Slam Nuba

Slam Nuba is a competitive performance poetry event and team sponsored by the Pan African Arts Society and certified by Poetry Slam International- the organization that arranges an annual National Poetry Slam. The Pan African Arts Society is an award-winning arts and social change organization that has been serving the Denver community for over ten years. In addition to Slam Nuba, its projects also include Cafe Nuba, an award-winning open mic poetry set, and the Denver Pan African Film Festival.

Slam Nuba holds its poetry events at Blackberries Ice Cream and Coffee and The Crossroads Theater, both located in The Historic Five Points neighborhood in Denver, Colorado.

The National Poetry Slam is the largest team performance poetry event in the world. Teams from all over North America and a few from other countries converge in a different city every summer for five days of poetry, revelry and competition. Go to http://www.poetryslam.com/ to learn more.

In 2007 the Denver Slam Nuba team placed fourth in the nation. In 2008 Slam Nuba won two separate regional bouts including the Southwest Shoot Out Poetry Slam in Dallas, Texas, and The Denver 40 ounce Poetry Slam. Slam Nuba competed at The National Poetry Slam in Madison, Wisconsin in 2008 and made it to semifinals for the second year straight.

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History

Slam Nuba is the brain child of Ashara Ekundayo, Ken Arkind and Panama Soweto. Café Nuba, Denver’s premier monthly poetry showcase, had been a registered Poetry Slam, Inc. venue for several years and had never sent a team to the National Poetry Slam. With the support of the community Slam Nuba was created for the purpose of representing the versatility of Denver’s poetry scene under its parent organization of Café Nuba.

Slam Nuba is a registered 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. This means that all funds they generate come from donations and various types of fundraising. This keeps the group close to Denver and helps further the sense of community in the metropolitan area.

The team has performed in many places outside of poetry slam including an event hosted by Democracy Now, sharing a stage with Amy Goodman, opening for recording artists Les Nubians, sharing a stage with the revolutionary Hip-Hop group Dead Prez, and at such local events as Denver’s Black Arts Festival, The Poet As Muse, Club Reign and Café Cultura.

In 2007, its first year of competing, Nuba had four competing members, Jai Harris, Bobby Lefebre, Panama Soweto and Lucifury. Suzi Q. Smith was the team’s Slam Master, (Organizer and manager), and Bianca Mikahn Shaw was the team’s coach. Most of the team was comprised of rookie slammers and yet they were able to win several regional bouts including the Lincoln, Nebraska Invitational and the Dallas Invitational Poetry Slam.

During a week of events at The National Poetry Slam 2007, Lucifury, won the Erotic Poetry Slam and earned the coveted title of “Most Erotic Slam Poet in the Nation.”

Throughout team finals, Slam Nuba placed fourth in the Nation out of a possible 75 teams. This was a difficult task for a rookie slam team.

2008 saw a change for Slam Nuba. Several of the previous teams members remained but a few new ones were added to the troupe. Bobby Lefebre, Panama Soweto, Lucifury, Original Woman, and Ayinde Russell represented Slam Nuba during the 2008 slam season. Suzi Q. Smith left their ranks as Slam Master, but Bobby Lefebre and Panama Soweto picked up where she had left off. Bianca Mikahn remained on as coach.

During the 2008 season the team won a variety of tournaments and performed at a wide range of venues in the Denver area, including the wrap up party for DNC (Democratic National Convention) volunteers. The team was also featured in an article in El Semanario, Denver’s Weekly Latino newspaper. To read the article, go to http://www.elsemanario.net/news.php?clan=0&nid=1133

Slam Nuba won the Flagstaff “Win and You’re In” bout, a match they needed to clinch a spot at the national competition, The 2008 South West Shoot Out Poetry Slam, and The Denver 40 Ounce Invitational Slam.

At the national event the team won both of their preliminary bouts advancing themselves on to semifinals. They came in second in their semifinals bout to team Austin Egos and tied with the team from Hollywood. Although they could not repeat their success from the previous year, the team had an excellent slam season and was extremely proud of the work they produced.

To find out more about slam poetry go to, http://www.poetryslam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=25#What%20is%20poetry%20slam?

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Community

Slam Nuba is very much involved in community development throughout Denver. Several of the poets in the organization are youth mentors and advocates. The group believes that a strong community can be determined by the contributions of its teachers, laborers and artists. This belief has lead the group to work with other non-profit organizations and volunteer a great deal of their time to neighborhood enrichment. Panama Soweto states, "Poetry is a very important tool, it can expire the anguish in our souls and solicit the best from our hearts." ----

Current

Slam Nuba currently holds its poetry slams and open mic twice a month at the Cross Roads Theater in the Historic 5 Points neighborhood of Denver. For more information please go to http://www.cafenuba.com, http://www.denvercrossroads.com, or http://www.myspace.com/slamnuba.team.