kate tempest was fantastic last night at the queen elizabeth hall on the southbank (which is such a great venue btw). i know i have enthused about her many times on the blog or twitter. she possesses or is perhaps possessed by a wonderful gift, the artful gift of crafting words, not just words for words sake but words that are compelled by a deeper drive or vision or calling for what is true and beautiful and just and alive and human. she is a prophet and stands in a line of prophets - those who see what others don't seem to see and who have always weighed their words and had something to say beyond cleverness or trickery or pleasure... those who are compelled to speak, entrusted with words, words of grief and hope.
she is from south london and has not lost her sense of self or roots which must be a challenge with the incredible roll she is on (mercury prize nominee, brand new ancients selling out, ted hughes award, lots of media attention right now and so on...). and she is at pains to show her thanks and humility which is refreshing.
the evening was the launch of a new book - hold your own - in which she tells a mythical tale of tiresias in an epic opening poem and then cracks open four of the tale's themes - childhood, womanhood, manhood, and blind profit. it's brilliant - you should get a copy and its all new material or at least its not in other publications of hers that i have seen. the tale of an old man who loses his eyes and yet becomes a seer, a blind prophet, is masterful.
she weaves a mix of themes of pain and brokenness and struggle and fear throughout with an appeal to truth and humanness, to come home to your real passions and live out of the gift you bring and your own call. a short review can't do justice to the gig. it was so powerful and moving and truthful. there are some poets who are prophets (and poetry as a mode of speech is surely the mother tongue of prophets) - i remember the first time i saw jean binta breeze and feeling as though empires were collapsing and new worlds emerging simply through her words. kate does this - the gods of consumption are laid bare in all their pitiful ugliness and the powerful called to account. it would be easy to assume she is fueled by christian faith as the themes responate so strongly with what christ is about but i don't think that's the case (though i am sure she would enjoy a glass of wine with him) - the false gods of religion are equally dethroned for their perpetuation of control and fear and i think christianity is thrown in with that lot in her take. but she has met the holy, the unknown god whatever name she might give to him/her and she is shining - i'd love to ask her about that some day...
i hope she does well in the mercury prize but for me kate and her voice and her poems and her words is where it's at. make sure you see her doing spoken word and not just with the band...
there were so many lines that caught my attention and i will linger with in the coming days - "wherever you are from is a holy place" is from the poem these things i know.
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