In this episode, researcher Helen Thomas explores the role of MCs (masters of ceremonies) at a selection of poetry performance events in the UK from the 1980s to the present day.

This episode was written and produced by Helen Thomas and edited by Marie Krebs of Poetry Off the Page.

The interviews are archived on the University of Vienna’s platform PHAIDRA and can be accessed publicly here.

The performance and poetry extracts in the episode are taken from:

References:

Banks, Alec. “From Jamaica to the Bronx,” 04 May 2020, https://rockthebells.com/articles/jamaican-soundsystem-culture-history/.

Billington, Michael. “Margaret Thatcher Casts a Long Shadow over Theatre and the Arts,” 8 April 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-long-shadow-theatre.

La Rotta, Alex. “Hip Hop Was Born in New York City, But Its Roots Are in the Caribbean,” 6 November 2023, https://time.com/6328945/hip-hop-caribbean-history/.

McNamara, Edward. “Master of Ceremonies,” https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/masters-of-ceremonies-4482; Liturgical Press, Ceremonial of Bishops (1989) Nos. 34-36.

Novak, Julia. Live Poetry, Rodopi 2011.

Price-Styles, Alice. “MC Origins: Rap and Spoken Word Poetry” in The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015) 11-21.

Robinson, Oliver. “How did Jamaican Sound Systems Influence the Birth of Hip-Hop?”, 3 March 2022, https://thecircular.org/hip-hop-grew-from-roots/.

The theme music is “Playing in Colour” by user29811401 on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/music/beautiful-plays-playing-in-color-120336/) .

You can access the episode transcript here.

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