Spoken word artists from the African diaspora weave together stories of self-identity against the background mosaic of race, gender, faith and “otherness”.

Performers

Baasto is forging her own genre-bending sound combining soulful funky rhythms with elements from her Somali roots. Born Umulkhayr Hassan in Melbourne, her family relocated to Perth where she was subsequently raised before moving back to Melbourne in 2017 where she has made herself known to the local music and poetry landscape. Over the past year Baasto has made appearances at local events and festivals, including Melbourne Museum during Midsumma Festival and sharing the stage with Sampa The Great at the Age Music Awards as a part of the Sunburnt Soul Choir. Baasto is also often seen performing alongside Melbourne staples Syreneyiscreamy, Yusuf Harare Jnr and Whosane.

ZIIMUSIC is a Naarm (Melbourne) based creative blending his artistry into a soulful experience. Originally from Zimbabwe, ZIIMUSIC began his creative career as a rapper and musician. 2017 saw ZIIMUSIC step into the spoken word scene as part of the Band Of Brothaz compromising of Naarm’s most decorated spoken word artists. Since then, ZIIMUSIC has developed into a multidisciplinary artist who expresses his creativity through various art forms.

Bigoa Chuol is a South Sudanese writer, poet and facilitator. An active practitioner in community engaged arts and creative project development, she is a fellow of The University of Melbourne Social Equity Institute. Her more recent writing explores the reverberations of war time displacement in the diaspora on gender equality, language and memory and she is currently working on a collection of essays.