Leicester Liming: where poetry and music meets carnival
Featuring Hannah Lowe, Roy McFarlane, Tobago Crusoe, DJ Psykhomantus, Michael Brome and Melanie Abrahams
Liming elevates orality and spoken word and offers exciting possibilities for performance and wordplay. Based on a Trinidad term and what could be loosely called a ‘national pastime’, it refashions carnival’s ‘limin’ culture, and showcases acclaimed poets, wordsmiths and performers who elevate words and ideas and encourage us to respond and go with the flow. Event produced by Renaissance One for Literary Leicester. Produced by Renaissance One for Literary Leicester.
HANNAH LOWE's latest book, The Kids, won the Costa Poetry Award and the Costa Book of the Year, 2021. Her first poetry collection Chick (Bloodaxe, 2013) won the Michael Murphy Memorial Award for Best First Collection. In September 2014, she was named as one of 20 Next Generation poets. Her family memoir Long Time, No See (Periscope, 2015) featured as Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Her second collection, Chan, is published by Bloodaxe. (2016). She has also published four chapbooks: The Hitcher (Rialto 2012); R x (sine wave peak 2013); and Ormonde (Hercules Editions 2014) and The Neighbourhood (Outspoken Press, 2019)
Tobago Crusoe is a calypsonian, composer, musician and a performing artist with over 30 years experience. He won the Calypso Crown in 1983 with "Don't Cry Now" and "South Africa". Crusoe is well-regarded for his extempo mastery and ranks with the best in the artform. His compositions are unique and thought provoking and he has appeared in the films Paddington and Paddington 2 and the CD of the same name. Crusoe has performed around the world to international audiences, including festivals and events in Madison Square Garden, Turin, Barcelona and Germany. He was the Calypsonian-in-Residence at London Is The Place For Me Caribbean festival at the British Library in 2018. Currently the lead singer of Calypso outfit ‘Tobago and D’Lime’ he has a long history of musical collaborations including the legendary performers Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose and Singing Sandra. He was awarded with a position in the Sunshine Awards Hall of Fame for his contribution to Calypso music (2011).
Roy McFarlane is a poet and playwright. He was born in Birmingham and has held the role of Birmingham Poet Laureate and Starbuck Poet in Residence. He is the author of two collections of poetry Beginning With Your Last Breath and The Healing Next Time. His writing has appeared in magazines including Under the Radar, The Reader and Out of Bounds and he's the co-editor of and writer for Celebrate Wha?. His play For the Love of Auset premiered at The Drum in Birmingham. He was formerly a poet in residence for Warwickshire Poetry Voices and he is currently the Canal Laureate. He lives in Brighton.
Michael Brome is a poet, spoken word artist and education facilitator. He’s performed widely, from festivals and theatres to universities, pubs and day centres. He was a speaker at the first TedX in the world held in a prison outside the US (Leicester HMP, 2017). He was a winner of the national Spoken Word Commission initiated by Baroness Lola Young that resulted in a showcase at Southbank Centre. As a contributing artist at the three cities (Nottingham-Leicester-Derby) ‘Freedom Showcase’ marking the abolition of the slave trade bicentenary he wrote poems that were theatrically performed to music. Brome uses his writing and powerful oratory to respond to culture and society resulting in diverse commissions
DJ: Psykhomantus is a DJ and music producer who bridges the gap and connects the dots between Hip Hop and other progressive music genres. His tastes and playlists include 'Playing Past' (Motown, Soul, Funk), 'Present' (Hip Hop, Soulful House) and 'Future' (Broken Beat, Nu Jazz, Electronica) and more. He showcases the whole spectrum of Turntablism and has turned it into theatre through the shows Kwesi Johnson’s 2006 Hip Hop theatre hit show ‘A Hiphopstory’, Jonzi D’s Open Art Surgery’ and ‘Freesyle Funk Forum’ by Breakin’ Convention. He has featured on national stages including Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall and De Montfort Hall and he has toured extensively with Benji Reid and Jonzi D.
(Host) Melanie Abrahams
Melanie Abrahams FRSA FRSL is a curator, producer and mentor who has channelled a love of words and books into projects and initiatives. She’s founder of the independent literature organisation Renaissance One and artists and organisations she’s worked with include Miami Book Fair, Chris Ofili, The Space, Museum of Modern Art (Finland) and the BBC. She is the Caribbean and Community Engagement Consultant (UP Projects) for the Windrush Monument due to be unveiled at London Waterloo in June 2022. Her latest curated project This Is Who We Are is a newly-formed UK-Australian movement of intergenerational and intersectional women of colour artists and is within the British Council’s UK-Australia season.