The Bellow Project: Dwennimmen and damn magpies

Featuring Dwennimmen, a.k.a. Shima Robinson: 2023 Edmonton poet laureate and author of the 2021 poetry collection, Bellow. With damn magpies (improvisation ensemble): Allison Balcetis (saxophones), Scott Smallwood (electronics), Mark Segger (percussion), Ian Crutchley (found objects), Chenoa Anderson (flutes), Jane Berry (voice)

The Bellow Project is a collaborative collection of spoken word poetry (written in 2021) and improvisational music featuring Dwennimmen (Shima Robinson) on words and damn magpies on other forms of sound. Together, Dwennimmen and damn magpies’ work is called The Bellow Project.

Dwennimmen’s works consider narratives of decolonization, resistance, matriarchal influences, and warriorship. As an example, she spoke of the Maroon people of Jamaica, and the multicultural phrase, ​“out of many, one people.” The Bellow Project is an album with a spoken performance from Dwennimmen accompanied by musical improvisation from damn magpies, a local artist. In the event’s second poem, ​“Underbelly of An Origin Story,” Dwennimmen explores topics like decolonial nationhood, speaking truth to power, and growing into the awareness of being a guest on Indigenous lands. Rebecca Reeves, 2023

The Bellow Project was originally developed with support from the Edmonton Arts Council.