Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden

I just wanted to introduce this wonderfully cozy cafe / venue I have been with my friends few weeks ago...

It's the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden.
On the ground floor you can enjoy lovely veggie meals, teas, coffee, and wines - and in downstairs, there's vibrant music performance and poetry readings taking place in most of the evenings.

On one evening I went to a Drumming, Singing, and Sappo's Poetry Reading night with my friends Michael and David. Though none of us were very familiar with this type of event, the space and people were very open and welcoming; despite the title of the night, we ended up having numbers of people from the audience coming up to the stage and reading their own poetries! which was very very lovely. It really is the one of the kind of "hub" you can find in London - open to anyone, open to creativity.

Apparently, there's a monthly poetry surgery where you can bring in your own poetry and gain some advices from professional poets at the Cafe too...wonderful! Definately a recommend to visit!!

Poetry Cafe
http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/cafe/

The New Spitz in Dalston - AKIRA SAKATA / YUMI HARA CAWKWELL / CHARLES HAYWARD at Cafe OTO

When the music venue Spitz had to move out from the Spitalfields in 2007, all the experimental music lovers were sobbing with disappointment, collecting petitions to save the fate of the much-loved venue. However, the future of our music theme has changed when Cafe OTO was born in the Dalston last summer. Ever since then, the cafe is holding gigs of experimental music almost every night.


Last night at the cafe was the gig of AKIRA SAKATA / YUMI HARA CAWKWELL / CHARLES HAYWARD. To witness the performance of extraordinarly talented musicians was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! All the acts were inprovised, totally one-off with mixture of free-jazz, Japanese traditional Utai (a type of singing), and progressive dramming - you cannot possibly categorize the performance into a certain type of music. It was BEYOND the boader of "EXPERIMENTAL" sound.

And I just LOVE the laid-back attitude of the musicians, who purely want the audience as well as themselves to ENJOY the acts - we were absorbed by the energy-filled, strong character that (propably the) most of us have never witnessed for a long time.

Yumi Hara Cawkwell was saying that Cafe OTO is the only venue in London that is holding gigs of experimental music almost every night. In other words, the venue was now the new Spitz where all the starvations of progressive music are being fed in the cultural city. I can't wait to witness another night of mind-browing performance!


*this post will be later on updated with interviews of the performers.