Music & Poetry for/by the Saharawis

THIS SATURDAY July 2nd we have so many exciting activities prepared for our Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival (Hundred Years Gallery, E2 8JD, 4-9.30pm).

To chill out at the end, the evening will conclude with a collaborative performance of two artists who have both been to the Saharawi refugee camps. Poet Sam Berkson will recite original poems and translated Saharawi poems from his poetry book “Settled Wanderers” accompanied by darbouka player Karim Delalli playing irresistible Algerian beats. Here is a teaser from their previous collaboration at Sandblast Benefit Concert last February 6 at the Bolivar Hall in London.

*Sam Berkson is a poet from London, author of acclaimed collection Life In Transit (Influx Press 2012). He runs workshops in schools and wrote words for Lorenzo Vitturi’s astonishing photobook Dalston Anatomy. Sam has been performing poetry for many years as ‘Angry Sam’ as part of the Hammer & Tongue collective. In 2013, Sam was invited by the charity Olive Branch Arts to visit the Saharawi refugee camps as a poet in residence. In March 2014, following a successful crowdfunding campaign, Influx Press raised enough money to send him back to gather and translate some of the contemporary poetry of the Saharawi. Together with Saharawi translator and illustrator Mohamed Labat Sulaiman, Sam has recently published Settled Wanderers, a collection of translated and interpreted (Hassaniya to English) poems from the greatest living poets of the Western Sahara. Sam will be collaborating with London-based Algerian world-class darbouka player Karim Dellali, who has also been to the Saharawi refugee camps and collaborated with Saharawi artists. www.angrysampoetry.wordpress.com