The popular RHA Hennessy Lost Fridays event, gathering a host of Irish artists, musicians, poets and creatives for a night of performance spread across the RHA’s gallery spaces. returns on the 3rd of March, with another interesting brew of participants in the mix.
Featuring on the night is the four-time Leinster Poetry Slam champion John Cummins. “I’m really excited," he says. "It’s a beautiful space to walk around. I attended it a few years ago. Back then I would’ve been fairly nervous. It was a really big gig for me, but we grow through gigs like this and it will be great to be able to measure where I’m at; my evolution as a performer”.
John has been writing for twenty years, and began performing nearly seven years ago. “I love playing with language. I call what I do ‘pear-formance’ - spelling it that way with the underline on 'ear'. It’s a two way thing. When people share the experience with you, well it’s a very spiritual thing, for me anyway”. For audience members coming along on the night, John ensures he makes it a fresh experience “You need to make it like the first time people have heard a poem even it has been performed a lot," he says. "It’s important you get over that you know, deliver it, say it, speak it; the talk for the walk, I call it”.
Very early on John was encouraged by a teacher to write. He was a talented footballer, but had to sacrifice that potential career after some serious injuries - even then, however, he was writing “It was a secret thing I was doing," he says. "I had the pen and pad in the football bag. I write about football quite a bit. I wrote a poem for Ireland in the Euros [2016] and it was picked up and used by the BBC” John tells me, “If you listen to the commentary on sports matches or when people are talking passionately or skilfully, artfully about something I guarantee you will hear rhyme; it’s just a matter of tuning the ear”.
There is a swell in the popularity of spoken word performance of late, notably the success of My Ireland, Stephen James Smith's specially commissioned piece for this year's St Patrick's Day Festival. “I think It’s fantastic," says Cummins. "Poetry is being used a lot more these days.” With a variety of monthly happenings, open mic nights and platforms like the RHA's Lost Fridays events, there are many opportunities for individuals to have their voice heard. “I think it’s a very positive ‘monkey see, monkey do’ thing ; there are lots of 'Chun-fellas and Chun-ones’ as I like to call them, coming along and performing, even setting up their own nights”.
Cummins has also participated in poetry workshops in schools “If we go back to before we went to school," he says, "and before we were tarnished maybe with the education of poetry, as kids we were excited by language; lullabies, nursery rhymes - Humpty Dumpty, Itsy Bitsy Spider - even if we don’t understand it, as kids we were listening to rhythms, patterns and shapes that are capturing us even then. When I go into schools and do workshops, I find the secret ingredient is listening. There is an appetite for listening in human beings. There are plenty of living, breathing people out there that should be on the curriculum. This might encourage a kid to get out there and do it themselves”.
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In more recent years, John has collaborated with different artists at events like the Lingo Festival and the Vibe for Phillo. For the RHA Lost Fridays, he has collaborated remotely with artist Holly Pereira, who will be performing live illustration on the night. “I have sent a verse to Holly for her illustrations,” he says. “A lot of the time when I’m writing, there is music in my head. Its like being in a football team, you know you’re all rolling in the same direction, and you achieve your goal and it’s a lovely feeling — a very satisfying feeling to share that with people in a creative scenario”.
John Cummins performs at the RHA Hennessy Lost Friday event on the 3rd of March. The Lost Friday bill also features Lime and Fancy, John Gerrard, Leah Hewson, Bad Bones, Valerie Francis and Holly Pereira. Go here for more information on the event.
