Poetry becomes music at Black History Month event

Music and poetry merged at Halifax Central Library on Saturday as five poets performed their work set to original musical compositions.

The event, 5 Poets Breaking into Song, was part of Black History Month celebrations, hosted by Halifax Public Libraries and the Black History Month Association, with support from TD Bank.

Emmy-winning composer D.D. Jackson arranged 10 songs for the performance, which took place before an audience of about 150 people.

Poets Delvina Bernard, El Jones, Reed “iZrEAL” Jones, Salima Tourkmani-MacDonald, Stedmond Pardy and George Elliot Clarke — who led the program — took turns performing original works.

Words take shape in song 

Each poet read three pieces. Their final poem, arranged by Jackson, was sung by vocalists Dean Bowman and Shanice Skinner. 

The concept of the event started in 2020 when Clarke commissioned a composer to turn a friend’s poem into a song. The reaction was immediate, as the words took on new meaning when set to music. Clarke has since commissioned 70 poems-turned-into-songs, many from Canadian writers. 

Delvina Bernard, the first poet to take the stage, spoke of resilience, identity and history. A long-time member of the African Nova Scotian Music Association, she is completing a doctorate on reparations for unpaid slave labour. 

“This event is celebrating poetry, and it is also celebrating music,” she said before reciting I Love You Woman, a piece originally performed by For The Moment, a Halifax a cappella group she co-founded in 1981. 

“I’m a woman Black, and a woman first, because I know what I have to be,” she said.  

Her second poem paid tribute to Black men, including her father, who grew up in the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children in the 1920s after losing his mother at 12. 

“We are the African Nova Scotian nation,” she said. “From now on, I want us to refer to ourselves that way because there’s power in nationhood, and that power has sustained us for over 300 years.” 

A tribute to past and present voices 

Clarke recited three poems by Anna Minerva Henderson, the first Black Canadian woman to publish a poetry collection. 

Henderson’s book, A Quiet Soul, was released in 1967, when she was 80. Clarke’s voice rose and fell as he read, giving life to words written decades ago. 

The event continued with four more poets, each bringing their own rhythm and perspective. As each poet finished, the room fell silent before erupting into applause. 

 “Thank you to everyone in the audience for believing in the value of creative expression,” said Tourkmani-MacDonald.