Science and the Spoken Word

Baba -   "That is often the idea that most enrages Darwin's detractors.  And when I say Darwin's detractors, I'm specifically talking about his religious detractors like creationists.  Not his scientific detractors.  There are none.  It's the idea that we, we came from ape-like ancestors..."

Baba -   Hello.  The name is Baba Brinkman from Vancouver, Canada and we are at the poetry and words tent at Glastonbury.  Well in the set that I just did, it was a little bit of "The Rap Guide to Evolution" and some of the more rabble-rousing material with "I'm an African" and "Creationist Cousins".  This always goes down pretty well because, as a spoken word piece, it's got quite a personal side to it.  I also premiered my rap adaptation of the "Epic of Gilgamesh" which I've given a sort of the hip-hop/science treatment.  I'm taking that to the Edinburgh fringe this year, and this was the first crowd that had heard it so I feel like it went down pretty well.  I didn't know what to expect.

Ben -   What do you think of Glastonbury as an event to talk about these sorts of things?

Baba -   Well, I think Glastonbury is known as a big super rockstar headliner festival, but it is a festival of performing arts in all its guises.  The poetry and word tent is a bit of a strange beast because it's that ecosystem without a real, locked, niche species that's holding it down.  So the pioneer species drift through and some of them morph a little bit if they decide to stay, but you get a lot of randomness passing through this one for sure.  It's like a Galapagos Island in a way.