March 12 | Spoken Word performance by Beau Sia, Kelly Tsai, and Bao Phi!

On Saturday evening, March 12, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies will sponsor a spoken word performance at the Multicultural Student Center as a culminating event for the API Issues Conference. The event will feature spoken word poets Beau Sia, Kelly Tsai, and Bao Phi. Please spread the word and bring your friends!

Spoken Word performance

Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 7 p.m.

Multicultural Student Center, ASUC Building, UC Berkeley

featuring nationally acclaimed spoken word poets BAO PHI, BEAU SIA, and KELLY TSAI

BEAU SIA

Check out some of his performances here:

Born in Ohio and raised in Oklahoma Beau Sia began performing spoken word poetry while in high school. He attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He was chosen as a member of the Nuyorican National Poetry Slam Team, which placed third in the nation at the 1996 National Poetry Slam. Sia won two National Poetry Slam championships and placing second in the 2001 Individual Poetry Slam competition, toured the U.S. and Europe, and appeared on television and on Broadway’s Def Poetry Jam. His work appears in many anthologies as well as on the CD Attack! Attack! Go! He authored the book A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge and has acted and been featured in video documentaries as well as on television programs and commercials.

KELLY TSAI

Photo by Katie Piper

Check out some of her performances here:

http://www.youtube.com/kztsai#p/u/9/OXyf-0dGK4M

http://www.youtube.com/kztsai#p/u/10/rKqv1HR0LHk

KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based, Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist who has performed at over 450 venues worldwide including three seasons on “Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry.” Winner of an Asian American Arts Alliance/NYFA Urban Artist Initiative Award, she was profiled on Idealist in NYC’s Top 40 New Yorkers Who Make Positive Social Change, AngryAsianMan.com’s “30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30,” and HBO’s “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud.” She has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Amiri Baraka, Harry Belafonte, and many more.

BAO PHI

Check out some of his performances here:

Bao Phi has been a performance poet since 1991. A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, Bao Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry. He has released several CDs and has published poetry as well as essays in topics from Asians in hip hop to Asian representation in video games. He maintains a popular blog for the Star Tribune’s website, which he uses to bring issues and alternative perspectives on Asian American community to light.  Currently he works at the Loft, where he creates and operates programs for artists and audiences of color.