AHMED KNOWMADIC – NATIONAL CHAMPION SPOKEN WORD POET, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, DYNAMITE BROTHER (MF GALAXY 041)
Stunning performer combines stand-up comedy & theatre background with socially conscious verse & community organising
Ahmed Knowmadic is an award-winning performance poet who—unlike
most writers and performers—has been earning his living through his craft for
the last three years by entertaining and enlightening people around the planet.
He’s
performed for audiences in the thousands, and in March 2015 the British Council
and the Norwich Writer Centre invited him to represent Canada during the International
Literature Network conference.
Born
in Mogadishu, Somali, in 1984, Ahmed migrated with his
three older brothers and his mother to Italy during the collapse of the Somali state.
Finding Italy inhospitable to his culture and religion, Ahmed and his family
moved again—this time, to Canada.
After
a troubled stint in Ontario and an even more troubling trip back to Somalia, he
returned to Canada to study theatre and comedy writing, and even
performed for Second
City and various open mic nights in
Toronto.
Finally
settling in the Big E in 2008, Ahmed
integrated himself into the city’s poetry scene and brought all his life and
artistic experience—including comedy—to his writing and performances. Joining
with a group of like-minded young performance poets, together they founded the Breath
in Poetry Collective which not only performs
poetry, but provides
artistic and even business mentorship.
In
2011, Ahmed became the spoken word champion at the nation-wide Canadian Festival of
Spoken Word, and won the RISE award for
community involvement in arts and culture. In 2013 he was Artist in Residence at the Langston Hughes
Performing Arts Institute in Seattle. He continues to excite and
magnify E-Town’s poetry scene including by working with young people at
conferences, in schools, and through various community organizations.
I
recorded this episode’s conversation with Ahmed Knowmadic in October 2014 at Authorpalooza,
a live talk-show author series I ran while I was writer in residence for the
Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.
You’ll
hear Ahmed perform his poem “Ignorance Infomercial,” and
explain how other people’s rudeness forced him to make his text and
performances as dynamic and engaging as possible. He’ll also discuss his
experiences engaging the people of the Somali diaspora, including traditional
elders and the delegates to a massive conference in the Somali capitol of North America. Finally, he’ll present his own advice for new poets, tell
what drives him crazy about slam poetry, and reveal the danger of trying to
please the audience. He begins by performing one of his most famous poems, “I Am Africa.”
To get all the bonus content, download
the special EXTENDED EDITION of MF GALAXY, including a performance
of one of Ahmed Knowmadic’s most powerful poems and an additional, never-before-aired interview,
and the video of that interview!
To download this extended edition of MF GALAXY, simply become a sponsor of theshow for a dollar or more per episode.
“Innocence”
“Somali
Pirates (Desperate Fishermen)”
“I Am Africa”
“Ignorance
Infomercial”
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