November 9, 2006

Contact:
Susan Levi Wallach, public relations
(803) 699-2800 ext. 2782
swallach@rnh.richland2.org

A little knight music: Chaucerian rapper Baba Brinkman comes to RNE
Columbia, SC: Baba Brinkman will bring his one-man production of “The Rap Canterbury Tales" to English classes at Richland Northeast High School on November 16 and 17. Brinkman, a scholar who as an undergraduate began combining his love of Chaucer with his aspiration to be a rap singer, wrote his master’s thesis on the parallels between Chaucer’s work and today’s hip-hop music.

Brinkman give one public performance of “The Rap Canterbury Tales” on November 17 at 2 p.m. in the Richland School District Two Auditorium. Tickets are $5 at the door.

“I see Chaucer and rap as links in a chain that stretches back to the shared roots of oral traditions,” said Brinkman. “By connecting them I hope to demonstrate and celebrate rap's potential as a lyrical and literary art form, and also bring Chaucer back to brilliant sonic life.” In his melding of medieval poetry and 21st Century rap, Brinkman manages both to maintain the original narratives (so that teachers can use his material in the classroom) and modernize their presentation and language.

Brinkman began experimenting with adaptations of “The Canterbury Tales” in 1999. He was working on a thesis comparing Chaucer’s language and poetics to those of rap artists, and the project, he said, “seemed a natural extension.” Brinkman’s “The Rap Canterbury Tales” now takes the forms of a solo theatrical performance, a series of workshops and presentations for educational purposes, and a CD recording. Most recently, he performed at Harvard, Wellesley, and College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Richland Northeast is his only stop in South Carolina.

About Baba Brinkman
Brinkman’s dual interests in rap and English studies orient him with the unique ability to build bridges between often disparate arenas: rap culture and the literary academic community. The two are usually seen as separate worlds, and yet as Brinkman performed his undergraduate studies in English in 1998, he found that rap and poetry had a good deal in common. He completed a B.A. at Simon Fraser University and an M.A. in Medieval and Renaissance English Literature at the University of Victoria, and went about the unprecedented work of, as he put it, “increasing awareness of hip-hop lyrics as poetry.” He has made several albums, performed internationally in such cities as Prague, Montreal, and Edinburgh, and orchestrated a “Rap is Poetry” concert. In spring 2005, Cambridge University sponsored his UK tour, during which he performed for more than thirty schools.

Rap artist and medieval scholar Baba Brinkman will perform “The Rap Canterbury Tales” in the District Auditorium during his residency at Richland Northeast High School, his only stop in South Carolina.

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