Poetry Messengers

Today we bring to you another group of Miami artists who participated in O,ral Records, a project in which we partnered with O, Miami and Miami-Dade Transit to collect transit riders’ stories and hand them over to artists to create new works. As most projects are, it was a learning process. We quickly realized that getting people to share their stories is not as easy as you might think. We also gained new respect for our local artists who devoted their time and creative energy to telling a story that was 1) not their own and 2) about transit, not the most interesting topic in the world. Through the weeks of collecting stories and watching the creation of new works, we learned even the simplest of human experiences holds a story. And there is no better place to find a good story than on public transit. We were so inspired by this project, we decided to not only share the finished product with our Buskerfest Miami family, but we decided do go a little deeper and introduce you personally to the artists that worked on creating our O,ral Records.

Fourth up is The Poetry Messengers, headed by Miami’s Biscayne Poet. Read on to learn more about their morphing name, inspired collaborations and where you can find them next.

Buskerfest Miami: Who are The Poetry Messengers? 

PM: The Poetry Messengers is The Oscar Fuentes Combo, under the creative direction of Oscar Fuentes, also known as The Biscayne Poet. They are a Latin Jazz fusion group with whom Oscar Fuentes combines his original poetry. On November 16th the Oscar Fuentes Combo will be playing at the Swamp Bookfair loung,  under the name, The Swampsters. Musicians include: Carl Ferrari on guitar, Matt Taylor on Saxophone, Andres Roa and Deryl Spielman on percussion, and Oscar Fuentes on vocals.

Biscayne Poet

Buskerfest Miami: Why do you call yourselves the Poetry Messengers?

PM: Our name changes according to the event theme, but we are mainly, The Oscar Fuentes Combo.

Buskerfest Miami: Can you tell us a little about each members’ artistic background?

PM: Carl Ferrari on guitar, Matt Taylor on Saxophone, Andres Roa and Deryl Spielman on percussion, and Oscar Fuentes on vocals.

Buskerfest Miami: How often do/have you perform(ed) together?

PM: About once a month around town.

Buskerfest Miami: Can you tell us a little about what the process was like for creating the O,ral records piece?

PM: Oscar would read the interpretive piece to the musicians and the musician would organically improvise the music.

Buskerfest Miami: Does the Poetry Messengers have any future projects in the works?

PM: On November 16th the Oscar Fuentes Combo will be playing at The Swamp Book Fair lounge, under the name, The Swampsters.

To stay up to date on what The Oscar Fuentes Combo (or whomever they might be for the night) and the Biscayne Poet is up to, we suggest you follow them online at:

The Oscar Fuentes Combo:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Oscar-Fuentes-Combo-168722766489200/?fref=ts

The Biscayne Poet:
Website: www.thebiscaynepoet.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Biscayne-Poet-1546761388911317/?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebiscaynepoet

Stay tuned next month for our next O,ral Records artist!

Much Love,

The Buskerfest Miami Fam

 

Check out last month’s O,ral Records feature on Somewhat Hungover!

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