Hip hop folk act come to Cardiff

More about Atomic Wednesday’s Ian Keteku

World Poetry Slam 2010 champion Ian Keteku forged his skills in dingy nightclubs, where slam competitors deal in bravado and ego-battering missives aimed at competitors. His quick witted verse and rapid fire delivery take on subjects ranging from tirades against social injustice to a paean to his laptop.

Slam poets, Ian said, try to voice issues that relate to everyone.

“It’s not any extra superhuman thing that’s going on when artists or poets find inspiration,” he said. “I think we’re just going through the normal brain processes in the head and writing them down in artistic and creative ways.”

 “I think poetry’s almost like a public service like being a teacher, or a doctor, or whatever,” he said. “I think society is in need for poets, especially now, but always. We need people to tell us what’s going on in our hearts, in our heads, in our communities, and articulate it in ways that regularly we would not talk about these issues.”

Of the attitude inherent in the scene, Ian said, “That’s part of the appeal, that’s part of the sport. Without the arrogance, without the confidence I don’t think people would be coming on stage and spitting the fire that they do.”