SAUL WILLIAMS has been called "the data-age Gil Scott-Heron" and "a radiant creative force" by Allmusic.com, as well as "a poet at heart" who "resists easy categorization", by Pitchfork.
The New York born poet, rapper, writer, artist, and activist plays the Róisín Dubh on Tuesday June 28 at 8pm, performing works from across his career, including music from his latest album, MartyrLoserKing.
Written and recorded in Senegal, Reunion Island, Paris, Haiti, New Orleans, and New York, MartyrLoserKing is a multimedia project that engages the digital dialogue between the First and Third Worlds, as well as global street sounds.
“In Senegal, I was buying iPhones for $20, Beats for $10, because they get all the influx from China, with no regulation,” Williams explains, about the idea for the new album, “so everyone’s online. Everyone’s high tech.” He sights Beyoncé, Fredo Santana, and Haitian field recordings as musical inspirations for the work. “I’m just letting you know what I’m reading and seeing while I’m writing," he says. "When I’m writing, the music leads.”
Since his 2001 debut album, Amethyst Rock Star, produced by Rick Rubin, Williams has won acclaim for his mix of spoken word, poetry, and alternative hip hop. He has recorded with Nine Inch Nails and Allen Ginsburg, and performed at The White House, Sydney Opera House, The Louvre, and The Getty Center, as well as in villages, townships, community centers, and prisons.
Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
