This Friday,
April 25, Marc Bamuthi Joseph will return to the Mesa Arts Center to perform
his three part performance, The Spoken World. His experiences and
perceptions are retold in this performance, as he recalls his voyages to
Senegal, Haiti, Bosnia and Japan, and he examines the way hip hop culture has
transformed the perception of American citizenship across the world.
Joseph is a
National Poetry Slam champion, Broadway veteran, featured artist on HBO’s Russell
Simmons’ Def Poetry and a recipient of the 2002 and 2004 National
Performance Network Creation commissions. Joseph has worked with legendary
artists including Ben Harper, De La Soul, The Roots, Bonnie Raitt, Kanye West,
Saul Williams, Blackalicious, Will Power, Jill Scott, Mos Def, Sarah Jones,
Sonia Sanchez, Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Roger
Bonair-Agard, Ishle Yi Park, Danny Hoch and many others.
Known for
bridging the worlds of literary performance, poetry, dance, theater and more,
his work has been described as everything from “electrifying” (The Houston Chronicle), to
“ever-elegant” (The
Washington Post) and has compelled The Seattle Times to name him their “cutting
edge performer of the year” for 2003. In their recent review of Word Becomes Flesh, the New York Times declared
his work to be “eloquent. . .seamless. . .and remarkable.”
Don’t miss
this one-night-only opportunity to see an incredibly intelligent and skillful
artist. His influence on the spoken word community makes him a driving cultural
force that is inspiring, and consistently evolving.
