Bassey Ikpi To Headline Kwani? Open Mic September 2015 Edition

Nairobi’s longest running performance poetry platform, Kwani? Open Mic will play host to Nigerian-American poet Bassey Ikpi on September 1st, 2015. Bassey is a Nigerian born and Washington D.C. bred poet/writer who was a featured cast member of the National Touring Company of the Tony Award winning Broadway show, Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam hosted by actor/rapper Mos Def. Not a stranger to the​ stage, her poetry has also opened shows by Grammy Award winning artists such as India Arie, Luther Vandross, Alicia Keys, has earned her standing ovations at the NAACP Image Awards where her poetry was part of a tribute to Venus and Serena Williams.

With social commentary being a focus of her work, Bassey has recorded original poems for the Kaiser Foundation’s, HIV/AIDS campaign, Knowing Is Beautiful and There is No Comfort In Silence for Global Grind in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb and World AIDS Day. In Lagos, she organized Do The Write Thing an event to show support through the spoken word for the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. She also recorded a song with popular Nigerian artist 2Face Idibia in support  of  the movement called Break The Silence.  Her passion for poetry, arts and social issues has also led her to work as a freelance writer for several media outlets on the topic of mental health and pop culture commentary including Ebony, The Huffington Post, Essence.com, XOJane.com and TheRoot.com and was the resident pop culture critic for Philly’s WURD FM radio station.

Bassey will headline the evening of performance poetry alongside Nairobi’s finest acts. She is also scheduled to hold a Spoken Word workshop and a special edition of Basseyworld Live: Nairobi (hosted at PAWA254 in partnership with WGLive) as well as visit a local school with Kwani Trust’s Soma Initiative.

The event will take place on September 1st from 7pm to 9pm at The Phoenix Players, Parliament Rd, Inside Professional Centre. Limited advance tickets are available only via MPesa and are going for Ksh 500. Simply select “Buy Goods” on your MPesa menu, enter the “Till Number” (56714) and follow instructions to complete transaction.

Watch Bassey Ikpi – Homeward on Def Jam Poetry