karen lee

vocalist / poet / actor / voiceover artist

Karen Lee is most captivated by Voice. Sound. Beat. A lyric:driven storyteller, devoted to social justice, reclaiming voice against tyrannies that silence. With sound / dub / spoken word poetry and vocals, she sings journeys into indigenous memory to heal colonial injury; probe wound, challenge systems that seek to deny African womyn-ness. With the poise and skill of a voiceover artist, vocalist and musician, her credits span live, solo, session, choral, wedding, theatre, film, TV, radio, commercials and new media internationally and locally, including Jamaican Creole, Japanese and English. A soulful soprano, E:Bb, Karen Lee vibrates a rich lower register.

Artistic Mediums: Poetry. Vocals. Language. Sound. Breath. Memory. Body.

Awards: Ontario Arts Council, Skills and Career Development: Indigenous Arts Professionals and Arts Professionals of Colour, 2018 and Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create: Research and Creation, 2018. Karen is as well a member of SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) and ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists).

 

ian keteku

2010 world poetry slam champion/screenwriter/multi-media artist

Ian uses his voice to inspire messages of peace, action and critical thought and believes poetry is the universe’s way of showing us the beauty in emotion, the similarity in experience and the art of living. Born in Canada and raised by Ghanaian parents, Ian feels spiritually connected to his heritage. Ian’s work is strongly influenced by his upbringing and journeys throughout Africa. His work follows in the lineage of ancient African storytellers by paying homage to the past and revisiting themes and lessons from previous generations. A practitioner of Afrofuturism, he uses multi-media art and video to produce thought-provoking poetic short films. He conducts poetry, writing and performance workshops for students of all ages, corporations and various community groups, inspiring people to accept the power of their own voice. He has been featured in a number of print and broadcast publications.

 

trotro vibes

literacy campaigns/mobile music

A collective- vocal and improvised music artists and urban educators. A literacy campaign movement which makes use of public mini-vans also called trotros in Ghana to share impromptu live poetry performances and clear sounds. Kwame Aidoo curates a mobile storytelling piece with Trotro Vibes based on geopolitical positioning and memory making as an approach to stimulate social healing through interactive participation with concerted nostalgia at its core, for this edition of Nkabom Literary Art Festival.

 

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