The bard of Dollis Hill
"[Daljit] Nagra is that rare thing: an unknown poet whose debut collection is being published by Faber, Britain's leading poetry house. [...] When he performs poems such as Singh Song!, he says he tends to read them with 'an Indian voice, black it up, minstrelise it'." (Guardian Books)
This opens a new world of possibilities for poetry. I wouldn't mind going into the poetry biz, myself. How does this grab you?: "The Willesden Poetry Minstrels". With a few high-kicking soubrettes and a troupe of lads done up in burnt cork, we could go touring the provinces, knocking people dead every night with a medley of "Four Quartets" and "Rockabye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody". It will be the new Riverdance. We'll close on an arrangement of Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" in an up-tempo, semi-rap style, segueing into Kipling's "If" and finally bring the house down with "The Swanee River". All for the price of a few banjoes.
Red Woodward
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