rounds of one minute, two minutes, and three minutes, respectively).

Although theme slams may seem restricting in nature, slam venues frequently use them to advocate participation by particular and perhaps underrepresented demographics (which vary from slam to slam), like younger poets and women. Poetry slams can feature a broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions, and approaches to writing and performance.

Some poets are closely associated with the vocal delivery style found in hip-hop music and draw heavily on the tradition of dub poetry, a rhythmic and politicized genre belonging to black and particularly West Indian culture. Others employ an unrhyming narrative formula. Some use traditional theatric devices including shifting voices and tones, while others may recite an entire poem in ironic monotone. Some poets use nothing but their words to deliver a poem, while others stretch the boundaries of the format, tap-dancing or beatboxing or using highly-choreographed movements.

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is a slam poet and author of the book “Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam”. “Words in Your Face” traces the rich history of slam poetry through the lens of the New York City scene that pioneered it. Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz situates New York slam poetry in the history of oral tradition in poetry throughout history and around the world, with particular attention to the three major 20th century arts movements that helped set the stage for it: the Harlem Renaissance, the Beats, and hip hop. The book expands the canvas by examining the connections between academia and slammers, especially the poets of color, the youth slammers, and the burgeoning hip hop poetry scene. Interviews with key players like Chicago's Marc Smith and San Francisco's Gary Mex Glazner help tell this fascinating story from the inside. [4]

The author establishes a relationship between the poetry slam world and the academic poetry world, encouraging interaction between academia and slammers, especially the poets of color, the youth slammers and the burgeoning hip hop poetry scene. She also shows how the scene has created the only non-academic way to make a living as a poet, as many poets are able to quit the day job through the opportunities created from touring, publishing, performing, audio downloads and matures to where it is a key component of educational initiatives and political campaigns.

Aptowicz was quoted in an interview on the Best American Poetry blog as saying: “One of the more interesting end products (to me, at least) of this constant shifting is that poets in the slam always worry that something - a style, a project, a poet - will become so dominant that it will kill the scene, but it never does. Ranting hipsters, freestyle rappers, bohemian drifters, proto-comedians, mystical shamans and gothy punks have all had their time at the top of the slam food chain, but in the end, something different always comes along and challenges the poets to try something new.” [5]

One of the goals of a poetry slam is to challenge the authority of anyone who claims absolute authority over literary value. No poet is beyond critique, as everyone is dependent upon the goodwill of the audience. Since only the poets with the best cumulative scores advance to the final round of the night, the structure assures that the audience gets to choose from whom they will hear more poetry. Audience members furthermore become part of each poem's presence, thus breaking down the barriers between poet/performer, critic, and audience.

Bob Holman, a poetry activist and former slammaster of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, once called the movement “the democratization of verse”. In 2005, Holman was also quoted as saying: “The spoken word revolution is led a lot by women and by poets of color. It gives a depth to the nation's dialogue that you don't hear on the floor of Congress. I want a floor of Congress to look more like a National Poetry Slam. That would make me happy.”[6]

Slam poetry has found popularity as a form of self-expression among many teenagers. The World Poetry Bout Association sponsored the earliest slam poetry workshops for teenagers, through its “Poetry Education Project” in Taos, New Mexico, in the early 1990s. The first statewide competition for high school students was held at Taos High School in 1993, with the top teams and individual participants awarded plaques. Youth Speaks, a non-profit literary organization founded in 1996 by James Kass, serves as one of the largest youth poetry organizations in America, offering opportunities for youth ages 13-19 to express their ideas on paper and stage.

Derrick Brown, a former paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne, gondolier, magician, and fired weatherman, now travels the world and performs his written work. From Nashville, he is dedicated to bringing American poetry into rock and roll status. As one of the most original and well-traveled writer/performers in the country, Derrick Brown has gained a cult following for his poetry performances all over the U.S. and through Europe. To date, Brown has performed at over 1200 venues and universities internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, La Sorbonne in Paris and The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NYC. Brown is one of the most famous poets and publishers to emerge from the American slam poetry scene.

“Mighty” Mike McGee is an international spoken word artist, writer, performer, speaker, slam poet and comic. He has performed in thousands of venues all over North America, and was one of the first Americans ever to perform poetry at the University la Sorbonne in Paris, France. McGee began performing comedy and poetry to audiences at home in San Jose, California in 1998. As a Poetry Slam competitor in the U.S., Mike has competed at the National Poetry Slam on team San Jose several times. In 2003, McGee won the coveted National Poetry Slam Individual Grand Championship, besting over 300 nationally ranked poetry slammers. In 2006, McGee became the first person to win two separate individual titles by being crowned the 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, besting over 70 of the world's best ranked slam poets.

Some people say that the United States has been enjoying a sort of poetry renaissance. Can tens of thousands of people worldwide be wrong? Is slam really serious or is it just a case of fooling a lot of the people a lot of the time? Slam has opened poetry to an entire generation that had no use for it thanks to the educational system. It is kind of the America of the poetry world - the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. It has provided a forum for those who have no home in the ivory towers of academia and an alternate outlet for those that do. These people do not contemplate the trees. They do not believe that politics have no place in poetry. They are activists, often whether they know it or not. Slam audiences are often the most diverse of any of the art forms, especially within poetry itself. It is slowly and subversively creating a more enlightened society.

Unlike the overwhelmingly white “beat movement” to which it is too often inaccurately compared, slam is a truly diverse, multicultural movement. And make no mistake, slam is as much a social movement as an aesthetic movement. As a lot of people suggest, slam has changed people's lives. That's what art is supposed to do. If it does nothing but entertain, it might as well be a sit-com. The slam moves people to be passionately involved with art and performance, with words and ideas, with the people who come to listen. It has given people purpose and direction. It has challenged people to examine themselves, to take chances, to get to know people and ideas they would have otherwise just passed by.

These examples illustrate what slam poems look like and their form.

“I Don't Hate America”

I Don't Hate America

I like the country I live in

That doesn't mean I have to sing their songs

to prove that sh@!.

That doesn't mean that

I can just can't get over the fact that

they murdered the people who built it

America was dedicated to a proposition that

“all men are created equal, except

for women, indians and blacks

The white men were just fine is what we were told

but what about those who were stolen that never made it over to NEW WORLD?

Written by Humbleb

“Ignorance“

Ignorance is a crime caused by putting up fences if we'd let go

of the voices inside our heads and eliminate fears discussions would arise peel the blind folds from our eyes share real stories told without disguise encouraging progress could be made

with concerns of what we've learned

rather than what we are paid

a fulfilling life

is people based

sharing

giving

looking out for others one human at a time despite our differences the truly rich way of living.

Written by JSLambert Chinaski domo-MRROBOTO

Regardless of the nay-sayers, night after night, all around the world, poets are slamming in front of large and lively audiences. Obviously, there is more to slam than meets the ear. Slam has a history, a mission and a future. The particularity of the slam poets' language can be the goal of the future research.

References

1. Lepyoshkina N. I. Slam as a kind of urban culture / N. I. Lepyoshkina // Visnyk LNU. - 2011. - №17(228). - P. 178 - 184.

2. Smith P. Please, audience, do not applaud a mediocre poem / Patricia Smith // Smithsonian Magazine. - 1992. - №9. - P. 102 - 109.

3. Slam: A Poetic Diaialogue. Stress Fractures: Essays on Poetry. [ed. By Tom Chivers]. - London : Margins Press, 2010. - 329 p.

4. Aptowicz C. Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam / Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. - N.Y. : Soft Skull Press, 2008. - 514 p.

5. The Best American Poetry blog [Електронний ресурс] - Режим доступу : http://www. answers.com/topic/poetry-slam 6. Algarin M. Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe / Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman. - N.Y. : Henry Holt and Company, 1994. - 514 p.

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